This book was disappointing. It centers around a reporter who takes a picture of two kids holding a sign that says they're for sale. Who are those kids? Why are they being sold? What is their family like? What happens to them? These are just a few questions that are never answered by the book since those two children never reappear after the first chapter.

I hate to judge a book for not being about what I wanted, but curiosity about the children was most of the reason I was interested in this. The synopsis on the back of my book seemed to imply the kids were involved (it ends by saying the reporter and his coworker are trying to mend a fractured family). I struggled really hard to get past the fact that the story being told was not the one I'd really signed on to read, and I don't think I was successful.

Instead the story centers around reporter Ellis Reed. The synopsis describes him as struggling, but by chapter three he's been offered a feature and then he gets offered a fantastic job out in New York, so struggling seems like a bit of a reach. There's also Lillian Palmer, a young woman who had a child out of wedlock and lives in total fear of being found out, yet literally everyone she interacts with is wholly supportive of her situation.

It takes place during the Great Depression, but all the central characters seem relatively well off. They have decent jobs, they're covering rent fine and building up their savings. They can afford to help out others. I know that not everyone was homeless or starving during that time, but for a book that was about selling children, I kind of expected it to be a more central focus.

I didn't enjoy reading about the reporter very much. I found him boring and annoying. It was kind of disappointing to go from this heart wrenching family situation to a random reporter making good money and acting like a jerk for no good reason.

I didn't enjoy the romance and didn't feel a lot of chemistry between the characters. One of them was kind of dating someone else she had no romantic interest in for a while, but I didn't think they had any less chemistry than the main couple. I just didn't vibe with them.

I think perhaps I wouldn't have minded having my expectations so wrong if I'd enjoyed the actual story, but the whole time I was thinking how much more interesting it would be if we were learning about the parents who decided to sell their children. I really wanted to know more about them and Ellis Reed didn't feel like main character material to me.

I think the writing was good and I definitely wouldn't be against reading another Kristina McMorris book. I was definitely a well crafted story. Just unfortunately, it wasn't a story I was particularly interested in.