Joon is homeless by choice. Only if leaving a life of torture and abuse provides the justification. After hoping someone would notice her bruises and scars, Joon sees that no one is there to help. Paige Dearth examines the flaws in the foster care system that contribute to the youth homelessness. This book doesn't sugarcoat reality. It's a difficult life and everyone has a different reason for being homeless. The main character, Joon, is believable. A few of the minor characters lack depth but it could be that their stories will be told in another book

This story will evoke a wide range of emotion. Be prepared for it. I know that the next time I see someone who is homeless, my perspective will be much different than before.

I love Paige Dearth’s stories. They make me feel grateful for the life I have. This is a heartbreaking novel, a story of physical and mental child abuse. It also is a story of hope, of right winning out over evil, in spite of the challenges. Joon is 8 eyars old when both her parents die in a car crash. Until the age of 18, her life was a series of abusive foster parents, a boyfriend who sold her into prostitution and a life of being homeless and feeling hopeless. Joon is lucky enough to find people who are good friends to her, who love her and care for her. This is a story everyone should read to remind us that this sort of evil does exist. We should never close our eyes to the suffering of others, especially children.

This book is a very heart-wrenching story about being alone on the streets and in part about the what can happen in Foster Care. I was sad in part of this book but I also loved Joon and wanted her to be happy. This book took my emotions all over but I love that is a book as well. When I book make me feel something it is a great book in my opinion. *This book was given to me for free at my request from Netgalley and I provided this voluntary review.*

Gets you from page one, a real roller coaster ride could not put it down,love the main character plot moves along nicely

This book was absolutely devastating. Joon lost her parents at 8 years old, and goes into the foster system. Her foster mother is abusive and she finds herself living on the streets. Her story finds her meeting all sorts of people, young, old, male, female. All the things she said she would never do while on the streets, becomes her nightmare and reality.

Her strength, courage and determination to survive is strong enough to get her through the worst of struggles. My only critique is that at times the stories of her past were told in an almost detached third party way, which felt a little off. Otherwise the story was beautifully written, I found myself in tears at time, even when the material was so brutally violent and dehumanizing.

I received this book for free from Netgalley and Publisher/author in exchange for a honest review.

When I read the synopsis on this book, I knew I wanted it. I use to live with my family that were foster parents. We would get these poor children and some stories they would tell you would break your heart. So I wanted to read this. It did hit very close to home.

This is a story about Joon. She was 8 years when her parents passed. Placed into foster care, which is where you expect to go to receive love and to be cared for, but that was not the case for poor Joon. Desperate to leave this home life, she ran to the streets which is not the life she expected either. My heart ached in this book.

I remember reading "A child called it" and I remember how sick to my stomach that book made me feel and this one was right there with it.

I commend the author on this book. Definitely a 5 star!

First thing I would like to say is Wow! I never really read books like this because I find them sad and sometimes even disgusting. I want to praise Paige Dearth for giving just enough. Joon's journey was difficult and hard, you definitely felt for the girl. I am glad that the bad guys paid in the end and Joon was finally surrounded with people who loved her and she loved back. This book is very easy to read and tugs at the heart and soul. I have always had empathy for the homeless, but this made me really think what causes people to become homeless. Great Job Paige and keep up the great work. I can hardly wait to read another of your books.

To understand the intense work of Ms Dearth, you should read what she calls ”some dirt on the author” that proceeds this story. That alone leaves you with a sense of why she writes these stories that leave you drained. Or at least that is what they do to me. In this work the main character Joon is placed with a foster mother and two foster brothers who treat her horrible and she feels she has no choice but to run away.

Becoming a homeless teen, she makes a decision that will forever change her life and it takes away some of the pain that she has experienced in her world.

When I first started reading this book, I admit to having to put it down and gather myself as it is just that intense. This is my second read by Ms Dearth and I enjoyed this book as much as I did the first one, even with the tough subject matter. Being homeless is no joke but the fact that Ms Dearth is in her own way shining a light on the life of people who live one day at a time may wake people up to do something.

I highly suggest you read this book and all her work. Insightful.

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.

This is a brutal story of abuse and homelessness and the violence and degradation that Joon encounters first from her foster family and then when living on the street. Although this is a horrific tale it does seem to drag on and the ending was a bit Hallmark movie-ish.

Joon is eight years old when her parents are killed and she is put into the foster care system. For 4 years, she is with the same family, but the way they treat her is worse than you would an enemy. When Joon has her chance, she runs away an tried to make a life for herself on the streets. She sees more in her short life than many people experience in an entire lifetime. Will Joon be able to survive on the streets or will she succumb to the pressures of drugs and prostitution?

Thank you to NetGalley and Fiction With Meaning for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a book that every person should read. We have all seen a homeless person and I'm sure many of us judge them without knowing their situation and how they got to where they are. For some, maybe living on the street is better than their other choices.

