Abby is starting at a new school in her senior year and has a secret she hopes no one will find out. She is homeless. She hates the lies she tells people to cover up her secret but knows she would hate it more if they found out. Along with the hardships Abby experiences with homelessness, she also has to navigate the troubles of an average high school student who has to deal with boys, school, mean girls, and of course, finding who she is.

I loved reading this book. Armstrong gives readers the opportunity to see into a world we otherwise wouldn’t. We see the family encounter problems that many people may not realize homeless people have to face all the time. They take sponge baths in the Wal-Mart bathrooms. They have to figure out what to do when one of them gets sick and they are living in a cold van. The only food they can get comes from homeless shelters and soup kitchens. As I was reading, my heart ached for the family. This book gives an up-close look at the opportunities that are available to homeless people and the things that aren’t available to them that we don’t think about.

The story featured many characters who exhibited strong morals. The family does not abuse the resources that are given to them and there is an understanding in the family that once they are back on their feet, they will do what they can to give back to the community and others in need. The story gives a great example of a couple working together through hard times, working through their marital issues, and honoring their marital commitments in a healthy way. The relationship between Abby and her mother needs a lot of healing at the beginning of the story and we see Abby learn and grow as she works through her anger. Abby is down to earth. She knows that money is not the key to happiness and just because most of the people at her school have money doesn’t mean their lives are perfect.

This is a great book for young and new adults to read because of the insight it can give to the struggles of others. It is a reminder that not everyone comes from the same background as we do. Each person is dealing with their own issues and we can relate to others better if we remember that. Armstrong draws on the lessons from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and weaves them into the story beautifully.

I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to others. It was a touching story with good lessons and strong characters. Go check it out for yourself!

BEST BOOK EVER! The writing is almost as dreamy as Zach he’s just 😍😍😍 Cathie did amazing with this book I can’t think of a single fault with this book except I wish it was longer so I could stay with Abby a bit longer!

This is a curious mix of agendas, and while there are some lovely parts to it I couldn’t really believe in the set-up and was, ultimately, annoyed by so many aspects.
Abby is seventeen and her family has been forced to move because her mother had an affair with a fellow teacher. Her mother is prescribed antidepressants, has a drink and ends up hospitalised with seizures. This results in crippling bills, then her stepfather is made redundant and the family is evicted. While all this is going on Abby is ostracised by her friends, kicked off the cheerleading squad and bullied on social media.
These details are drip-fed through the book - a good thing, because if I’d been told all this at the start I don’t think I’d have carried on reading.
We first meet Abby and her family as they prepare to sleep in the family van. It’s only a temporary measure, but things don’t quite go to plan.
Abby and her sister are enrolled at school (some of the finer points are glossed over here) and nobody seems to know the extent of the family’s suffering. Nobody questions some of their behaviours and nobody challenges the obvious elephant in the room.
Alongside this horror Abby has to negotiate a new school. She ends up instantly popular with a wonderful group of friends and the star football player is determined to make her his girlfriend.
Reading this back I’m surprised I’m rating this as highly. The only things saving this are the characters of Abby and Josh, who have a lovely warmth. There’s some important messages about the need for empathy, though I’m sure they could have been conveyed in a much more subtle manner.
On this occasion I really have to say this was a nice idea, but it was as subtle as using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Thanks, though, to NetGalley for meaning I didn’t have to buy this.

The overall messages of this book are important ones... don't judge, don't bully, treat others how you would want to be treated, and envision life from other peoples perspectives. We all go through tough periods in our lives and Abby and family are no exception.

Due to circumstances beyond her control Abby's loses all of her friends after a scandal is uncovered surrounding her mother. This led to a downward spiral culminating to the family moving to snowy Minnesota to live in a van. At her new school Abby finds immediate acceptance from a group of students and the attention of a handsome boy. She struggles with hiding her embarrassment of homelessness and trying to live a normal teenage life.

This is a good book that needs to be read. I am knocking a star down because aspects of the story felt rushed or possibly unrealistic.

All of Abby's friends reject her when they find out about the school scandal. Not a single one stood by her side.
At the new school she makes instant friends and a boyfriend who seem too good to be true!
The end felt rushed and a lot of it was conveniently wrapped up but I suppose that was necessary due to the book's subject matter to have a feel good ending.

*An e-arc was provided by Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Was given this book through NetGalley.
This novel delves into an important topic of homelessness and how easily one can fall into homelessness.
The book is not only eye-opening to homelessness, it’s also a reflection on how we should treat one another and to not bully and bring others down.

This book felt very ... naive. I appreciate books that feature teens in various situations--the protagonist of this one is homeless--but the reason she got to that point and everything that happened after felt vaguely histrionic. I stopped reading when she told one of her friends that he didn't look gay and she had never seen a gay person before.

