As this story begins, a 13 year old boy named TJ sits in the waiting room of a hospital anxiously waiting for any news about his little sister. His sister, Angela, has had a fall and was rushed to the ER. As TJ waits, he looks through an album about his life and remembers the important events that brought he and his sister to their new adoptive parents' home.

TJ has always taken care of Angela, because sometimes it was hard for their mom to take care of them while she worked--or spent time with strange men. Their mother often leaves them alone overnight. There are good times and bad, but mostly bad. TJ's mom is just not fit to take care of them, and all they want is to be loved.

I'm not really sure how I felt about this book. I am a mom, so the events that occurred in this story are heartbreaking and unimaginable to me. I could see how the children were each stuck in their roles. TJ was always the mature, stoic caretaker. Angela was the baby, and acted like it. Both children were severely affected by their mother's emotional abuse. It was so sad to read about the way TJ adored the very few hugs and praises he ever got from his mother.

I was glad to see that the children eventually moved on to a better life, but overall I found this quite a depressing read. As I read and finished this book, it made me think of all the other children in the world who are probably going through similar predicaments, perhaps right under our noses. It has opened my eyes. I'm not quite sure if that's what the author was trying to accomplish, but that's the only thing I got out of this book.