Bound To Stay Bound

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Booklist - 05/15/2012 When 12-year-old Carley Connors is placed in foster care and sent to live with the Murphy family, she’s angry, confused, and counting her days in captivity. She has a hazy recollection of the night her stepfather’s abuse landed her and her mother in the hospital, and her feelings toward her self-centered mother walk the razor-thin line between love and hate. But hardened Carley begins to soften under the Murphys’ care. At first distrustful and defensive, Carley opens herself up slowly to the type of family she never knew existed—warm, caring, and safe. Hunt’s heart-wrenching debut believably captures Carley’s painful one-step-forward, two-steps-back process, particularly as she acts out in order to protect dealing with her emotions. Although some realizations toward the end don’t always feel earned, and some dialogue falls just shy of melodrama, readers will nonetheless gravitate toward this lovable girl, along with her Broadway-obsessed new best friend and the wonderful cast of Murphys. Carley promises Mrs. Murphy that she’ll “have a happy life someday,” and readers will be cheering her on. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 06/01/2012 Gr 5–8—After her stepfather beats them up, Carley is placed in foster care while her hard-partying mother recovers in the hospital. Angry, frightened, and determined to be unhappy, the 12-year-old finds the Murphy family quite a change. At first she's difficult, but the kindness of Julie, the mother; easygoing Jack, the father; and the slow acceptance of their three sons predictably turn things around. There is never any doubt that the generous Murphys and a friendship with a girl at school will be redeeming factors for sarcastic, funny, tough Carley. When little Michael Eric has a medical crisis, she cements her place in the family by jumping in to help. Because of the balance between showing her inner good nature and her mean and tough performance, readers might have a hard time recognizing which is Carley's true self and which is the front she is presenting. Her mother, quite surprisingly, turns out to have some redeeming qualities, a fact that provides drama when Carley is conflicted about returning to Vegas or continuing to live in Connecticut with the new family she has made. In the end, the choice is made for her, deflating the tension. Though the story is earnest and well-intentioned, the execution is uneven, which will not bother one bit kids who like watching a bad girl make good.—Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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