In this story, I could see myself as Joon, going through life trying to survive, but I don't think I could have done all she did. This book will make you cry, it is absolutely heart wrenching. You want to jump in and try to save Joon. According to the Author's Notes(yes I read those), this book was taken from her own experience with homelessness.

Again, this is a book everyone should read. It will make you look at the world and the people in it very differently. We are all human and we all are just trying to make it through life with the cards we were dealt. Some of us were given a great hand, and others the worse, but it's what we do with it that makes all the difference.

This is a very powerful, touching and heartfelt book. The story is realistic and resonates with horror, hopelessness, pain, grief and much more. It's heart wrenching and I cried several times while reading it. Once I started reading it I couldn't stop no matter how sad I became.

Never be alone



I could not stop reading this book. I wanted to reach into the book and take her out of her nightmare. To think there are kids out there that are badly abused, and no one says anything. Or even call for help.

As I continued to read what happened to her, over and over again , my heart broke more and more. I had just finished reading "When Smiles Fade" also written by Paige Dearth, I realized that "Never be alone" was written first.

So if the men and women in this book, took a larger part in "When Smiles Fade" some of the location were mentioned in that book and it all made it clearer to me. I was so upset for Joon and the people that looked out for her. But good always wins.

The book stayed with the grit and gloom to this young girls life. Sometime it was getting better, then it got worse. Much worse. Her spirit kept her alive, because she know one day she would make a difference. She just didn't know how, when or where.

How could a 12 year old girl make it in a dirty, mean world? You are reading a book that has sexual abuse, and torture in it. It may not be for you to read. Or you NEED to read it to realize homeless people didn't ask to live their lives bagging and sleeping in card board boxes. They needed to just get by, hour by hour, day by day.

Their home for the night constantly changes, if they don't beg they dont eat. They find places to sneak into to get washed and if they are lucky they find a place that has showers.

The people that see them begging on the street think they lazy, and don't want to follow mommy and daddy's rule. When often they are in the street because of mommy and daddy's actions.

I gave it 5 stars, because it was a learning experience. It showed me not to judge anyone one. To respect their efforts to live one more day.

Downloaded through Netgalley to read for an honest review!

For the life of me I don't understand why I read this type of book since they are heartbreaking. This author tells the story of Joon which breaks your heart you actually think that you are right there sharing this child's pain and seeing sadness through her eyes. A very touching book that only Ms. Dearth can tell.

Yet again Paige Dearth has written a book I was unable to put down.
Joon, a child of eight tragically loses her parents and is taken to a foster home with a lady called Aron who has two sons. From the moment Joon is left there by the Social Worker her life will never be the same. Joon is subjected to the most horrifying brutal and vicious abuse.
As she develops into a young woman one of the sons starts to look at her as a potential sex slave so Joon escapes and lives on the streets. There she meets others but the path that follows leads to more abuse and heartbreak.
This book left me feeling emotionally drained. What Paige has also managed to do is touch base with characters from her previous novel 'Mean Little People'.

Once every so often, if you're lucky, you stumble across a book that takes you outside yourself and places you in another person's life. This book does that. I'll admit I've often bemoaned the life lived by our homeless. I've done so from the safety of my car drinking my Starbucks. This book put me there. I cared about the characters, I cried for them and I bowed my head in shame at my self righteous pitying of them. This isn't a light read, not for the beach. It is a thought provoking well written glimpse.into the world of the homeless. It's a journey worth taking the time for and I'm grateful the author provided the means.

As with all of Paige Dearth books, they're powerful, moving and memorable!I'm always unable to put her books down, and this one is no exception! I can't wait for her next book out! I can't get enough of this author!

I was immediately attracted by the cover we see little Joon with his blue eyes.

We find Joon who lost his parents and his host family is dangerous. She had a good life with her deceased parents. She was happy, but at the age of eight she was placed at the home of this single mother and her two sons, and she was going to suffer what she never thought would exist: the cruelty, the brutality of this family. She will go live on the street and find comfort with this group of homeless but will she get out of it?

A touching story with the endearing character of Joon, I immediately got into the skin of his character, would I have the strength to live in the street if I was she with all that is happening right now in the streets. Look forward to reading another book by this author who has potential.

I just could not finish reading this book .It was just over the top with abuse and degradation that it was kind of unbelievable.

This book got me so involved emotionally that I cried at one point. It is perhaps the saddest book I have ever read. The main character endures a life of torture and depravity from the beginning of the book to the end. The writing is brilliant and captures the environment and action very well. I feel very well acquainted with life on the streets. Yet, the question is: Do I want to be? The book is an exercise in raw realism without any redeeming value, despite a brief ray of hope in the final chapter. I found the story agonizing, as I don't like exposure to torture of children. Would I read it again? No!

This book completely sucked me in! Never Be Alone is the story of Joon, a young girl who ends up in foster care when both her parents die. It tells the story of what happens when she escapes the abusive foster mother and begins her life on the street. Some people judge the homeless, thinking it’s all drugs that make them choose that life. But as you’ll read, many don’t choose it, they have no other choice. Heartbreaking story told in an unforgettable way.