This should be required reading for every junior high/ high school. Very well written. This book reflects what one will come across in many schools today.

This is such a sad story about what can and does happen right here in the US everyday. Families losing everything. Children going from a beautiful home to the streets. When a family loses it all and end up on the streets it’s nothing to be made fun of. It’s when our country should come together and help. But it doesn’t happen. People are afraid it will rub off on them. Kids can be cruel. Grown ups can be cruel.

This young girl does what she has to to keep her secret. To keep her friends and stay in school. I commend her for staying in school. Doing the best they can they survive.

A very emotional story of having it all and losing everything. The cruelty of who you thought were friends and how to survive in a new place out of your van. I would never wish this on anyone. It’s sad beyond belief in my personal opinion.

I recommend this book highly. Especially to teens in high school. Well to young adults and old alike. Never judge others as you have no idea how they got where they are.

Thank you NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for an ARC of this book. It’s a definite 5 stars and I usually do not like YA books. Loved it. Felt the sadness and loved the characters.

Roam follows 17 year old Abby as she and her family move to a new place to try and find jobs as they are newly homeless. Roam begins right as Abby and her family arrive to their new town as Abby gazes out the window at wealthy teenagers around her age. The author, C.H. Armstrong writes a story that includes the trials and tribulations of being a homeless teenager as well as a rocky family dynamic. Abby struggles to forgive her mother for putting them in this mess in the first place. However, along the way Abby meets a lot of people that show her and her family kindness. I really enjoyed this story and Abby and her families journey. The ending of this novel as a whole gave Abby a chance to tell her story her way as she hopes speaking up will benefit others. The one part of this story I could have done without was the romance plot. Zach was very kind to her and helpful but in some ways he is not understanding to her situation and their relationship moved too quick. However, this is an excellent book that covers the topic of homelessness and forgiveness.

Thank you NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for granting my wish.

Abby was a wonderful character and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to relate and get absorbed in her home life, past and new adventures. I probably could have done without the romance aspect of the book since it didn't seem necessary for the story to work. Overall it was a touching story.

Amber and Josh were easily the best characters, both sooo much fun!!!

ROAM was an important and eye-opening read. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review it

This follows a homeless teen named Abby as she and her family struggle to make a life for themselves in a new town. She experiences first loves, bullying, all while keeping a vital secret: that she sleeps in a van and uses Walmart's to wash and shower. When things begin to look up for her, she realizes her family's predicament and negative confrontations could unravel all of that.

I feel like this would be a great book for all teens to read in high school. It broadens their understanding that not everyone has it as good as them and to accept those differences. It could even help those in these predicaments, find help and understanding.

The plot was handled very well, and the writing was fluid and easy to read. This was a heartbreaking story, but I recommend it to everyone.

Wow! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (I’d given 10 stars if I could.)
It has been a long time since I’ve read a young adult book and what a book to pick up. It took me straight back to my teen angst, not that I experienced anything as near as back as Abby, but I fell into this book head first.
As I read on and learned more about Abby and her family through the flashbacks, I was struck at how well the emotions, not just of the main character but of her whole family came across. Her step-father's hopelessness made it hard to breathe, her mother’s guilt almost crippling, Abby’s helplessness made me want to weep and Ambers innocence gluing them all together.
Roam shines a light on life as a modern-day teenager but with one difference, she is homeless. The topics covered in this book are raw and are trying to make the point that homelessness is not just those who are sat begging on the streets, it can affect anyone, from any walk of life, the key is what are you going to help do about it. A wonderful, at times, heart-breaking story of a girl and her family just trying to take it day by day until they get back on their feet.
My thanks to #Netgalley and #CentralAvenuePublishing for letting me freely give an honest review of this amazing, thought-provoking read.

We've all made mistakes. Luckily, most of us haven't made mistakes that resulted in losing the roof over our heads. C.H. Armstrong has tried to shed light on a problem many of us don't want to think about or to admit it's a real possibility for so many. This is the story of teenage Abby and her family who find themselves living in their van after her mother and step-father lose their jobs. While the book has a good overall message, there are some issues here making the story unrealistic and had this reader asking "Really?!" far too often.

The reader is supposed to believe that by the end of lunch on her very first day at her new school, the star of the football team has fallen for Abby, she has a mortal enemy out for her complete destruction (the ex-girlfriend of the boy, of course) AND she has a whole group of wonderfully supportive friends? Oh, and no one seems to really think it's odd that none of them know where she lives or have any way of contacting her aside from Facebook? No one questions any of this for far too long to make the "we just moved and haven't unpacked" and "I haven't gotten a new phone yet" excuses believable. By the end, everything gets wrapped up a little too perfectly - the family now has a home and Abby has a full scholarship to university plus another scholarship to cover what little the first won't.

Thank you to Central Avenue Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have very mixed feelings about this book.

