Tent City by Kelly Van Hull, A Book Review

I sat staring at the last page, wondering about the story, thinking about the events, and mentally willing there to be more pages to turn.  This story grabbed me whole, wouldn't let go and I gladly accepted its grip.

I truly fell in love with these characters, the story, the writing, and absolutely everything in between.  The drama kept moving, and the descriptive scenes took me on a journey I won't soon forget.  I found myself feeling as if I was there, it could happen, and wondering how I would react.  Would it be the same as Dani did, or something far beyond what I can imagine?

Dani is the lead character.  She was a normal teenager without much to worry about except feel like all teenagers do, that life would be much more interesting if they were on their own.  Until she is, and she discovers how unprepared she is and succinctly realizes she would much rather be back home.  Circumstances won't allow that though, so she learns to adapt and grow into an almost self reliant young woman.  I say almost self reliant because she stubbornly wants to be, but soon discovers that help for and from others is more precious than pride.  She and her brother were better off with a few new friends once she understood self dependency was a waste of time and resources, when a group does so much better with more efficient results.

As in any life, true friends are far and few between.  Dani and her friends are no exception, but the depths of that truth are seen in emotional veins that rock their world to the edge of sanity.  Wavering on threads of despair, they find their way toward freedom and happiness, bearing the agonizing hurts of loss and tragedy along the way.

With each sentence you learn more about your new friends, and feel their heart beat catch with yours in each step they took.  You root for them, you hurt for them and you thank the author for taking the time to write as richly as she did so you had the fortune of that experience.  Each character had their moments of you wondering are you serious, but that's what kept them real.  They weren't perfect in a far from perfect world and that made it easy to really like them, greatly enjoy the story, and desperately hope for more.

That last page was a killer, because that's what it was, the last page.  Thankfully Kelly has book 2 out, called Red River.  I of course will be reading it as it is already up on my kindle now.  Get the books!  Seriously, you will miss out on a great story otherwise.  Thank you Kelly Van Hull, it was a wonderfully well written adventure I truly enjoyed.