True Confessions of a Heartless Girl by Martha Brooks

Seventeen-year-old Noreen has had a tough life, and that's part of the reason she steals her boyfriend's truck and drives off into the stormy night. She stops at a little diner to grab a coffee, which is arguably one of the best decisions she's made in a long time. She meets a young woman and her son, a wise old lady, and an suffering man, all who have problems of their own. As Noreen continues to make bad choices and learns from her mistakes, the individuals in this quaint Canadian town come together to create a better future for Noreen and themselves.

So. I'm on the fence about this book. It was well-written, no doubt about that, and Martha Brooks has this flow to her writing that must have taken awhile to perfect. The characterization of the individuals in this town was very good: everyone had their own backstory and past, which made them interesting to read about. The only character I didn't like was Noreen, who happened to be the protagonist. For some reason, I can never sympathize (in most cases) with characters who throw their lives away and don't really give a crap about anything or anyone. That was Noreen. At least it was her throughout most of the book, until the end. She did change her ways, I'll give her credit for that. But for practically all the book, she whined and moped and basically did nothing to solve her problems and even created new problems for the people in this town. I started to feel bad for these poor people, because Noreen started fires and caused dogs to get sick, and so on. Besides Noreen, I didn't mind the book. Although, I think if Noreen remained a static character throughout the whole novel, I wouldn't have liked it at all.

6 out of 10.