WINNER: Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal - Young Adult: Coming of Age
WINNER: League of Utah Writers - Gold Quill Award
FINALIST: The Kindle Book Review Awards - Literary Fiction

Samantha Jean Haggert is a beautiful twelve-year-old girl, but no one knows it. All they see is an awkward boy in a baseball cap and baggy pants. Sam’s not thrilled with the idea of hiding her identity, but it’s all part of her brother’s plan to keep Sam safe from male attention and hidden from the law. 15-year-old Jacob will stop at nothing to protect his sister, including concealing the death of the one person who should have protected them in the first place--their mother.

Sam and Jacob try to outrun their past by stealing the family car and traveling from West Virginia to Arizona, but the adult world proves mighty difficult to navigate, especially for two kids on their own. Trusting adults has never been an option; no adult has ever given them a good reason. But when Sam meets “Jesus”--who smells an awful lot like a horse--in the park, life takes a different turn. He saved her once, and may be willing to save Sam and her brother again, if only they admit what took place that fateful day in West Virginia. The problem? Sam doesn’t remember, and Jacob isn’t talking.

Moslimah says, “I’m a VERY difficult reader to please and this isn’t a book I would typically read but I read it and boy was I blown away. This novel captivated me, not from the first page but from the very first sentence, where we are brought smack in the middle of the action.”

Tina says, “From the opening chapter to the very last word, the book was a masterpiece of storytelling, presenting me with a barrage of twists and turns that kept me riveted to the book.”

Timeosanthos says, “I’d heard a lot about this book before reading it, so I worried it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. I needn’t have worried at all--it not only lived up to them, it surpassed them. While this book is heart wrenching and painful to read at times, it’s also brilliant, poignant and beautiful.”