Naked
By: Stacey Trombley
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Genre: YA
Rating:
The best place to hide is in a lie…
I could never fit in to the life my parents demanded. By the time I was thirteen, it was too much. I ran away to New York City…and found a nightmare that lasted three years. A nightmare that began and ended with a pimp named Luis. Now I am Dirty Anna. Broken, like everything inside me has gone bad.
Except that for the first time, I have a chance to start over. Not just with my parents but at school. Still, the rumors follow me everywhere. Down the hall. In classes. And the only hope I can see is in the wide, brightly lit smile of Jackson, the boy next door. So I lie to him. I lie to protect him from my past. I lie so that I don’t have to be The Girl Who Went Bad.
The only problem is that someone in my school knows about New York.
Someone knows who I really am.
And it’s just a matter of time before the real Anna is exposed…
Anna ran away to NYC when she was 13 years old. She was “saved” by a man who claimed to only be looking out for her. Who said that he loved her. That guy was 18 years old. However, he let his friends sleep with her for money and pretty soon he allowed random men to sleep with her for money. Now, three years later, Anna is broken and lost all over again when her pimp sells her to someone else. Luckily for her, she’s picked up, mended, and a social worker does all that she can to reunite her with her family. Even though she has escapes the streets of NYC, her past remains to haunt her.
The story starts off with Anna already in police custody. So, if you are worried about reading any explicit details from Anna’s time on the streets, rest assured that it is not in here. However, the author definitely eludes to what took place during that time. I thought the author did a nice job getting the point across without throwing it in the readers face. I mean, I’ve read books along these lines before and they were tough to swallow because they were a little more detailed but I feel like it needs to be said. It’s just sad that these things are happening under our noses.
Anna was an interesting character. Sure, her childhood was pretty much taken away from her but she doesn’t let that hinder her. She doesn’t wallow, she doesn’t retaliate and act up, instead she assesses everything and reacts accordingly. Her father is rather abusive and with her time as a prostitute she’s learned how to handle hostile men. So, sadly that came in handy for her when she returned home. However, she has a great support group with her mother and friends at school and I felt like those supporting characters really helped Anna along with her recovery.
Naked is an interesting story. Normally when it comes to these subjects you follow the characters leading up to and during their time as a prostitute. However, Naked shows you what happens to those lucky few who are rescued and brought back home.
“You only have to be told once that you don’t always have a choice before you realize the truth. You;ll never have as much power as you thought you had. Not over yourself. Not over your destiny. Not at all.”
Stacey Trombley lives in Ohio with her husband and the sweetest Rottweiler you’ll ever meet. She thinks people are fascinating and any chance she has, she’s off doing or learning something new. She went on her first mission trip to Haiti at age twelve and is still dying to go back. Her “places to travel” list is almost as long as her “books to read” list.
She wants to bring something new to the world through her writing, but just giving a little piece of herself is more than enough.
This sounds like a hard one but interesting. I’m glad the author didn’t have to get too explicit.
It wasn’t as difficult to read as some of the others I’ve read. However, it doesn’t change how horrific of a situation Anna was in.
The cover had kind of made me unsure with this one but your review makes me want to read it now. Thanks for reviewing!
Yeah, when I saw the cover I thought the story would be completely different. However, I suppose it was more symbolic like she felt more naked when people found out the truth about her time away than she did when she was actually sleeping with men for money. :\ I don’t know.
Thanks for the giveaway. The darkness of this book and grit is right up my alley!
It’s not as dark as some of the ones I’ve read but it definitely deals with a dark subject. I hope you enjoy it if you get a copy. 😉