Disclaimer: I was given an ARC of CHALK HOUSES for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This ARC was given to me back in 2017. I didn't get around to reading it until 2020.

Book CWs: child abuse, child pornography, drugs, alcohol, overdose, sexual assault, molestation, rape, teen pregnancy, miscarriage, death

So. *heavy sigh*

This story covers a lot of important topics. Dark topics, but important nonetheless.

That being said... CHALK HOUSES was a hot mess of a story. Everything that could go wrong for these characters, did. And there was no tying all of those storylines together in a big, beautiful bow, either. There were so many plot "twists".

It was all too much. I couldn't go on. But I'd committed to reviewing this whirlwind of an ARC! I could make it past 93%! I could do it! And I did.

The main characters of CHALK HOUSES are Talon and Secret, the latter being an intangible essence that looms over the story. Talon's best friend is a hypochondriac, or at least that's what the main character kept telling us. Hit a little bit too close to home, considering the bulk of my childhood included a bunch of people telling me my symptoms weren't real. (I'm chronically ill.)

Talon had a lot of angst and for good reason. She was neglected by her single mother, who was always bringing sketchy men home, when her mom came home at all. As a result, Talon had a lot of childhood trauma to work through. Her own boyfriend didn't help matters much, except to provide a distraction from her home life. An unhealthy distraction, but still.

Throughout the story, Talon finds herself taking care of her younger next door neighbor, who was dealing with childhood trauma of her own. We never really learn the extent of her situation, but we're given enough hints to put the incredibly disturbing pieces together ourselves. I really liked their dynamic. It was a nice contrast to Talon's rocky relationship with her mother.

There's far more to this story, but I'll leave it for you to discover, should you decide to read CHALK HOUSES for yourself.

Do I recommend this book? Not really.

The ending didn't sit right. Talon was way too nonchalant about... Well, a few things, but, again, spoilers! The writing style itself was fantastic, but the execution of the actual plot left something to be desired.

Most kids want to grow up to be just like their parents. From a very young age, they emulate everything their parents do. Imagine, though, a childhood so sad and traumatic that it leaves you reaching for the exact opposite goal.
Talon has had a rough childhood, to put it mildly. A revolving door of men in her mother's life has left her scarred in more ways than one. More often than not, Talon has found herself in the role of the parent as drugs and alcohol ruled every aspect of her mother's life. Now she has a chance to make something of her life. Her love of writing has given her the opportunity to leave her horrid life behind and to actually become something.
But Talon, desperate for approval and love and acceptance and all those other things, finds herself making the same mistakes as her mother. Will she see the error of her ways before it's too late? And is there any way she and her mom can find their way back to each other?
Lots going on in this story. Typical teen issues, sure. But also some things that no teen should ever experience. Sadly, we all know that Talon's experiences are all too real. This was a compelling story, one that I really want to end in a happily ever after. But as in life, that's rarely the case...

Talon has a secret, growing up she has never felt that she had a mother and that she has had to become the parent as her mother forgets important things like school lunches, dinner and even when her birthday is. Now at sixteen, Talon can't wait to leave home as she enters into a creative writing competition using her absent mother and life at home as the basis for her essays. Her way of getting out all the pain is to write it down. During the book, Talon also starts to receive emails from her Aunty T and starts to learn more about her mother's family as every time she tries to ask about her mother's past and where she came from - she gets shot down. Also living next door in a similar situation is Gabby, who is seven years old. Gabby is living with relatives, but of course, they abuse and neglect her too. Throughout the story, at times I wondered whether Talon had made up Gabby and that it was her projection of what her life had been like. However, near the end, we discover Gabby is in fact real - as real as you and me. Chalk Houses was an emotional read, and some of it brought tears to my eyes especially the child neglect of Gabby. I guess for me in another life; I might have gone into the field of Social Work and working with children as that is one of my passions about reaching and loving those children that need it. I did love the way that Chalk Houses ended, and it shows readers that every kind gesture can make a difference in a child's life.

Overall I really wanted to like this story. It was about lost children and helping them find their way. But most of the time it felt like the author was pushing tragedy after tragedy and using that to fuel her story, without any true emotion behind it. All the plot twists were guessable and you get mad at the narrator for not seeing it until the last minute. The writing was rocky and definitely felt like someone writing for a different age group, or at least someone who hasn't written YA before.

Talon has grown up too fast. Her mother was always too drunk and high to take care of her, and Talon basically raised herself. Now a teenager, Talon can see freedom ahead - the promise of college and even an internship, plus the dream of looking after only herself. In the meantime, she has starting seeing Jay, a boy her own best friend warns her is "trouble," and forming a relationship with the little girl next door, who reminds Talon uncomfortably of herself. And then there's a mysterious email from someone named Aunt T, claiming to be her mother's sister, promising to answer any question.

Pro: I was engaged in Talon's story. I wanted to know what happened to her, and whether she would be okay. More urgently, I was very worried about the little girl next door, Gabby. There were ominous clues of what was happening to her, and I wanted to rush into the story myself and rescue her.

This is where we get into spoiler territory:

Cons: I think this book should have been a lot longer, at least 100 pages. SO much happens in the last fifty pages or so: Talon gets pregnant, Talon miscarries (and there really isn't any moment of reflection here), her mother ends up in the hospital with a heart condition, Talon rescues Gabby from next door, Gabby is taken away by CPS, Talon is attacked by her childhood molester, her mom dies, Talon is put into CPS. Holy hell, that's a lot to happen in a very short period of time! I wanted more time in between catastrophic events to breathe, to process, and to see how Talon was processing these events.

Sometimes the characters' dialogue also took me out of the story. Talon and her friends used phrases and colloquialisms that teenagers just don't use. It was unbelievable and jarring to me.

I was happy with the ending, but I wish that the technique that brought us there had been a bit better.

I was loving this book SO much. But then, at 7% to end it I just had to put it down. It seemed like the author didn't know if she wanted to reedem the characters or condem them, to give them a happy ending or a sad one, make them be together or have them hate each other, be heroes or losers... so she mixed everything, stirred and served and inedible pupurri that for me destroyed everything. A real pity.