No happy endings here. Just a lot of pain, misery, and disgust.

This fictional story of 'Chelle, and the smoothly unwinding thread of how she goes from beloved granddaughter of a doting grandfather to endangered target of one predator after another following her grandfather's death is haunting in how incrementally her fate unwinds before she realizes her reality.

This story is harrowing, when you realize just how many runaway, lost young girls-made-women-too-soon Little Peach represents. It is a simple, painful telling of a story that must be read.

5/5 stars. Review coming soon!

I found this book in the YA new shelf in the library. The cover was simple and for some reason pulled me. It was a quick read, only taking me a few hours to breeze through, but it never let me down. Michelle is the main character and we follow her on her journey. She was raised by her grandfather and junkie mom. Learning at a young age how hard life could be. Her grandfather passed and her mother spiraled out of control.
After a groping from her mom’s boyfriend, her mom asks Michelle to leave. Saying that Michelle was trying to steal her boyfriend. Running away was hard and she wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she followed the advice of an old friend and headed to New York to find her long lost friend. Almost getting caught, she met Devon. He offered her food, shelter and a lifetime of happiness. All she had to do was whatever he said.
Back at his place she met her roommates. Baby and Kat. Michelle was force to take drugs and drink. Leading to long nights in a hotel with her pimp. The bloods ran the prostitution ring every night and Michelle was caught up in something she couldn’t get out of. Everything inside her tells her to run. To get out. And at only fourteen. She was forced to have random sex every night and believed that her pimp would take care of her. She was wrong and learned the hard way.
You know me, skipping out on all the details. This is an awesome, quick read for a rainy day!

sooo gruesomely beautiful

A short but gripping read. One that throws you into the pit of reality, one that is easily glossed over. The truth of human trafficking, sex, the harsh truth of the sex trade and child prostitution. The destitute, the impoverished. The story of a young, innocent girl looking for a home, for love and a family, after her grandfather passes away and her mother has her leave the only home she's ever known. My heart fell for Michelle as she ventured to New York looking for her friend, and finding a different sort when there were no roads left to take. Where love and affection from a man who we hear Michelle call "daddy" the entire rest of the novel is not only warped, but so close to sounding sincere. The manipulation on these girls, innocent and naive and oblivious to the broken world around them.

My heart broke numerous times for Michelle, Baby, and Kat. Especially at the glimpses of what seemed like a family in the making between these girls. But the nights in the hotel always sent shivers down my spine. The men that rummage in and out of the rooms these girls are stationed in, the realization that there is worse than the life they were unfortunately sold into and a hope of a better life as long as they keep working. The form of writing is fine tuned, simplistic with short sentence structure, and functions between past and present events. But my favorite moments were the ones that Michelle cherished with her grandfather. The eternal love that grounds her and pushes her for a better life. Their relationship brought me to the verge of tears by the end of the novel.

However Michelle's transformation into Little Peach, her realization of the life she was unknowingly forced into, and the harrowing sexual actions that are forced upon these girls is not for the lighthearted. It is tragic. It is eyeopening. And the author does a magnificent job of presenting the problem of how children are brought into the world of human trafficking, unaware of what is going on, and providing a voice for young girls all over who are in these terrible situations. I think it was a brave stance on the author's part, writing this novel. And it needed to be told, to bring awareness to the lives of children being sold and bartered into sex slavery. It is a hard story to tell, and despite Michelle's experience being a work of fiction, it is based on actual stories of girls who went through similar circumstances. It is not something to overlook no matter how sad, cruel, upsetting, pick and adjective. It needs awareness, these girls need a voice in a world without one, and the author does a fine job at that, and brought my attention to the subject.

Final Summation: Little Peach turns the stomach, breaks the heart, and had me wanting to pluck these poor girls from right out of the pages of the book. A recommended read, most definitely. Though the themes of rape, child molestation, and violence and drugs will make it a hard read for some, I do advise those to consider if this is the book for them.

Nothing too special. There was no real development or tension and the fact that the protagonist always adressed the nurse even though they only had like 10-15 pages of interaction was really weird.

This was a super quick read, but definitely not a easy one. The subject matter is extremely dark and hard to swallow. I kinda wish the story took place over a longer period, it felt a little too short to me. I also wish there was more to the ending so we could see how Michelle ended up.