What I thought was brilliant, was the depiction of homelessness, which you never see represented in YA, and if you do it's very, very rare. I can't recall reading about a teenager who goes from sleeping in her van to trying to fit in at school. And it's so important to talk about, because I believe so much of the help is targeted elsewhere, and not towards kids at school, and how it affects them. I think it did a really good job at highlighting how hard it is for teenagers to keep up with the social pressures of school, have the clothes, have a phone, when they have no home and no money, and have nowhere to go and hang out after school. How of course they're going to get ill from living in a van outside, how tired they'd be, how it would affect their mental health.

What did bug me about this book was the use of technology and social media - or rather, how it was written about. Abby 'types in the web address for Facebook' and Zach 'uses a search engine' and everyone's like 'Hey, I don't use Facebook' and it's all like???? This is one of my biggest pet peeves in literature in general but especially YA because it's like the author has never used the internet before, but especially like their characters are not from this time, are not used to the language used around social media. It kind of strikes me as not researching your characters age very well, because no one says 'I'll have to start using Facebook more now that you've added me' because it's not a thing you use? It's just a thing you kind of have and is there. And 'you caught me just before I was signing off?' I'm sorry, who signs off things anymore? Also, the deep explanation about how if you link Instagram and Facebook, then if you post to Instagram it automatically uploads to Facebook. Yeah, we know. We live in this world. Give your audience some credit that they don't need little stuff like this explaining to them.

I also didn't resonate with Abby very much. Yes, she was angsty, and angry at her mom, but it all very over dramatic and unnecessary. Her feelings towards Zach were 'you've only known me for two days'????. He wants to hang out, not propose marriage, why does only knowing him for two days make a difference?

I also didn't like his reaction to finding out she was homeless. I know he's only a kid, and it's hard to know how to react to something as big as this, but he made it all about him, and how dare she lie to him, and not a single bit about how hard it would've been for Abby. And then they still make up and he's the best thing since sliced bread and nothing is really said about how her being homeless and keeping it from him has nothing to do with him.

Can we also talk about Josh? Must every gay guy not have any guy friends and just be surrounded by females all the time? Did Abby have to say 'are you sure?' when she found out?

And it really grated on me that Amber called her 'Sister' and her parents went along with it and said 'go with Sister.' Because sister was easier for her to say than Abby? In the very little I know about phonetics and language development, isn't 'S' one of the hardest sounds to make? But also.... it was just grating to read and annoying.

So, yeah. I had high hopes for it's content and while I liked that part of the plot, the execution and the deeper level of the characters was lackluster. And there were parts that could definitely be made more realistic and less problematic.

3 out of 5 stars

Abbys mom makes a mistake and loses her job. They are evicted when Abbys step dad loses his job also. They moved to new town sleeping in the van asking the salvation army for help.Abby has a little sister named Amber who doesn't really understand everything that's going on.I wondered where the rest of Abby and Amber's family were at first and why couldn't they help.Or were the parents scared they would lose them if the truth comes out?Abby trys to not have too bad an attitude so her stepdad won't leave them."My home is with my family,which means currently my home is the back of moms van." College seems to be out of the picture after Abbys mom's mistake.The office aid that helps Abby find her classes is the gorgeous Zach.Abby makes an enemy of the girl equilvant of Zach in her first class.Abby meets a dorky guy named Josh in her next class and he nicknames her Ariel because of her red hair.I liked Abbys character.Abbys mom made a huge mistake but I felt for her and thought she deserved a second chance.I liked all the tough subjects discussed.I liked reading Abbys struggle to maintain a normal teen life while homeless."I really am sorry Abby.I can't even explain my actions because I'm still not sure I completely understand them myself.But I hate this constant fighting between us .I hate that hate me. I would do anything to change that and learn your forgiveness.Is there anything I can do to get us back to where we were before all this happened.?""What you did made a mockery of everything you'd taught me.So I can't help it.im pissed."I liked the ending.

The book had potential but it just didn't really do it for me.
The usual YA tropes of Insta love and Insta popular were present which was a turn off for me.
The main reason Abby blames for causing them to become homeless just seemed unrealistic.

I really enjoyed this book. While the content was hard to read at times, I loved how emotional the book was. I loved all of the character in this novel and felt very connected to the main character, even though I did not relate at all to what she experienced. Review will be up on my blog shortly!

I will not provide a public review of this book. However, I believe it to be a very relevant and important book for all high-school/teenager/young adult (and adults) to read.

In Omaha, Nebraska the Lunde family live a perfectly normal life until seventeen-year-old Abby's mother, who teaches at the high school, is caught having an affair with the coach. Abby is ridiculed unmercifully even by those she considers her close friends. Her mother resigns and soon after, her stepfather loses his job. With no income, they are forced to make some hard decisions.

