Today’s shoutout goes to author Dawn Taylor. Her book “Something’s Not Right With Lucy” is an emotionally powerful novel involving child abuse and neglect. If this is a topic you are sensitive to, this is NOT the book for you! This is not a subject to be taken lightly, the author clearly did her homework on the subject. Here is my five-star review:
This story is powerful and will tug at your heartstrings, whether you have kids or not. Although the nature of the story makes it difficult to read, I feel that people can learn from it as well.
This story is, unfortunately, true to life. Although the system failed Lucy, I do believe in the system and think that it has progressed immensely since the time setting of this book as it appears to be set in the late 60’s or 70’s (this is my assumption due to the cost of cigarettes and beer purchased in this story — I don’t remember reading a ‘year’ in the story, I may have missed it). Given that, I couldn’t stop reading this book. I thought it was very well written. The characters were true to life and believable. I could visualize each scene, some in more detail than I would have preferred, but that is what made the writing so good (IMO), because it evoked emotions in me that kept me invested in the story.
I will refrain from commenting on most of the characters as I don’t want to post any plot spoilers. What I will say is that I had a strong opinion about them all, most were not good, though they were very well developed and well written.
Of course, my heart was with Lucy and Daisy. All they wanted was to love and be loved. It was sad, but true to life, that a lot of the kids at school bullied them because they were poor, and from the ‘wrong side of town’. But it wasn’t just the kids that treated them this way, most of the adults did, too.
With the kittens, Lucy and Daisy experienced an unconditional shared love, a bond, and trust — the things that were missing from the adults in their lives. My heart broke for them when they were robbed of the one thing that fulfilled their needs.
The physical and mental abuse that Lucy endured with the people who were supposed to love and protect her was emotionally exhausting. Although Lucy was able to find strength in Violet, it wasn’t enough to escape the brutality forced upon her.
I think my heart stopped beating momentarily at the end of the story.
Here is a link to the auhor’s Amazon page:
https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Taylor/e/B01KRK7QKO/
