Dime

Dime's foster home is unbearable. Her foster mother drinks and keeps her home from school to care for the younger children, her foster brother and her mother's boyfriends try to get her in bed. At age 13, she is brought in by a prostitute and thinks she finds a better family and love with the pimp. When she realizes how bad this world is, especially in its treatment of children her age and even younger, she isn't sure how she can ever find a way out. ( )

This tale involving human trafficking is told from the perspective of teenager Dime who grew up in the foster system but desperately sought affection from wherever she could find it. Unfortunately, the best came from a pimp. This is a scary look at the sex trade of teens that even involves a youngster named Lollipop. It is a compelling read. ( )

I wanted to read Dime because tough contemporaries appeal to me and Dime fits that bill, focusing on teen prostitution.

The set up is familiar for this sort of read-- a teen who ending up with a pimp. I think they even called him Daddy as well. There was the set up with the main character being second in rank, a younger one who is innocent in ways that breaks your heart and the older girl, or one who has been in the business longer.

I think that one reason it took me a bit to connect to the main character because I didn't know her before and that is totally on me, a personal preference. But we see her right in the middle of her stint into prostitution with clues of her past in memories. We can tell from the synopsis that she will get more self awareness of her situation and see that she needs to find a way out in order for her to grow and change as a person.