The family of four head out in their van for Rochester, Minnesota with the hopes of finding jobs and rebuilding their lives. However, sometimes things don't happen as imagined. The winters are very cold, money is running low and they find themselves confined to what little they do have, a van.

Parking in the Walmart lot, they all attempt to sleep, but not much room and frigid weather make it very hard to accomplish. Abby and her young sister start school but trying to hide the facts that they have no home or money are sometimes challenging and embarrassing.

The girls walk to the library, approximately two miles away, after school. They wait there to be picked up since Mom and Stepdad are searching throughout the day for helpful homeless programs as well as jobs.

Abby discovers that many of the kids at the high school are very well-to-do, yet she makes a few friends very quickly, as well as one enemy. Trish Landry is a popular rich girl and ex-girlfriend of the football quarterback who just happens to be Abby’s new boyfriend.

Though the family does a very good job of trying to hide their homelessness, eventually secrets are exposed. Will it be a repeat of what happened at Abby's last school, or will her new friends stick with her?

My Thoughts

What Concerned Me: Very little concerned me, but I half wondered if the ending was tied up a little too neatly.

What I Liked Most: Though the main story is one of homelessness, other plots weave through making it interesting on several levels.

Homelessness is handled in a way that will most likely touch your life forever. This would be a very good book for classrooms to read.

CW: slut shaming, bullying, use of a racist term, alcoholism, possible drug abuse

A situation no one ever expects to find themselves in. A situation no child should ever have to face.

Abby Lunde is facing life as a homeless teen. She and her family are living in her step-father's minivan, following a mistake that spiraled and forced them to the streets. Will she be able to find some semblance of normal as she figures out how to keep warm, get enough to eat, keep clean, all while attending classes and trying to graduate?

I want to say that C.H. Armstrong did write about some good points. When her main character Abby was riding through town and reflecting upon the things she saw outside in an early scene, she saw things that showed how there's more than one way for wealth to be evident. It can be clothes or someone's car, but it can also be something you might not think of right away, like the state of their lawn.

Everywhere I look screams wealth and privilege—from the carefully manicured lawns to the kids in the car next to us. The cost of their clothing alone would probably eat up Nick’s whole paycheck—if he still had one. But he doesn’t, and neither does Mom.

There were several moments when Armstrong really infused her writing with what must have been the sheer amount of emotions that Abby and her family were feeling, from anxiety to terror and so on. Abby recounts the moment when her parents tell her that they will need to leave their apartment because they can no longer afford it:

"We left Omaha this afternoon, just one step ahead of eviction. The landlord visited two days ago, warning us we had seventy-two hours to pay the current and last month’s rent or she’d return with a police escort and a locksmith. There was no point in fighting it, Nick said, so we spent all day yesterday packing only our absolute necessities. We left everything else behind—there just wasn’t enough room."


How do you make that kind of decision? What to take, what to leave? When you know you have to leave and there's no other choice, how do you keep from curling up in a corner and refusing to deal with it?

That being said, the strengths (what I talked about and others) being what they were, there were more minuses that outweighed them and made the book such a disappointment that I was thoroughly uncomfortable.

There were times when certain conversations came up that felt wholly unnecessary, such as this one between Abby and Josh, a boy she meets at her new school:

?“But how? I mean—you don’t look gay!” I blurt out.

Josh lifts an eyebrow. “What is gay supposed to look like?”

“I—I don’t know. I’ve never really known anyone who’s gay.”"


Oh boy...there's a lot to unpack there, but I couldn't fathom a few things, such as why how Abby thought that a) she knew she hadn't met someone who was gay before, and b) why this kind of conversation was even here to begin with? You can't tell someone's sexuality based on their appearance.

Then there is Josh's behavior in regards to his friends, particularly with naming his female friends his "harem" and renaming them by Disney princess names, even when they ask him not to and especially with there being a girl of Middle Eastern descent in this group (want to bet which princess name he used for her?). Then his Fruit Loops level "humor" (quote "who peed in your Fruit Loops?" unquote)...I really couldn't stand him after that.

There's was also the relationship between Abby and Zack that didn't make sense to me. It was one of the things that made me uncomfortable, more confused. The accelerated development, the intensity, Abby's reactions to Zack's familial benefits, it all didn't really track as the makings of a healthy relationship from start to finish.

Regarding another uncomfortable moment, it was when Abby, at a football game with her friends, used a racist term in her internal narration which meant it could never be challenged:

"When the buzzer signals game over, I celebrate along with my tribe as Rochester South brings home a hard-won victory of 28-27."


I do not remember ever seen Native American representation in this book. This just seemed so weird and out of place, so wrong, that I felt uncomfortable, when "group" could easily have been substituted.

To sum it up, while there were some strong points in the realm of the homeless representation, I thought there were essential problems with the characters, relationships, and offensive material that made this a very difficult book to enjoy and nigh on impossible to finish.