My rating: 5 of 5 stars
HARDCOVER BOOK - 1538744090 / 9781538744093
ELECTRONIC BOOK - 1538744104 / 9781538744109
Available in the U.S. March 6, 2018
Never cut the drugs--leave them pure.
Guns are meant to be shot--keep them loaded.
Family is everything--betray them and die.
Harley McKenna is the only child of North County's biggest criminal. Duke McKenna's run more guns, cooked more meth, and killed more men than anyone around. Harley's been working for him since she was sixteen--collecting debts, sweet-talking her way out of trouble, and dreading the day he'd deem her ready to rule the rural drug empire he's built.
Her time's run out. The Springfields, her family's biggest rivals, are moving in. Years ago, they were responsible for her mother's death, and now they're coming for Duke's only weak spot: his daughter.
With a bloody turf war threatening to consume North County, Harley is forced to confront the truth: that her father's violent world will destroy her. Duke's raised her to be deadly--he never counted on her being disloyal. But if Harley wants to survive and protect the people she loves, she's got to take out Duke's operation and the Springfields.
Blowing up meth labs is dangerous business, and getting caught will be the end of her, but Harley has one advantage: She is her father's daughter. And McKennas always win.
Tess Sharpe is a new name for me since I don't read much YA nowadays. However, I might have to check out her other books because this her first novel for adults blow my mind. I can honestly say that I was both surprised and delighted on how good the book is. Now, I felt right from the start, reading the first chapter that this felt right, it caught my attention and I was sucked into Harley's world. A friend on twitter called this rural noir and that is a fitting description of this book.
Harley McKenna is the only daughter of Duke McKenna, North County's biggest baddest criminal. She's been working for him since she was sixteen collecting debts as he's trained her to one day take over after him. However, time is up now, his father's archnemesis Carl Springfield, the man who is responsible for Harley's mom's death, is closing in on them and Hartley has decided enough is enough, and she knows that this world that here father and Springfield has created, a deadly world will be the end of her. So, she decided to change it all, and take out both her father's and operation and Springfields.
Barbed Wire Heart is a gritty book about family, survival, and meth. Harley is not your typical young woman, she watched her mother get killed when she was little. Not long time after that did she watch her father kill a man. That's just a small part of what she has been through and through this story, we get to follow Harley as she once and for all change, her future, at the same time do we get interwoven chapters from her childhood and teens that explain how she grows to be the woman she is today. It's such a fabulous book. I loved reading it, I found Harley to be such a wonderful character and I was totally engrossed in the book. Yes, it's a violent book, but it's a violent world that Harley lives in. However, there are some lighter moments, one of the best and most heartbreaking chapters is one of the shortest when Harley recollects a memory of her father from when she was little. It was heartbreaking. I could go on and on about this book, but I will just say that this is a book that I'm truly glad that I read and it's definitely one of the best I have read this year.
I want to thank Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!
Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe
--- Booklist (STARRED REVIEW)
--- Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)
--- Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Timesbestselling author of Find Her
--- David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author of End Game
--- David Joy, bestselling author of Where All Light Tends To Go
--- Beth Lewis, author of The Wolf Road
--- Leah Weiss, bestselling author of If The Creek Don't Rise
ELECTRONIC BOOK - 1538744104 / 9781538744109
Available in the U.S. March 6, 2018
Never cut the drugs--leave them pure.
Guns are meant to be shot--keep them loaded.
Family is everything--betray them and die.
Harley McKenna is the only child of North County's biggest criminal. Duke McKenna's run more guns, cooked more meth, and killed more men than anyone around. Harley's been working for him since she was sixteen--collecting debts, sweet-talking her way out of trouble, and dreading the day he'd deem her ready to rule the rural drug empire he's built.
Her time's run out. The Springfields, her family's biggest rivals, are moving in. Years ago, they were responsible for her mother's death, and now they're coming for Duke's only weak spot: his daughter.
With a bloody turf war threatening to consume North County, Harley is forced to confront the truth: that her father's violent world will destroy her. Duke's raised her to be deadly--he never counted on her being disloyal. But if Harley wants to survive and protect the people she loves, she's got to take out Duke's operation and the Springfields.
