A charismatic but controlling father. A sadistic brother. Home for Hannah is like living inside a pressure cooker. Even her bond with loyal sister Sal and privileged friend Diana isn’t enough to make her stay.

But where will she go? And will she ever find the haven she so craves?

When at last Hannah meets the avuncular, alluring Charlie and his sophisticated sidekick Carla, she feels she has finally found her brave new world.

But once again all may not be as it appears, and Hannah soon learns that people will not always play fair and will do what it takes to get what they want.

From the author of LOSS and award-winning publisher Nevada Street Press comes this emotive, character focused coming-of-age drama that explores the depths of human trauma and the power of resilience, through one girl’s struggle to overcome her troubled past and to carve a brighter future for herself.

Loved it. Will recommend to others.

This story starts with Hannah as a young girl, jealous of her older sister who she feels is prettier and has lots more friends than she does. She also has an older brother. Her father rules the entire family and Hannah is sometimes abused by him. She meets Robert in school and they become close friends. They both come from very poor families and because of this lots of kids make fun of them. They both plan to attend college but Hannah decides to go another way. She gets involved with a guy she meets through her sister and moves in with him. He becomes abusive so she runs from him and eventually meets a lady in a club and she convinces Hannah to model for her. This leads to her introducing Hannah to a guy who hires her to dance and fo course this leads to other nefarious activity for money. Meanwhile Robert finds her and begs her to come with him but Hannah refuses. Robert gave her his address and tells her anytime she needs help or wants to get away she can come to him.
I don't want to give the ending away so I will say no more but the there is a big surprise in the ending.
Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC.

This book definitely had some difficult and heavy topics in it. I felt like family and relationship issues and connections were strongly pointed out aswell as childhood and adult trauma and their affection on the character.

I enjoyed this book for sure but it did make me go through multiple different emotions and thoughts for sure. The writing was easy to read and it made me stay intrigued about the story for the entire book. The plot was well paced and interesting.
Absolutely will recommend this to others!

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced reader copy in exchange of an honest review.

Family drama novels are always for me a good read.

Hannah was an intriguing character and i was guessing what was going to happen.

It is a pacy well developed plot and I was hooked. Hannah's family is less desitable than most and I felt for her at times.

recommended read..

This was a great read and I enjoyed it!! I love that this book had really dived deep into the themes or betrayal, resilience, family drama, and coming of age. It was entertaining, it made me keep wondering what was going to happen, the plot was paced well, and the character development was good!


Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!