DNF at 32%

I just couldn’t get through this book! I did like to see how Abby had to struggle to do “simple” things like take a shower and brush her teeth. But it was so repetitive and stated so many things that could have been implied that I couldn’t continue.

Roam is an honest and heart-breaking story about life as a homeless teenager.

Starting a new school is difficult at the best of times but when you’re living in the back of your van with no money or food, it can seem virtually impossible. This is the position Abby finds herself in.
After both her parents lose their jobs and are evicted from their home, they decide to move to Rochester where there is a support network available for the homeless. Abby, feeling ashamed and embarrassed, decides to keep this a secret and attempts to be a ‘normal’ teenager. But as friendships grow and a romance develops, can she continue to live a lie?

I really enjoyed this book. Thought provoking and distressing at times, Roam gives a real insight into what it means to be homeless; sleeping in a van, eating at soup kitchens and using the bathroom facilities in Walmart to stay clean! The challenges faced by the whole family were tough to read about, especially as a parent, but the overwhelming kindness of strangers was what really hit me the hardest. It made me sit back and appreciate what I have and what more I could do to help those less fortunate than myself.

Now don’t get me wrong, this book is not without its flaws. The instant popularity that Abby finds at her new school and her insta-love with the school’s quarterback are a bit cheesy. Alongside that is the naive and slightly offensive reaction Abby has to finding out her friend Josh is gay (she asks him if he’s sure?!?!) However I’m prepared to forgive all of that because the book is trying to portray a very positive message about homelessness. It demonstrates that not all homeless people expect or want handouts and that what they really need is empathy and kindness. There’s also a strong message about the importance of forgiveness.

Overall this was a great read and I loved that it covered a topic that is not often discussed in YA fiction.

Well worth a read in my opinion - 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (rounded up to 5)

Roam will be available from February 5th 2019.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (Central Avenue Publishing) for providing a copy. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.

I write this review through tears. I was planning on posting this later but I need to write this now because I haven't been this emotional after a book in a very long time. 🤧

Roam is phenomenal. It is brilliant. I am not a big contemporary reader and I often feel let down but Roam is stunningly beautiful and needs to be read by everyone. ❤

"being a homeless teen is hard... Hiding it is harder"💔

I read this in one sitting. Abby's story resonated so deeply and I'm still torn between heartbreak and bittersweet hopefulness. 💞

I'm INCREDIBLY passionate about homelessness and providing assistance to those I can whenever I can. Reading this reasserted EXACTLY why it is something so close to my heart. 💓

This book is a lesson in empathy wrapped as a contemporary novel. It's not preachy. It's raw and emotional. It's believable. It's beautiful.💖

Roam conquers homelessness, the relationship between family both blood and adopted, bullying, ptsd, LGBTIQ pride, and the innate goodness of humanity ❤

I can't recommend this book enough. It's out February 5th and if you can get your hands on it, bought or borrowed please read it ❤

Thank you to NetGalley, Central Avenue Publishing, and C.H. Armstrong for an ARC ebook copy to review. As always, an honest review from me.

My rating is actually 4.5 stars but since there aren't half stars, I always round up.

Like:
- The family relationships: meaningful, realistic, but tense at times
- Abby is a great character: kind, relatable, hard working

Love:
- Highlights the resources available to people struggling with lack of housing, food, money, clothing, etc.
- The overall concept: a homeless teenager navigating life, high school, family, friends and her future as normally as possible
- Great representation of an underrepresented population
- Abby’s relationship with her friends and boyfriend
- The teachers and other adults looking out for her in a non judgmental, discrete manner #TeacherGoals
- A realistic look at the day in the life of a person dealing with the struggles of being homeless

Dislike:
- The character of Trish: mean girl/bully to many people

Wish that:
- The premise of them becoming homeless made more sense. It’s sort of explained at the end, but there were still a few loose ends.
- The ending was done better- wrapped up the story a little too quickly and neatly

Overall, an absolutely captivating read about an under discussed topic. A book that should be in the curriculum of many high school English and humanity classes.

This book was amazing, and it is about a problem/problems a lot of people and families are facing-homelessness. In this story we see the hopelessness, despair, and misery, told in the point of view of a 17 year old girl, named Abby Lunde, and this tells her family's story.

After Abby's Mother does something that causes her to lose her job, and ultimately everything, they have to leave and move to Minnesota to live in a van in the Walmart parking lot-there is nowhere else for them to go. They couldn't stay where they were as they were evicted. on top of everything else the days are getting colder and snow is coming. All the shelters are full. They eat at soup kitchens and Abby is always worried her friends may see her.

Abby has to learn to be so careful to hide her shameful secret, as she tries to appear normal as the new girl at a new high school, she is 17 years old. She makes a few friends and then she meets a nice young man. Unfortunately she has caught the attention of her boyfriend's ex girlfriend who is willing to do anything to get him back-even if it means hurting someone.

This is Abby's story to tell, and you will feel her despair and also her other feelings as you get swept up in her circumstances. I gave this book 5 stars and hope a lot of people read it! Especially young adults.

