alexissims 's review for:

Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock
2.0

This was a "2005 Highlights" recommended book from the Independent Bookseller List (I have liked several from this list including The History of Love, Banishing Verona, Any Bitter Thing, and A Complicated Kindness)...
I would give it 2 1/2 stars. Several things bothered me. It seemed like a slightly cliched version of a "typical" poverty-stricken little girl getting abused by her stepfather while uttering adorable southern phrases. The only problem is that I feel like I've read a dozen books like this with 2 major differences 1) they were better written (ie Book of Ruth, Bastard out of Carolina) 2) the author was actually southern so knew how to cleverly and consistently use southern lingo.
With that said, this one DID have a twist at the end, which saved the book for me.