A review by thissagreads
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

Did not finish book. Stopped at 56%.

ALL OF THE TRIGGERS!! I couldn’t finish this book because the pace was slow. The amount of triggering trauma happening to this *child* was overwhelmingly heavy, without reprieve. After the second hour of listening I was hopeful that the main character Kiara- would catch a break. But she didn’t, and the amount of TW was wild. Yes I understood that the author was shining light on very bleak situations that anyone can find themselves in, if given scraps and being abandoned. 

By the 6th hour, there continued to be a lot of “well I just have to do what I have to do” mentality, on top of having to trick/prostitute  while trying to take care of the neighbor’s kid since his mom is just looking for her next fix …. I don’t really understand the appeal, even if the author is a young, award winning poet and started writing this book at 16 years old. Very disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Gun violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Addiction, Abandonment, Child abuse, Rape, Death, and Sexual assault

TRIGGER WARNING!! Kiara’s brother is a shitty rapper who’s not working to pay the bills in the tiny apartment they both share. He won’t step up so Kiara’s been working but still struggling. She’s already asked her brother to help out but he’s whining about wanting to rap and asks for a month to “make it”. She agrees but one night she goes to see her brother’s ex girlfriend (at the bar she works at) and accidentally gets drunk. Then she sees a GROWN MAN who’s into her, and they walk off to -what Kiara thought- was going to be a consensual hook up, but he ends raping her. Then after throwing money at her, Kiara gets the idea to start prostituting herself while her brother gets the month to “release his album”. But unfortunately she gets pulled into the underworld quickly, accepts a gig with cops and then of course everyone takes advantage of her. So Kiara’s life just gets worse. ESPECIALLY after her brother tells her he won’t support her! And on top of that her mom is AWFUL and couldn’t give a damn about her 2 kids struggling to keep the lights on, this monster killed their little sister in the bathtub and refuses to take accountability so she’s been in prison and a Safeway house. This book was just fucking awful and riddled with trauma that I felt was overdone and unnecessary.