- This is a light read. It's a charming story but with little meaning or depth. It indulges in standard homeless and junkie tropes, but thankfully rises above cliche because of the highly likeable and sympathetic young woman who narrates it.
- I was expecting a lot more given Brandi's first novel, Wimmera, was just so powerful and intense.
- The narrator occasionally hints as to why she's ended up on the street. Her mother died very young and she's been subjected to a series of ‘fosters’ for most of her childhood.
- She’s sensitive, aware and reflective, but also very innocent and naive, much to her detriment. She is abused in every way - sexual, physical, emotional. Food is rarely affordable, and then it’s McDonalds or cold pizza or dump bin leftovers.
- The people who help her along the way are portrayed very sympathetically - the police, the health professionals, the Salvos, even her neighbours in her low rent apartment block. She also has a good friend in Anton and adores her dog Sonny.
- Unfortunately she and Anton end up sharing an apartment with a real low-life, a nasty piece of work, and it doesn't end well for either of them.
- Brandi has a masterful control over the pace of the buildup, and the voice of the narrator. The girl is virtually confiding in you, the reader, and she sucks you in, your compassion building.
- As a story the tension builds, however the resolution is a real letdown. It's as if Brandi has deserted the scene of the crime. Perhaps he was just being too nice.
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