4/5 ⭐️
I found this book really interesting. Being from Minnesota I definitely know how bad the weather can get. I felt bad for Abby and her family and how they had to struggle so much. Life can be unfair sometimes.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good YA novel about a homeless teenager and struggles within the family. I love the message of the novel.

I have never cried so much reading a book as I did while reading this one. It was so hard to read from a perspective of someone who is homeless, and still I can't even imagine what it would be like to live under such circumstances. This book moved me so much, and I'm so thankful I had my wish granted on NetGalley. The characters and their relationships were amazing to read about. Go read this book! And have some tissues with you...

Thanks to an ARC I had the privilege of reading this book prior to its release. I typically do not read a lot of YA but after reading this book I am apt to read more of. Roam had a quick pace throughout the book and captured me from the beginning. This as a great read.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

ROAM is about a girl and her family who become homeless and live in shelters and their van. Given that I’ve never read a book featuring a homeless MC, I was enthusiastic about the premise and representation.

I think the author meant well in writing Abby’s story, and, from the reviews on here, many people seem to have enjoyed it. On a surface level, the writing was good and the plot made sense—though it felt over simplified to me in its execution.

The other characters Abby meets also feel two dimensional. There’s the mean girl, the football guy, and a token gay character (the representation there is less than stellar, and other reviewers have done a wonderful job expressing why.) I couldn’t connect with any of them, and at times Abby felt completely detached from her living situation—like, yes she was homeless but also she was preoccupied with the boy who liked her? I understand characters can have overlapping issues, but it was hard to figure Abby out when she bounced back and forth.

Ultimately, I am giving this 3/5 stars because I do believe the thread on homelessness is very important to see in fiction and I’d like to see more authors approach similar topics.

Hard hitting and gritty read, reminds us how lucky we are and how lucky some people aren’t. This follows a homeless teenager as she and her family struggle to make a life for themselves in a new town. Completely moving and emotional, the characters are so well written you want to get in there and help them yourself. A wonderful compassionate read from a brilliant author.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion .

Abby is not unlike most teens. She desperately wants to be accepted. After moving from her hometown due to circumstances created by her mother, Abby and her family find themselves living in the back of their van. If being a teenage isn’t hard enough, Abby must know juggle the life of a teenager with secret of being homeless. Abby catches the attention of a star football player. Her secret life must stay a secret if she expects to make it in her new school.
This book is a great story that touches the heart. Can one simply look past the surface and truly like someone based on what’s inside?

I was delighted to have my wish approved and be afforded the chance to read and review this advance ARC and thank the publisher Central Avenue Publishing, for granting my wish.

It’s sobering to realise that even though you think you are comfortable for many families they are only one or two dramas away from being homeless.

My name is Abby Lunde and I am homeless.

For Abby being homeless was of no fault of her own, but for bad decisions by her Mother, and her Step-Fathers sheer bad luck in that his place of employment went bust.

The family move towns to Rochester as its considered to be more amiable to homelessness. Thankfully Abby gets to move school and away from the social ostracization of her previous school where she is dropped by her friends and the cheerleader team, and the school administration fails to intervene to what is bullying. Abby’s mother was a teacher forced to resign her position after having an affair with another teacher.

Abby is slim, pretty and has a confidence that allows her to adapt to living in a van and looking after his younger sister. I did wonder if maybe her experience at her new school would have been way different if she was none of these. She meets the school heartthrob Zac, and incurs the wrath of the resident Mean Girl, Trish.
This is a lovely book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it but it’s not without its problems. I know enough about Employment Law to know that her mother’s Constructive Dismissal from her job is problematic. The family depend highly on religious groups and churches for help, but I found the religious undercurrent uncomfortable. I also found the token ‘gay guy’, a bit superfluous. He was a great character, but I think his sexual orientation brought nothing extra to him.

All in all a great read though, I really enjoyed and came away thanking my lucky stars that I am lucky enough to never have been in the families position. And for Abby her dreams really did come true.

A YA novel. I wish I felt more for the main characters. It was not a Bad book, just needed less hopelessness. I wanted to feel more hope and I was just unable to connect. As a YA novel, it could go either way on their take.

** SPOILERS AHEAD **

I really wanted to like this one, and I did end up finishing it because it was so light and quick, but there were a lot of problematic moments in this one, not to mention it was filled with much-overused troupes that I think we know at this point do more harm to young readers than good.

First off, while I did enjoy that Roam attempted to address a little-talked-about issue in the YA genre, it took a pretty privileged and shallow look at it. I got the feeling that the author had not only never experienced homelessness herself, but had also not done her research.

The family side of the story is the most compelling, and yet the majority of the action is set in a typical high-school drama scenario, which we really don’t need more of. The main character is difficult to like — she is so “perfect” that you really don’t find anything redeeming about her. New girl meets boy, immediately he falls in love with her, and his poor ex girlfriend is a literal villain, because all girls have to be pitted against one another. New girl can’t do anything wrong, the only flaw she has is that she has attracted the attention of the most popular boy in school, and now her life is incredibly difficult. But don’t worry, she has made amazing new friends who exist to worship her. In the end, of course, everything wraps up perfectly.

