THIS BIRD FLEW AWAY BY LYNDA MARTIN

GoodReads Synopsis:  What is real love? The whole world wants to know. They should ask Bria Jean, because she has it all figured out. Opinionated, stubborn and full of woe, Bria would tell you real love is having one person you can always count on through thick and thin. For her, that's Jack. And it doesn't matter to her that she's nine and he's twenty-three-not one bit. When, at the age of twelve, Bria disappears, he and his Aunt Mary search for her, and when she surfaces, injured, abused and traumatized, Jack fights to become her guardian with no idea of the trials ahead of him. By then, Bria is thirteen going on thirty, full of her own ideas on how her life should run and with some very fixed notions about who is in charge.

My Review:  I just could not decide what worried me most about Bria's life. 

As a child she did not develop a relationship with her mother.  She was tossed about from this auntie to the next auntie. 

When Bria's Aunt Peg says, "You're like one of our own", Bria realizes, "But I'm not.  I had to accept the truth, no matter how bitter."  It is with those words that Aunt Peg sends her to live with  mean Aunt Jess who asks her, "Who do you think you are?"  "No one", [Bria] spoke quietly... "Right!  No one.  Nothing.  The nobody nobody wants." 

Bria is forced to grow up very fast.  Too fast.  And she has those issues to deal with for the rest of her life.

A horrific event happens in Bria's life that as a woman and mother was very difficult for me to read.  To discuss it would be a major spoiler so I will leave that for you to read in the book. 

But, it is at this point in the story that Bria hops out of the frying pan and into the fire.  Here's where my mothering instincts kicked in big time.  Jack Connelly, a friend of Bria's family, and just 14 years older than Bria, petitions to become Bria's guardian.  Jack scares me.  (There I said it.)  I spent the whole rest of the story hearing Bria's story but keeping one eye on that young, hot-blooded man.

Even Bria understands, "His desire came as no surprise to me.  I'd known it for years right from the beginning when he took me to Chicago.  Men wanted girls.  Why else would he have done it?  I wasn't like Tara, his own blood, and he didn't owe me anything.  I thought he took me to Mary to keep me safe until I was old enough for his tastes, and here, I was, ready." 

It is for this reason that This Bird Flew Away becomes a suspenseful page turner.  Who can Bria trust?  Who can I trust to take care of this child?  One part child, one part wise-beyond-her-years, Bria's spirit soars from the pages. 

In my interview with Ms. Martin yesterday and found HERE, you will read that she describes Jack's character as "clumsy, pedantic, intelligent but naive. He is homely, not worldly, nor experienced with females."   I definitely did not feel the same about Jack on my first reading of the book.  I do now feel compelled to re-visit some of Jack's key scenes to see if I have a change of opinion.

Thanks again to Lynda Martin for providing me the opportunity to read and discuss her book.