Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This was such a heartbreaking story and one in which you feel so emotionally invested in the main character. Fifteen-year-old Wes Ballot is living with his alcoholic parents in Minnesota when his mother drowns in a lake. His father sends Wes to temporarily live with his grandparents who aren't exactly warm and welcoming. As Wes waits for his father to return, he meets a girl who is also dealing with the death of a parent. This is the story of a boy who will learn long-buried secrets about his family history and will have to forge his own path in life. Even though this book has such a sadness to it, in some ways it is uplifting as you watch this young boy deal with the crappy hand he was dealt and slowly develop into a man. While you are reading you just feel protective of him and want to shelter him from any pain or hurt. Haunting is a good word to describe the story as so many things about his family's past that he has no control over are affecting him in the present. And that's why Wes is a character to root for because in a way he's having to fight other people's demons and how could you not want him to find happiness? Definitely recommend as a good coming of age story. This is one of the better Amazon Kindle First selections I have picked in recent months.