Carry Me Home by Jessica Therrien | A series of dramatic events

San José, gangs, guns, fighting… In the beginning I was slightly hesitant to start reading, as I already was expecting to dislike it. BUT! HOW WRONG WAS I?! It was an absolutely amazing book and I haven’t been able to stop talking about it since I picked it up!!

Jessica Therrien created the most gripping, realistically unrealistic story that makes your jaw drop in awe! The events that took place within this quite short novel were very INTENSE, definitely not for the light-hearted.

Lucy and Ruth are country girls from a broken home. When they move to the city with their mother, leaving behind their family ranch and dead-beat father, Lucy unravels.

They run to their grandparents’ place, a trailer park mobile home in the barrio of San Jose. Lucy’s barrio friends have changed since her last visit. They’ve joined a gang called VC. They teach her to fight, to shank, to beat a person unconscious and play with guns. When things get too heavy, and lives are at stake, the three girls head for LA seeking a better life.

But trouble always follows Lucy. She befriends the wrong people, members of another gang, and every bad choice she makes drags the family into her dangerous world.

Told from three points of view, the story follows Lucy down the rabbit hole, along with her mother and sister as they sacrifice dreams and happiness, friendships and futures. Love is waiting for all of them in LA, but pursuing a life without Lucy could mean losing her forever.

Ultimately it’s their bond with each other that holds them together, in a true test of love, loss and survival.

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To spice this review up a little bit, I compiled a list of TOP 5 REASONS why you should read «Carry Me Home» and emerge yourself in its intensity:

1 – The story began as a FAMILY DRAMA. A drunk father, abusive over to his wife. A weak and co-dependent mother. But finally she had enough and decided to take her teenage daughters and leave him. Maybe not for good, but just to get away. Almost a classic family drama. However, the events started to spiral from there on without any breathing room!

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2 – It felt as if I was watching a movie, but at the same time those CHARACTERS FELT VERY REAL. A very confusing feeling. Their personalities, their problems, their struggles were genuine, even though the intensity of the events was tuned up  by a lot.

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3 – I don’t want to say that Lucy is a main character because I loved reading about Ruth, her older sister, and even their mother just as much as I loved reading Lucy’s perspective. But it is true that events that happen with Lucy are more DISTURBING AND UPSETTING to read about.

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4 –  The story wasn’t the most emotional I’ve ever read, but it kept me engaged, it kept me turning the pages and wanting to find out what happened next to their little family. I wanted Ruth to be alright and not having to deal with Lucy’s screw ups, I wanted their mother to be stronger and to not put everything on her daughter’s shoulders. I was invested in the story and worried about the characters.

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5 – And finally, the RELATIONSHIP between mother and her daughters, between siblings, love relationships – they were written very well. You know how much I dislike cheesy romances that transport you to the “love fairy land” and don’t really give an honest presentation of what a real relationship looks like. Jessica Therrien did a great job writing her characters, expanding their connections and intertwining them all together in this wonderful novel!

My Rating:

★★★★★ / 5

Thank you NetGalley and Acorn Publishing for a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Definitely do not let the blurb intimidate you or put you off this book. It’s so much better than just gang games and teenage fighting!

With love, Alex

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