Muted by Tami Charles

Muted by Tami Charles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a great, compelling read---a novel in verse fiercely telling the story of three girls who love singing, harmonize together, and dream of escaping to the music world, singing, becoming famous and staying together----oh this does not happen! Denver and her friends Shak and Dali are 17 yrs old when they see their fave artist, Merc Ellis would be coming to their area, and decide they will make themselves heard, seen and astound Merc. As they get his eye and go back stage, all three are beguiled---what happens is that smooth Merc shows his true self and starts to isolate them---Dali and Denver if they do see it, allow themselves to be swooning over his attention and ignore the warning signals---but Shak does not and she is the first to go. Denver and Dali slip off and become Merc's proteges---but do they really? This is a must read, I could not stop turning the pages and I loved Charles' language in telling this cautionary tale. Going back and forth in time, my fear for Dali and Denver was heightened with each page I turned as they allowed themselves to go deeper and deepper into this den of horror. A must read!

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The Unbreakable Child by Kim Michele Richardson

The Unbreakable Child by Kim Michele Richardson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OMG, what a book; Kim and her sisters' go from a drug addicted mother to the St. Thomas / Saint Vincent Orphan Asylum in Kentucky where she endures a decade of beatings, torture, and spewed invective from nuns and priests. When her sister implores Kim to enter a lawsuit against this orphanage and those in power who abused 40 children. While I admired this courage from Kim, she also shortchanged herself by ignoring those who asked her to consider counseling. Maybe writing the books was her counseling but with her supportive husband and their enduring love I know Kim would find some solace. The way she shut down during the questioning by the lawyers during the deposition was enough evidence that she was not thinking correctly, counseling would have helped her---but Kim has decided to go this alone. A must read but tormenting, and life destroying for those 40 orphans, readers will be up ended with the evil that lived in those poor childrens' lives during the 1960s.

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