A wonderful story with great characters and honest writing. As a reader, I was easily drawn into the world of a young Scottish boy named Malcolm and stayed with him during his journey to manhood. This is an excellent story that's written in the first person. It's a story about finding a sense of home, overcoming obstacles in which there is no control and still coming out a good person. We watch young Mal develop relationships, his struggle against bullies, his confusion as he tries to connect with his father, and the lack of having a real relationship with his mother. We never know what life will deal us, the only thing we can do is our best with a situation and make choices that are true to our own nature. As an adult, Malcolm goes to the extreme for those he loves, proves to himself who he is and where his loyalties rest, his true home. This novel is a great journey written by Crosbie and I highly recommend it for those who enjoy reading honest characters, and if you are not afraid to face horrible realities.I recommend an open heart and a few tissues. On to the next book about Malcolm's friend, Hardly. ( )

When I start a book, there's never any question that I won’t finish it. It’s just my ‘thing’: I finish what I start. This book is in two parts, the first following Malcolm Wilson’s life as an adolescent, while the second follows his adult life. I’ll be honest: the first half didn’t suck me in. But the second half had me glued to the pages. And that’s one of the reasons I always stick with a book. This turned out to be a very rewarding read.

The story starts with Malcolm, just turned into a teenager, who lives with his father in Scotland. His mother lives in Canada with her latest boyfriend. School life is tough, and his time there doesn’t end well. However, he emerges a responsible adult with a good life and strong sense of ‘right’: something that turns his life around quite dramatically when he falls in love with a beautiful woman, Heather, who has a dark secret.

I liked Malcolm instantly: as a youngster he has a protective instinct, which grows with him into adulthood. Some very difficult issues are dealt with in this book, and they’re handled extremely well.

I do, however, just need to mention a few reservations: a few too many Americanisms crept into the 'Scottish' language, so it lost a bit of authenticity; the story is written in the present tense, but for me, it didn’t work across the time frame, and I think the past tense would have suited the first part of the book better; it could have been a tad better edited (some commas in very, very strange places!); but what I missed was more of Heather’s point of view, as she had a very important story to tell—the first person POV ((Malcolm's) in which this book is written) prevents this, of course. I felt it needed that extra dimension.

But that’s just my personal opinion and ultimately, I really enjoyed this book. ( )

Had an extremely hard time getting into the book, and unfortunately it never got better for me. ( )

I prefer to write my reaction to a book, rather than repeating the description, which you can get above. This is not my normal read. I usually read light and fluffy romance novels. Something that takes me away from reality. I started to put this book down two or three times. I am so thankful that I did not. It was very well written. It captured me right from the start. It is full of all kinds of emotion. I found parts of the book personally very hard to read. Without giving the story away, it is about adults who have been abused as children. It was very real and authentic. ( )

My mistake for choosing this. The first part, covering the teenage school years, was promising if not without flaws. The second part was awful, unadulterated mass market pulp. 21 March 2016. ( )