This is a quick and easy read about an engaging historical period that I think my students would read. I teach high school and I am always looking for books that will engage reluctant readers for their independent reading. This book, with it's quick, captivating details will do that.

The book starts during 1931 and the Great Depression, with a young journalist, Ellis, taking a picture of two boys, at a house with children "for sale" sign. Back at the office, secretary Lily, places that picture with other pictures, on her boss's desk, and Ellis is asked to write a story about the picture. When the picture is ruined, Ellis heads back to the boys' house to take another picture of them and the sign, but the family has moved on.

Ellis then goes across the street, with the sign, and takes a picture of a brother and sister, to recreate the original picture. The story and picture go out and they draw lots of attention for Ellis and for the children in the picture. Little does Ellis know that his actions of 'faking' the original picture are going to wreak havoc on the life of that brother and sister.

overall i enjoyed this book but didnt have an emotional connection so 3 stars

Beautifully written. McMorriss is a star who knows how to engage the reader, with well-crafted characters and settings giving all the feels in the right places.

This beautifully-written book was heartbreaking and heart-opening all at the same time. Unforgettable to the point of being haunting.

This book was only okay for me.
I felt it to a lot time to get into and ended up being more of a drama then a historical fiction.
It all came together in a neat happy ending, but wasn’t page turning by any means.

I was expecting a first hand account of a young boy's experience.of being sold during the depression The story was actually about two main characters who investigated two children who were bought. It was still a good story and highlighted events that did happen to children during the depression.

A well-written, well researched novel set in the depression, a very painful time when people did desperate things to survive. The author took something real (a well-known newspaper photo offering two children for sale) and carefully crafted it into a story with many strong elements. The purpose and responsibilities of journalism, compassion for people at the lowest point in their lives and love for the children who don't really understand everything that's going on around them. A very good, but depressing, read.

I enjoyed this heartbreaking book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Very enjoyable, despite the sad topic. McMorris writes well, creating a believable setting and characters who come alive. It's a heartbreaking story, but one you'll want to continue reading to the end, because McMorris makes you care deeply about each of her characters.

I really enjoyed this story. It reminded me a bit of Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. It had a little bit of everything. Suspense, love, action, heartbreak, emotional turmoil, you name it. When a published picture in the newspaper set about a chain reaction, Ellis has to live with the consequences. The story follows how he deals with these consequences, taking the reader on quite an adventure. 4 stars. Very well written and captivating. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC.

In 1931 Ellis impulsively snaps a picture of 2 siblings who are being offered for sale by their desperate parents. The photo leads to a newspaper article that disrupts lives. Ellis and Lily, an ambitious secretary at the newspaper, try to reverse the impact of the article.

I was expecting a book about the Depression and the family of the children in the photo. Instead, this is a story about Ellis and Lily. The children are often an afterthought and it didn’t really deal with the devastation of the Depression. You can learn more about the Depression from one Dorothea Lange photograph than you can from this entire book. The book veers towards the melodramatic, with speakeasies, mobsters and guns, but I was still bored by much of it. It wasn’t helped by the fact that both Ellis and Lily are very bland characters.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

While this book is somewhat predictable in its outcome, the true story it is based on may not have had such a happy ending. Worth reading for the historical information; this would make a good book club discussion book.

I was honestly hoping that this title was going to be a story about the kids, similar to Before We Were Yours. Instead, it was about a guy who had a moment of poor integrity and then spent the rest of the book hoping no one found out. I didn’t finish it, found it boring. The writing was good, just not an interesting story.

This was an ok - not outstanding, not terrible - read for me. I had the misconception from the title and cover that plot would go in the direction of Orphan Train, but the main focus of the book was on 2 reporters, one of whom was the photographer of a picture of the sold children. The plot was for the most part pleasant and easy to follow but nothing about this really wowed me.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Sold on a Monday, by Kristina McMorris.

We've all seen the heartbreaking picture. Two children sitting on their porch by a sign that says "children for sale." The mother hiding her face. But what is the story behind that devastating picture, and what were the fate of the children.

While we may never know the true story, Mcmorris gives us her account of what may have happened. Two scrappy and hungry journalists, Ellis and Lillian, catch wind of the story and sink their teeth into it, refusing the let go. But this is a tale that runs deep and threatening, and it may be more than they can chew. Or, perhaps they'll find themselves, and each other, in the process.

I appreciated the history in the story. The depression/dust bowl era is one of unimaginable suffering, and I truly can't imagine being confronted with those challenges. Having said that, this is a pretty basic and formulaic historical fiction. It's heartwarming, and tragic, and gets tied up exactly where you hope it will. I think I've exhausted that avenue of genre, but I can't deny that it had it's good moments.

This is a hard review to write, This has to be my most disappointing read of the year. The story is very slow, very long and quite boring, the first par is the most boring. When I started the 2nd part, i thought it might actually be about to improve, but no, it really did not and overall, the entire book was a huge disappointment

Very enjoyable read for those, like me, who love family life fiction. You will not want to put this one down until you find out how the lives of the children all shakes out. Give it a read! You won't regret it.

I chose to read "Sold on a Monday" because of that heartbreaking cover photo, so I knew it was going to be gut-wrenching and difficult to read. I was absolutely right about that, but it was well written and exceptionally well researched, so while the story was hard, reading it was not.

Sold on Monday is a harrowing tale inspired by true events where one small sign forever changes the lives of so many people. The author does an amazing job at giving life a newspaper picture advertising the sale of children, life full of dynamic characters that grab you by your heartstrings. From the first page to the last I was completely involved and obsessed with this story. I also highly commend the author for giving a positive ending to a picture that most likely in reality did not end well. I highly recommend this book you will come away with a new outlook on a troubling time in US history.

Reporter Ellis Reed stumbles upon 2 boys being offered for sale and snaps a picture. After discovering the picture, Lily Palmer shows it to their boss. That simple act causes a chain reaction that leads us through the story and the two of them each on a path of self discovery and bonds them together in a way they cannot ignore.