This was a difficult book to read in that it handles homophobia (and child abuse) in a rural NC town. There are a lot of slurs, and though it didn’t feel gratuitous (it’s definitely used to set the insidious hatred atmosphere of a town in decay) it was still painful. It also deals with extreme poverty, sexual abuse, child abandonment, drug abuse, and the combination of all these factors. The MC, Cat, is a resilient, intelligent young woman who has retreated into herself for the past 3 years due to trauma, utterly cutting herself off from her support network. In […]