FINDING HOME - Lauren Baker and Bonnie Dee
A Perfect 10
Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1-59998-305-2
January 2007
Contemporary Romance

Los Angeles, California - the Present

Megan works as a proofreader at a small weekly newspaper, but she hungers for juicier work. When Megan first meets Mouth, a homeless teenage hustler, on the streets of L.A., he's the perfect subject for the expose she hopes will help her break into journalism. She doesn't expect to be drawn into his life or to become his friend; she doesn't mean to care about the kids she's writing about, but as her article proceeds and she spends her nights down on Santa Monica Boulevard, the lines blur between subject and researcher.

FINDING HOME offers a raw, gritty look at the underbelly of modern life. Dark and vividly drawn, we experience this world through Megan's eyes. At the beginning, she's a little lost; out of college, but oddly unsure of herself and her skills. Megan has led a fairly sheltered life, devoid of drama or darkness. In contrast, Mouth possesses a scarred and wary world-weariness; he's too old for his age and oh-so-young at the same time, tender beneath his external cynicism. These two characters stand among the most compelling I've ever read, and their rendered contrast achieves artistic perfection, a study in light and shadow.

Past precedent seems to suggest Megan has a history of screwing things up, so she's determined to take her career as a journalist seriously, even when she's utterly, some might even say self-destructively, drawn to the street kid, Mouth. The chemistry between them sparks, sizzling with need and trepidation. He's everything she shouldn't want, and since he's just seventeen, he could literally ruin her life. Yet for reasons she cannot articulate, Mouth is everything she does want. Desperately. But she fights the attraction, knowing he's been victimized by adults who always want something from him. Always. He's heartbreaking in his simplicity and in the verity of his shattered expectations. Mouth expects to pay for a night on her couch with sex, saying simply, "With you, well--it wouldn't be a chore, you know?" With those words, he illuminates what his life has been like -- a constant barter of innocence too precious to lose.

FINDING HOME is the most beautiful book I've read this year. It possesses a haunting, visceral power, and this writing team produces seamless, utterly lyrical prose. It is rich and textured, gritty and real as life itself is real. From the beginning, even the exposition felt like foreplay, fleshing out a passionate, poignant, and utterly forbidden relationship with delicacy and simmering subtlety. Each glance possessed the heat of a dying sun; each kiss left me breathless. Much like Megan, I was in love with Mouth from the first moment I saw him leaning against the brick wall, smoking a cigarette with sensual grace.

I loved this story. Words fail me as to how much. If you read just one e-book this year, let it be FINDING HOME. And just ache with the pure, agonizing beauty of it.

Ann Aguirre