My name is Jinny Buffett.
J-I-N-N-Y... not Jimmy and definitely not Jimmy Buffett.
Everyone in Hollywood knows who Jimmy Buffett is because of the huge, flashing neon signs and music blaring... That's where my Mama works every, single, stupid night for two reasons...
***
The Blurb
Jinny Buffett is lonely…
She’s never had the comfort of a white picket fence with a loving family. Her subsidized apartment in Hollywood Florida echoes with the void of her dead Daddy, and the nights drag long into twilight while her Mama works the block outside the Margaritaville resort.
It’s idealistic Ms. Fleming, who’s brave enough to come knocking first. She wants to see Jinny rise up and use her ace scores to escape the wheel of poverty, convincing Jinny to start a school book club, where she finds the friends and boyfriend she never knew she needed.
But when her Mama spirals out of control and threatens her entire existence, it’s Jinny’s Everglade ancestors who arrive in a mist of magic, bringing the swamp and hope with them.
My Review
There are very few books that have me reaching for the tissues but this one did. It was so moving and heartfelt and I was completely swept up in the issues of the main character.
Jinny, the main character has an old head on young shoulders. She is fifteen and lives with her chaotic mother who leaves her alone for weeks at a time. Jinny is lonely and desperately in need of help and guidance. However, she hides her situation from adults as she doesn't want to be taken into care if the authorities discovered that she is alone.
Whilst reading this book I felt that the author portrayed Jinny superbly. She seemed to completely inhabit her character, so when I read in the Afterword that much of Jinny's experience had been her own I was not at all surprised. However, she wrote in a way that allowed her readers to really get alongside her characters. I was almost experiencing Jinny's feelings and emotions with her, some of which resonated with me personally. There were a great cast of secondary characters, all of whom were there for Jinny and who were able to recognise issues in Jinny even though she was not revealing them.
The book is aimed at a young adult readership but it was a fantastic read for this not so young adult too! It oozed with authenticity whilst having an element of magical realism. Jinny takes comfort and courage from her deceased father's ghost and his family who she has never known. This elevated the book to another level. This book is so much more than the tale of a troubled teen. I don't think I have ever found myself rooting for a character so much as I did with this one.
I had not come across this author before being offered the opportunity to read this book for the blog tour. I would love to read more of her work. Perhaps you have come across her before? Either way, I would highly recommend this book to you.
Book Details:
ISBN: 978 1958531259
Publisher: Wild Ink Publishing
Formats: e-book and paperback)
No. of Pages: 180 (paperback)
Purchase Links
About the Author
S.E. Reed lives in the south and writes strange, haunting, real stories of people and places along old highways.
Winner of the 2024 Florida Book Awards and the 2024 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People.
Additionally, she's been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won honorable mention twice in L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest.
You can also find her at:
My Heart is Hurting was the 14th place finalist in BBNYA 2024!
About BBNYA
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists (16 in 2024) and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.
.png "BBNYA purple finalist badge 2024")
(ARC and media courtesy of The Write Reads)
(all opinions are my own)
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