A review by ravensandlace
Pebble in the Rough by Michael Tailin

3.0

Title: Pebble in the Rough

Author: Michael Tailin

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Format: ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Series: NA

Star Rating: 3 stars

tw: embezzlement, emotional abuse, bullying, assault, alcohol, implied sexual assault, grand theft auto, damage of property, derogatory statements toward poor/impoverished people, drugs

“Sometimes when they turn out all the lights, you just have to walk in the shadows.”

Sometimes all you need is a book that’ll rip out your heart and then slowly build it back up and then you are never the same. This is one of those books. This book has it all: found family, perseverance through hard times and never judging a book by its cover. You truly never know what someone is going through. 

With this book, there are two POVs, Alex and Audrey. Alex gets most of the page time as the story does seem to revolve around him for the most part. My heart broke for this boy. All he wanted was to be reunited with his sister, Audrey. And she just wanted the same. My heart was just constantly broken for them both and I was truly hoping throughout the book that they would get what they wanted. Because they deserved it so much.

There were a few unrealistic things that were happening. One was how teenage boys would have discussions about the world and the state of it. The conversations were like what grown adults would be saying. Not that I’m saying teen boys can’t have those convos but it just felt very off. There was also some confusion for me, and I’ll touch on this in the next paragraph, of how Alex could get away with just making up a name and nobody bothering to check out to see if this was correct. It just seems like a wild thing to happen, even with a foster care system that is so broken. 

But this book brought attention to me, just how messed up the foster care system is. I truly didn’t realize how bad things could be. I mean I know that the system is pretty broken. There is a huge problem with understaffing and abuse that happens in the system. But it didn’t really hit me until I read this book. What Audrey went through was absolutely deplorable but honestly, I wasn’t that surprised by it. I know it happens a lot more than people think. It shocked me how Alex managed to slip through the cracks. It was all just very shocking to me and I just felt so sad about the whole thing. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot as you might have been able to tell by my glowing review. My heart was broken the whole time I read it until the very end and then my heart was repaired. I very highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy brave characters who persevere through it all.