Young adult urban fiction so gritty and real it will draw reluctant readers from the get-go. Nikki is desperately in love with Denarius. He fills her with the self-worth she lacks. But her blind loyalty ends up implicating her as part of a murder and it's a hard-earned journey before she finds her own sense of self and fully understands her role in the crime. Nikki's transformation from pathetic to I-will-survive is authentically felt; I even cringed at her pleading for Dee's approval and love. The pacing is quick and the dialogue real without being bogged down with obscenities and street talk. The details about life in jail, police interrogations, lawyers, and being on trial will fascinate or be familiar. Anyone looking for controversial elements will find them in spades: obscenities, drug use, sex, murder. Everyone else looking for a burning page-turner will find it here. ( )

I know I've read a good book when the words start a war within my head long before I've even finished it. And this book did just that. The war was between how conflicted I felt about the characters.
Nikki is so in love with Dee she lets him leave for months without any questions. She can't help it, her life without him is nothing and his dangerous lifestyle is all that she wants. That is until one of his plans turns into a crime. A murderous one at that.
The hardest thing about writing this review is the way I felt about the characters. I wanted so bad to like Nikki, but for the most part I thought she was stupid. But at the same time, it was just her being blinded by love. These things really happen. In the end I found myself just happy that she grew up and got herself together in the end. Then there was Bird. I loved her being so real, raw, and honest, but I also disliked her for a minute for leaving her like that when she needed someone the most. But then again, I understand completely why she did leave.
This was also my first encounter with McVoy and her writing. Her writing style actually surprised me. The words felt jolty and scattered, but the story is about a girl who's scared and full of emotions so the scattered words just felt right. That was my favorite part of the book. I felt every raw emotion pouring off the page. This book is so angst ridden, I was sucked in from the very beginning just to see where the story would end up.
This was a perfect coming of age story where the main character grows up and learns just how powerful love is. ( )