Review: Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover

Beyah's childhood has been one of neglect--most of her childhood has been spent living with her mother, a meth addict while her father has been, well, off doing something else and scarcely bothering to stay in touch. Still, Beyah is getting things sorted. She has a job at the local McDonalds and she has worked hard to earn herself a scholarship to a good university. Then, two months before she is due to leave for college, she arrives home to find her mother dead of a suspected drug overdose. With the rent due on the family trailer that she cannot afford to pay, Beyah does the only thing she can think of to survive. She tracks down her dad, fails to tell him that her mother is dead and asks if she can come for a visit. Surprisingly, her dad pays for her airline tickets and asks no questions. Then Beyah makes a surprise discovery. Her dad is wealthy, has a wife and a stepdaughter and the whole family is welcoming her into the fold with open arms. Surely something is amiss ... right? Then she meets Samson, the wealthy boy next door and things get even stranger ...

This is an interesting story of the secrets that people keep and the vast divisions between the haves and have-nots in the United States. Beyah and Samson are both keeping huge secrets from the people around them, and both are used to surviving on their own any way they know how--which doesn't always lead to great outcomes. The saddest story is of course, that of Beyah and her father, the man who could have kept her safe, but for the fact that he didn't see all of the clues and ask the right questions. The author certainly has an understanding of what it means to be young and living in poverty. And of course, because this is a Colleen Hoover novel, there is plenty of melodrama, romance and simple solutions to complex problems. But who needs to be serious all the time, right?

Recommended.

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