Every Sweet Thing is Bitter

Thirteen years ago, Providence Byrd put the family car in reverse and ran her mother over. Her mother survived, but Providence became a felon, and her life (and relationship with her family) was irrevocably changed. Now, her mother has gone missing, and Providence has returned home to try and find her mother, mend fences with her estranged sisters, and confront her abusive father. (That’s a lot!). Her sisters are both scarred by their father’s abuse and what Providence did to their mother. Providence is essentially persona non grata except her best friend’s father (now suffering from alzheimers), and her high school sweetheart Zoe (now a conservative congresswoman). She stays at her one friend’s (her roommate from prison) trailer on a neighboring Native American reservation. It was a fast read, and it was engaging, but it was hard to read. The main character made so many horrible decisions that she was hard to relate to. I didn’t like her or anyone else in the book! And I didn’t like how it ended. Not my personal favorite, but it still merits a B.