Review: If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

Title: If You Find Me
Author: Emily Murdoch
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: St Martin's (March 26, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 5 Stars!

Book Description:
THERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND ...A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen-year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey's younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and the girls are found by their father, a stranger, and taken to re-enter the "normal" life of school, clothes and boys. Now, Carey must come to terms with the truth of why their mother spirited them away ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won't let her go ... a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn't spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

Purchase Links: Amazon/Barnes and Noble

My Review:
I don't really even know where to begin with this review other than to say this book took me by surprise with how emotional it turned out to be. I never went into this one expecting to get all teary eyed and feel so much for Carey. My heart went out to her, as a mother, as a girl and as a human being.

She had a pretty rough life, one most of us could never even begin to imagine and she could have been bitter. She could have shut the rest of the world out and turned out just like her mother but she didn't. Oh no she didn't. She was strong and brave and so good it made me want to cry. She was caring and loving and just plain tough. 

So much smarter and braver than she thought she was. So much better period, than she thought she was. She deserved the world and I wanted to help give it to her. 

This story didn't hold anything back either. It was real and raw and even gritty at times. And you know what? I absolutely loved every single minute of it. It pulled on my heart strings and made me thankful for everything that I have. For all the good people in my life and for the true meaning of strength, faith and love.

This was one heck of a story that I am so glad I read. Really if you are contemplating whether this is the read for you, don't, because you won't regret reading it. It is everything in a story I love. A small light of hope when all seems bleak in a world so cruel at times and so beautiful at others.

Murdoch handled it all beautifully  Letting us see both the good and the bad in people and teaching us that we should never give up hope. That sometimes good is always right around the corner.