Author: Anee Tibbets
Publisher: Premier Digital Publishing
Release Date: 15 April 2012
ASIN: B007US6CKM
Synopsis
Mary's older sister, Gwen, has royally screwed up her life. Not only is Gwen pregnant at seventeen, but she's also decided to marry The Creep who knocked her up.
Now Mary is powerless to stop her family from imploding. Her parents are freaking out, and to top it off The Creep has a gross fascination with Mary while Gwen enjoys teasing her to tears for sport.
Despite her brother's advice to shut up, Mary can't keep her trap closed and manages to piss off Mom so much it comes to blows.
Mary doesn't know what to do, and all her attempts to get help are rejected. When she finally plans her escape, she fails to consider how it could destroy them all.
My Review
I was given an e-book copy of this from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I actually accepted this months ago and have only just got round to it, so for that I apologise to the author for the delay, it did mean though that when I picked it up today I didn't remember anything about it or have any idea what it was about. I had a PDF file and it didn't include a synopsis so I just started reading. And this book was not anything I had expected.
Mary is only 12 but has a very hard life. Her sister who was destined for college to become a teacher and be a shining start has fallen in with a bad baoy who Mary refers to as 'The Creep', her sister is now pregnant and planning on marrying the Creep and her family is imploding around her. Tension is at its highest in the house and Mary seems to be the scapegoat, every problem, every angry word, every disappointment is directed onto her.
This story is very brutal in places but a very compelling read, the sort of thing you can't look away from.
At times I could agree that mary was a bit of a pain and she didn't help herself sometimes speaking up when you know you should just back off, but 95% of the time she was unfairly treated, sometimes very harshly. But no one wants to hear about her problems and things start to spiral out of control.
There were times in this book where I just wanted to give Mary a hug and tell her everythng will turn out OK. There were times when I wanted to slap her sister and tell her to grow up and stop being such a self-centered ***** and her parents shocked me, they seemed to have little or no thought for Mary's safety or happiness, she was there as the punching bag both metaphorically and literally in some places.
This book is very short at just over 100 pages, I read it in about 50 minutes but it is very hard hitting. This isn't short and sweet but very real and serious. The author deals with some very sensitive topics very well and even manages character development as Mary goes from a weak and wimpy little 12 year old to a more confident, more mature 12 year old, wise beyond her years.
Some of the narration confused me in places. I wasn't sure if it was Mary talking or her brother and there were a few places where I had to re-read a paragraph or so to make sure i knew what was going on. It also jumps between the [resent and teh past and this tripped me a couple of times, I would just get into the story and it would jump and drag me back out, but I know this is a popular writing style and can be effective so maybe that's what the author was going for.
This is by no means my usual read but it is short, sharp and well written. Good if you want a quick read or something that will grab you.
My Rating
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