Walk Me Home by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Carly and her little sister Jen are walking. Something terrible has happened. Something that has left Carly in charge, her faith in humanity shattered. She knows they need help. But she is terrified of her sister being taken away from her. All they have is each other.

Carly wants them to find their way back to the last person she knew she could trust – their stepfather. But Jen holds a secret about him which, if she’s telling the truth, will put them both at far more risk than they could imagine.

And so begins a journey, across hundreds of miles, which neither girl could have anticipated. It isn't an easy one, and is often dangerous. But along the way they are also confronted with the unexpected kindness of strangers. And ultimately, should they choose to accept it, some new relationships that hold the potential to change everything…

This book is extremely gripping and had me guessing from the start. What was it that happened that was so terrible, it had forced Carly and Jen to run away and put themselves in a dangerous life or death situation.

The story starts with Carly and Jen escaping from their home in New Mexico.We are not sure why, but we know that they need to get to Teddy in California as he will help them. What ensues is a dangerous journey where the girls do not know where they will get their next meal from or where they will sleep for the night.

Being a story about sisters, I could really relate to the relationship between Carly and Jen. Carly is the older sister at 16 years old and Jen is the younger sister at 12 years old. Carly takes it upon herself to be the responsible one. Jen seems to be at first happy to go along with what Carly says. It is only when they meet Delores on the way that I started to see that Carly was stubborn and just wouldn't accept help from anyone. I started to find myself siding with Jen and started to wonder what it was that Jen was hiding. However as you go further into the book, Carly's behaviour is completely understandable and being an older sister myself, in that situation I think I would be the same. Carly was just as scared as her sister and she was trying to cover it up by being the adult when she was just a child herself.

I desperately wanted the girls to make it and I was frightened for them. They were walking from the unknown into the unknown. It is an emotional as well as a physical journey, with the girls trying to find happiness at the end. You will be with them all the way experiencing everything they go through and the emotional turmoil they are in.

Catherine has a great way of putting pen to paper; I could picture everything so well- the surroundings the atmosphere, the temperature, the emotions circling round the characters. I felt in connection with the novel if that makes sense. I have never read anything by Catherine Ryan Hyde before, so wasn't sure what to expect, but it was riveting.

Written in five parts, this novel takes you between the past and the present. I like novels that do this as like in this novel, you start in the present with leaves you with questions as to how Jen and Carly got into the situation they are in. Then the story takes us back a bit explaining the relationship between Carly and her Mum and Teddy. I found myself racing through the book to find out what had happened to cause them to make such a drastic decision to leave home.

As I said before I have never read anything by Catherine Ryan Hyde before and I can honestly say I will be reading more from her as this was riveting! I cannot believe she has written nineteen novels and I haven't come across her books before! I will definitely be reading more from her.

8/10