Short and Sweet:

I loved this emotional and deep story!
To Elaborate…

I am soooo happy to be on this blog tour because I can’t recommend this book enough. NAKED follows Anna, a teen prostitute who is just reunited with her family (and not quite so happily). She’s been gone for three years, and she doesn’t know how to fall back into the normal life they expect her to, not to mention that the one boy who is kind to her hates liars, and she’s trying to keep him from the truth. When someone starts leaving her notes in her locker, threatening to expose her past, and a trial involving her old boyfriend/pimp is in the works, she will find her past following her.

There are so truly heartbreaking aspects of this story. Anna’s reality is not unlike many runaway teenagers. As it mentions early in the story, she runs away because of her verbally and emotionally abusive father and a mother who seems to be too wrapped up in playing a trophy wife to help. Stacey Trombley does an incredible job of painting a realistic picture of Anna and her surroundings. The family dynamics are perfect, and I really enjoyed how both sides had to reach some sort of compromise.

Anna’s narration is saucy, tough, and sorrowful. She tries not to let the bullying from her new classmates get to her, but she also has horrible flashbacks of her time in New York, and it’s not easy. Jackson is the best possible friend to her, and I love how their relationship starts off so gentle and full of kindness. There is a minor story arc about Jackson being teased for being a virgin and not ‘putting out,’ which offers another wonderful discussion on the negative effects of a patriarchal society with enforced gender norms.

Overall, if you want a moving, intense, and important novel in your life, NAKED is the perfect fit. This story will break your heart several times, but the rings of hope throughout will leave it mending by the end. Highly recommend!