Also, in terms of diversity, I believe all the characters were white, unless I missed someone. Great. There was one gay character, but he was a flat stereotype who was treated poorly by misinformed characters, such as when the main character gapes at him in disbelief after learning his sexuality. While yes, this could have been used as a learning moment (and I believe the author thought she was doing this), it was way too brief to dive into and came off badly.

There was also a lot of pro-christianity undertones here, which aren’t necessarily bad, but here they were overdone, forced, and perhaps a little alienating to some readers.

I feel like Roam could have used a better edit, as well. Many times there was superfluous information, and repetitive conversations that I hope will be cut down or omitted in the final version.

I really wish I could have liked this one, but I struggle with okaying a story with such deep flaws to younger readers.

Roam, a YA novel about a homeless teen, is a compelling and realistic portrayal of teen life. I absolutely adored this story and as a young girl, this is a book I would have been able to relate to and would have gone back to read again and again. While not homeless, I did grow up in low income housing in an affluent city. I too felt “less than” and would often be ashamed of my secondhand clothes and off brand shoes. The portrayal of this teens thinking was spot on and her circumstances are something many of my students face. In Roam we meet Abby Lunde. Her mother lost her job, her stepfather lost his job, and unable to pay their rent they were evicted from their apartment. This is completely relatable as too often in life we are presented with challenges outside of our control. The family moves to another state and Abby starts out at her new school as a homeless senior. Trying to make friends and pave her way in this new school while hiding this secret is difficult and my heart broke for her struggles. Roam delves into many topics concerning today’s teenagers and does it with heart. This book will find its way into the hearts of its intended audience and many teens will be able to relate and learn from this story. This story will leave you thinking long after it’s over and will leave you looking at ways to help the homeless in your area. For me, Roam was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars (rounded up from 4.5 due to some dialogue issues I had). Thank you to the publisher for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book. It was such an inspiring tale about a girl who is homeless and turns her life around with the help of her school counselor and music teacher. Abby is a such a strong girl. I honestly couldn't imagine what it would be like to be homeless and not knowing when your next meal was going to be or if you could survive the upcoming winter living in a van. I know this book isn't super realistic but I personally think it's a good way to introduce the topic to younger readers. When your young you never think these kinds of things could ever happen to you, but this book shows you that it can happen to everyone and you should be more accepting to others because you never know what they are going through.

I loved all the characters except the mother. For once we have a book where the main character and the step parent are close to each other. I believe that Nick is a way better parent and is much more understanding than her mother. I believe the author wrote him to be a lot like Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird. That book is mentioned a lot through out this book. All the other characters are amazing. They all accepted Abby fairly quickly and I understand why she chose to keep the fact that she was homeless from everyone else.

One thing that I didn't like was how quickly Abby gets into a relationship with the guy popular guy at school. I didn't like how it was sorta cliche with the whole new girl becomes popular and starts dating the popular girls ex boyfriend. That's one troupe I can live without. I also wish we got to know more about Nick being homeless before. For the most part I liked everything in this book but some of the cliches that didn't really wow me which is why I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5.

I had to put this one down and pick it back up.

I love young adult books because they tend to look at true issues and concerns that people in general have. I am a little older but I always go back to YA for many reasons. One of those reasons is because they keep things true and livable, anyone can see and live them unlike the world of adults where agenda is running throughout each page.

That being said, this book didn’t read as a YA story, but as a story trying to be told to a younger generation from someone who has only been told stories of others. It didn’t feel real, livable.

For that reason, I had to give this 2 stars (I refuse to give one star because this story may touch someone and every story deserves to be read and written).

Author C. H. Armstrong vividly portrays what it’s like to be a homeless teen. Abby, her mom, sister, and stepdad are homeless. They move to a new town and state to restart their lives but its uphill. They sleep in their van in the Walmart parking lot and are only able to wash in the public restrooms. Abby’s parents are looking for work and Abby starts high school in the middle of the year. She meets a cute guy named Zach and makes some awesome new friends... but she’s scared what they’ll do when they realize the truth.

What I loved: 🖤🖤🖤
1. The back story is told through flashbacks which keeps it suspenseful. How did this normal family become homeless?
2. Community programs for homeless and financially needy families were highlighted.
3. Forgiveness is a beautiful theme in this story. Both forgiving others and yourself.
4. Abby’s friends, particularly Josh, are warm and welcoming to her.
5. Trish is Zach’s ex-girlfriend and bullies Abby throughout the book...the resolution between them shows character development.
6. The romance is sweet and enduring.

ROAM a wonderful young adult book that teaches empathy and the destructive effect of bullying.

I like this book because the subject matter is so relevant. The problems faced by this family are way more common than anyone cares to admit. It's a survival story. It's a testament to finding happiness regardless of where you are. A very good read.