SOLVED. book about girl left alone in apartment when her mother disappears? [s]

[Katherine]

I don't remember the name of the book, but it was about a girl somewhere in her tweens whose excentric mother mysteriously disappears from their apartment

She later teams up with her superintendents/landlord's? son and they steal stuff from an old lady for rent money, but the girl later returned some of the stuff to the woman.

it then turned out in the end that the mother had paid the rent in advance and was going on a trip to get a new job or something, and the landlords son had never told the girl.

also, I remember the girl saying something her mother had told her about the bluebird of happiness being yellow.

in the end, the mother returns, and she and the girl move to their new home together

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

When did you read it? Adult, YA, or children's? Remember the cover? What country/region and time period is the setting? Author male or female?

[Katherine]

I believe it was a YA book.

I read it when I was in high school, somewhere between 2005-2009

I believe the setting was fairly modern for that time period. probably in the late nineties, early 2000's?

it was set in America, in a major city. I'm not sure which one, but I wanna say it was based in New York?

I don't remember the cover very well, but I think the title was one of those titles where it's only like one or two words.

[Kris]

Torn to Pieces by Margot McDonnell?

Tonya, what's the tone or genre - mystery, humor, romance, angsty, etc.?

[Katherine]

No, the main character was just a kid.

11-14 age range.

it was a mystery/adventure/ slice of life type thing

and I don't think there was any romance

[Katherine]

it was "Say Yes" by Audrey Couloumbis

[Kris]

Thanks for the update Tonya. Here's the link - Say Yes by Audrey Couloumbis.