Monday, August 10, 2015
Review: Little Peach
7:00 AM
| Posted by
Emily Alfano
|
Title: Little Peach
Goodreads Description: What do you do if you're in trouble?
When Michelle runs away from her drug-addicted mother, she has just enough money to make it to New York City, where she hopes to move in with a friend. But once she arrives at the bustling Port Authority, she is confronted with the terrifying truth: she is alone and out of options.
Then she meets Devon, a good-looking, well-dressed guy who emerges from the crowd armed with a kind smile, a place for her to stay, and eyes that seem to understand exactly how she feels.
But Devon is not what he seems to be, and soon Michelle finds herself engulfed in the world of child prostitution where he becomes her “Daddy” and she his “Little Peach.” It is a world of impossible choices, where the line between love and abuse, captor and savior, is blurred beyond recognition.
This hauntingly vivid story illustrates the human spirit’s indomitable search for home, and one girl’s struggle to survive.
Author: Peggy Kern
Release Date: March 10th, 2015
Publisher:Balzer + Bray
Pages: 208 pages
Rating: 4 CowsPages: 208 pages
Goodreads Description: What do you do if you're in trouble?
When Michelle runs away from her drug-addicted mother, she has just enough money to make it to New York City, where she hopes to move in with a friend. But once she arrives at the bustling Port Authority, she is confronted with the terrifying truth: she is alone and out of options.
Then she meets Devon, a good-looking, well-dressed guy who emerges from the crowd armed with a kind smile, a place for her to stay, and eyes that seem to understand exactly how she feels.
But Devon is not what he seems to be, and soon Michelle finds herself engulfed in the world of child prostitution where he becomes her “Daddy” and she his “Little Peach.” It is a world of impossible choices, where the line between love and abuse, captor and savior, is blurred beyond recognition.
This hauntingly vivid story illustrates the human spirit’s indomitable search for home, and one girl’s struggle to survive.
This book
isn’t for the weak of heart. Little Peach is graphic, brutal, and painstakingly
honest. Peggy Kern didn’t hold much back
in her writing when depicting the harsh conditions children dealing with child
prostitution are going through. I think
that’s why I was hesitant to begin this book.
I knew right away it was going to be dark from the way the story started
off and I had a feeling it wasn’t going to get much better.
I don’t
mean to scare anyone away with this review, because in all honesty one of the
only reasons I didn’t give up on this book is that I respect the author so much
for writing this the way she did. Peggy
Kern didn’t sugarcoat one aspect of what these children are going through,
which is how it needs to be done. I believe many people are ignorant as to how
bad this situation has gotten in the United States, especially in just the last
few years alone, and we need to see some change. Little Peach is one of those books that will
bring about change through awareness, and I hope everyone has a chance to read
this no matter what age you are.
Little
Peach starts off with a backstory on the home life of the main character,
Michelle. I thought the inclusion of
this in the book was crucial to portraying the circumstances that lead to children
running away from home and getting caught up in prostitution at such a young
age. Personally, when I started reading
this book I knew very little about the subject matter and had a hard time
wrapping my brain around the idea that some children willing choose this type
of life. As I started reading it though,
I started to understand the message that was being portrayed about children in
this situation. I think Peggy was trying
to show that circumstances force children into these situations. Teenagers like Michelle who are raised in a bad
home environment tend to run away, thinking they’ve escaped danger. Once they leave though, they have no one to
depend on and have no money to get by.
Since most of the parents won’t take them back, these children are desperate. So when a guy like Devon shows up, giving
Michelle food and clothes and promising to take her somewhere safe, she has
little choice in the matter since she has no other options.
As far as
dislikes go, I will say some of the scenes with Devon were pretty descriptive
and I had a hard time reading them.
Although I think Peggy Kern wrote it with this intent in mind so that
the reader could fully understand just how bad life is for these children like
Devon, I still had a hard time getting through these sections of the book. For YA I thought some of the scenes were a
little too graphic and that was one of the few gripes I had about the book.
Other than
that though, I am so thankful I received an ARC of this book to review. It’s not likely that I would have read this
book otherwise, because it’s not the type of book I typically gravitate
towards. I think stepping outside of
your reading comfort zone from time to time is a good thing though. It’s very seldom that I end a book and do
some research as a result of what I’ve read.
This was one of those special circumstances. I spent hours reading up on this epidemic and
how quickly it’s worsened in the last few years alone. Little Peach is one of those books that just
cuts you to the core. I remember reading
a review prior to picking this ARC of the book up that said how eye-opening it
was for the reader, and I’m going to second that thought. All I can say is that I hope this book has
the same effect it had on me, for everyone who picks it up, and if we all knew
more about the terrible things going on in the cities around us, maybe we would
be one step closer to working to change those things.
Emily
Labels:Emily,Little Peach,Peggy Kern,Review
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While looking for books for a friend to read (she likes books with harsh situations) I came across this one. I don't know why I thought it had come out a few years ago because it obviously didn't haha. I'm very intrigued by this one, and I'm glad you found it to be written in a way that wasn't offensive, if a little graphic in some places. I think I'll be giving this one a go just to see what it's like.
ReplyDeletethanks Patty! i hope your friend likes this one. it definitely fits the "harsh situation" criteria, but i thought it was very full written! hope you enjoy it as well! thanks for checking out my review!
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