Deep Enough to Bleed

NEW ADULT/WOMEN'S FICTION:  After Jolene and Adam’s drug-addicted mother abandons them, their father takes out his frustrations on his children. Between beating them and locking them in their bedrooms without food, water, or bathroom facilities, their alcoholic father could care less about his children unless he wants something from them. Jolene does her best to take care of and protect her younger, mentally challenged brother, but a teenager can only do so much. 

Margie Church tells a grim tale that is so real and vivid, it is almost scary. Jolene is a teenager trying to be mother and father to her brother, but she is so mentally scarred herself that she turns to torturing her own body for some kind of relief. Adam sometimes seems wiser than Jolene and makes the reader question whether or not he is as challenged as he is portrayed. Ms. Church does have some secondary characters that bring a little life and love to a rather dark story. Unfortunately, the lack of cohesiveness and the underdeveloped characters leave this story with only three and half stars. If a reader is searching for a ‘fairy tale’ ending to a contemporary romance they will not find it in “Deep Enough to Bleed”. It is not a book for the faint of heart. There is a sinister side to this story that includes child abuse, neglect, and murder and readers need to be advised before opening the book.

Mary-Nancy Smith