IT COULD BE WORSE

Solinea Moran is only thirteen years old when her mother leaves her with her stepdad, and her world falls apart. Tom drags her around with him through different towns, homes, and schools for almost four years when they finally break down in a small town in Arizona. With courage and all the determination she can find, she struggles with her life of poverty, trying to fit in, and make friends in each new place while growing up with the cold feelings of not having anyone to love her or even of belonging anywhere that continues to eat at her insides. At every new place, she keeps hoping to find something better, but it always seems to get worse, even after she graduates and goes out on her own to find peace in her life. Can she find the love and the place to belong in the small town of Holbrook? She keeps trying.

-- Genene Stradling