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    Little Peach
    Little Peach
    Little Peach
    Audiobook3 hours

    Little Peach

    Written by Peggy Kern

    Narrated by Imani Parks

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A riveting and powerful story of a runaway girl lured into prostitution in New York City, perfect for fans of Ellen Hopkins and Patricia McCormick.

    What do you do if you're in trouble?

    When Michelle runs away from her drug-addicted mother, she has just enough money to make it to New York City, where she hopes to move in with a friend. But once she arrives at the bustling Port Authority, she is confronted with the terrifying truth: She is alone and out of options.

    Then she meets Devon, a good-looking, well-dressed guy who emerges from the crowd armed with a kind smile, a place for her to stay, and eyes that seem to understand exactly how she feels. But Devon is not who he seems to be, and soon Michelle finds herself engulfed in the world of child prostitution, where he becomes her "Daddy" and she is his "Little Peach." It is a world of impossible choices, where the line between love and abuse, captor and savior, is blurred beyond recognition.

    This hauntingly vivid story illustrates the human spirit's indomitable search for home and one girl's struggle to survive.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 10, 2015
    ISBN9780062327253
    Little Peach
    Author

    Peggy Kern

    Peggy Kern has written two books for the Bluford Series. She lives with her daughter in Massachusetts.

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    Reviews for Little Peach

    4/5

    35 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      My heart is aching :(
    • 4/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

      Quick & Dirty: A short but intense and thought provoking read.

      Opening Sentence: You asked me to tell you the truth, but I’m not sure you’ll believe me, even though I’ve practically killed myself to find you.

      The Review:

      Little Peach is just over 200 pages but what a powerful read. This book is a must read for all readers despite your interests since it covers such an important issue; prostitution and the sale of vulnerable girls as a business. It’s hard to believe that these things still happen but believe I must because it’s all true. There are young girls like Michelle who have run away from home to escape sexual abuse, only to be manipulated into a ‘better life’ by pimps like Devon.

      “You only missin’ if somebody looking for you.” Kat’s words slice through the air. “Understand? We ain’t missin’, Peach. We just gone.”

      ‘Urgh’ is the only decent word I can use to describe Devon. How can someone stoop so low, taking advantage of damaged girls, giving them false dreams and ultimately owning these girls? The actual branding of his name on them was horrific. He abused their trust, pretending to be their friend. That’s just, urgh.

      “But you try to take off? They’ll beat your ass ‘cause you’ll get us all locked up. Understand? Every single one of them. If you lose your shit and go runnin’ out the door lookin’ for fuckin’ Batman to come up in here and save your ass, you gonna get beat. And then I’m gonna get beat for not beatin’ you myself.”

      Although Little Peach focuses on three girls in particular, each of them had sad histories that were described with such detail that I felt connected to them all. Of course, Michelle being the main character held most of my sympathy. We learn about her horrifying history, how her trust is abused and the things she is forced to do to survive.

      “Michelle? Is your mother dead?”
      I want to say yes. I want it to be true. I want to say she’s the one who died on the couch last year, who got wheeled out on a stretcher and never came back. I want it to be her.
      But the wrong people die. The dead people are the good ones, the bad ones get to walk around like nothing. Like they got a right to keep breathing while the ones you need just leave their skin, waste away till there ain’t nothing left but a stupid dirty T-shirt and what you can barely remember.

      However, there are thousands of girls out there that come from terrible backgrounds and end up like the main characters of this story. The worst thing is that nothing is done about it. We say we’ve come so far, developed mind blowing technology but issues such as prostitution and sexual abuse have been there for centuries and continue to remain unchanged. Little Peach makes you wonder whether such issues will ever be resolved…

      Notable Scene:

      I know that you will take me to a group home. I got no family. There’s no one left to love me. That’s where girls like me end up: a brick building with other kids that nobody wants. We stay there till we’re big and then they let us go too.

      I’m not stupid, Kat. I know there ain’t no magic place for kids like us.

      FTC Advisory: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins provided me with a copy of Little Peach. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 4/5
      3.5
      I wanted to read Little Peach because topics like sex trafficking really speaks to me. Women and girls who are taking advantage of are such important topic and fiction like this, with powerful writing and hard-hitting emotions showing how its possible to end up in such a compromising situation.

      I felt for Michelle, but I didn't connect with her as much as I wanted to. It was a fast moving, shorter read. The author used flashbacks to tell the story, going to her childhood to show her connection to her grandpa, and the dysfunction surrounding her mom. In her present, she is in the hospital after being beaten up. There is the lady she is addressing, who seems to be in her corner the most. The cops are short with her as well as the nurse because they are weary and see so many girls who sell their bodies come through that they don't always seem to stop and realize that there is a damaged little girl forced into this lifestyle.

      Devon creates a home that seems welcoming, and he helps her when she shows up in NYC and has no one else. She is exhausted, starved, and wearing her grandpa's tshirt too big for her. He fed her, gave her a bed, took her shopping for clothes, and she felt taken care of for the first time in a while. There are two girls that live with them, Baby and Kat. Baby still has an innocence to her, and my heart went out to her. Kat tried to help Peach aka Michelle learn the ropes no matter how unpleasant.

      Baby was twelve years old, but a lot of her actions were like she was still a preschooler. She sucked her thumb, watched the same movies over and over. But then there were times when she was older than her years. She slept too much, and she was able to shut herself from reality when she was doing tricks.

      Michelle finally got a lot of courage, but it took a lot to open her eyes to the reality and brutality of working for a gang member pimp. She was beaten, in a lot of pain, and had to see so much that someone her age shouldn't have it.

      I liked that it showed some hope for her moving forward but also the reality that after going through something like that, certain things will always be darker. As a teen still, she knew that having no family and leaving would put her in the foster system, a group home, and those of course are notorious for abuse and neglect.


      Bottom Line: Fast and emotional look at a teen's homelessness and descent into being pimped out.