Blowing up meth labs is dangerous business, and getting caught will be the end of her, but Harley has one advantage: She is her father's daughter. And McKennas always win.
**********
Harley McKenna is the only daughter of Duke McKenna, North County's biggest baddest criminal. She's been working for him since she was sixteen collecting debts as he's trained her to one day take over after him. However, time is up now, his father's archnemesis Carl Springfield, the man who is responsible for Harley's mom's death, is closing in on them and Hartley has decided enough is enough, and she knows that this world that here father and Springfield has created, a deadly world will be the end of her. So, she decided to change it all, and take out both her father's and operation and Springfields.
Barbed Wire Heart is a gritty book about family, survival, and meth. Harley is not your typical young woman, she watched her mother get killed when she was little. Not long time after that did she watch her father kill a man. That's just a small part of what she has been through and through this story, we get to follow Harley as she once and for all change, her future, at the same time do we get interwoven chapters from her childhood and teens that explain how she grows to be the woman she is today. It's such a fabulous book. I loved reading it, I found Harley to be such a wonderful character and I was totally engrossed in the book. Yes, it's a violent book, but it's a violent world that Harley lives in. However, there are some lighter moments, one of the best and most heartbreaking chapters is one of the shortest when Harley recollects a memory of her father from when she was little. It was heartbreaking. I could go on and on about this book, but I will just say that this is a book that I'm truly glad that I read and it's definitely one of the best I have read this year.
Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in a mountain cabin to a punk rocker mother, Tess Sharpe grew up in rural Northern California. She lives deep in the backwoods with a lot of dogs and a growing colony of slightly feral cats. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed YA novel Far From You and the co-editor of Toil & Trouble, a feminist YA anthology.
WEBSITE: http://www.tess-sharpe.com/
FACEBOOK: @authortess.sharpe
TWITTER: @Sharpegirl
PRAISE FOR BARBED WIRE HEART:
"[BARBED WIRE HEART] introduces a major talent...This hard-edged thriller set in the gold rush country of Northern California... has a welcome, powerful feminist sensibility and with its relentless intensity, gritty atmosphere, and compelling father-daughter psychology, this promises to be one of the best books of 2018."
--- Kirkus (STARRED REVIEW) --- Booklist (STARRED REVIEW)
--- Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)
--- Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Timesbestselling author of Find Her
--- David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author of End Game
--- David Joy, bestselling author of Where All Light Tends To Go
--- Beth Lewis, author of The Wolf Road
--- Leah Weiss, bestselling author of If The Creek Don't Rise
"A pulsepounding thriller...masterfully written and constructed....With her powerful debut, Sharpe is definitely a name to watch."
"A high-tension thriller...[Harley is] relentlessly tough and profoundly compassionate...This is a deeply affecting story about the complex family dynamics of growing up in the midst of a drug-trade blood feud...Highly satisfying."
"Read this book! From the opening scene to the adrenaline-fueled finale, this is the rare thriller that packs an emotional punch as compelling as the deadly drug war that must be won at any cost. Harley is absolutely my kind of kick ass heroine. She's one of the most complex, fascinating, dangerous characters I've encountered in years. And BARBED WIRE HEART is the kind of novel that will stay with you long after the end."
"A terrific novel of suspense, heartbreak, morality and family. Harley McKenna is a remarkable character. The pages will turn themselves and stay with you for a long time."
"BARBED WIRE HEART is balanced on a knifepoint, a novel teetering between hope and fate, loyalty and betrayal. With a story of family and a narrator wrought hard as iron, Tess Sharpe has written a ballad of survival sung by a voice you'll never forget."
"Harley McKenna is fierce and unforgettable, a protagonist who takes 'strong female character' to a new level. With shades of Winter's Bone and True Grit, the writing is pin-sharp, with an engaging, masterfully sustained voice, and an utterly captivating story. Tess Sharpe is a writer to watch."
"Harley McKenna is a young woman raised in a harsh world of meth and madness, a lone girl with a conscience raised by a lawless daddy. I love Tess Sharpe's clean-boned writing and tension that makes my heart gallop. Add the underdog fighting against heroic odds, and a universal cause that hits home, and I'm hooked. I am a fan!"
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