Home Girl gives an honest and realistic depiction of a looked after young person, focusing on the day-t0-day dramas and concerns of a young girl who just needs somewhere to call home. A great read full of desperate, tender and humorous moments. Thank you to Atom and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Naomi has grown up in foster care since her mum committed suicide and her dad became an alcoholic leaving Naomi to care for him before the council took her into care.



Since being in care she has tried many placements and tried to find permanent care in a new family but instead has had tons of homes until Tony and Colleen come along with their other two foster children.



She also has to attend a school for expelled kids where her friends from care unit still catch up with her the girls there, her friends, are also a lesbian couple, Kim and Natts.



The book highlights all the issues with mental health and safety and awareness of others wellbeing. She tries to put up a hard facade but can break easily with change as we see when Louise her case worker only wanted the best for her and then decides to leave while she felt she had no one but good food, coke and dance all dependable things that can't change on her. It was a super moving and realistic read about teenage life in care that shows how it effects people in the care system.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Well drawn, likeable protagonist whose tough veneer masks an innocence & vulnerability. Plot isn't the most exciting but Wheatle's ability to weave humour through even the bleakest of subject matter make it very readable & his dialogue is second to none. Stands alone but will also be enjoyed by series fans.

great read, fast paced and thrilling as well as emotional, I didnt thoroughly enjoy it as not my ususal read.

Home Girl is a young adult novel about being in the care system and chasing stability. Naomi is a fourteen year old girl about to move in with new emergency foster parents. She likes horror films, drinking Coke, and dancing, and she used to care for her alcoholic father before going into care. The novel follows her try new foster carers, hang out with her friends in her Pupil Referral Unit, and look for something stable, even somewhere she might be able to call home.

This is a powerful novel, with a funny yet sad main character who speaks her mind and is clearly vulnerable. Naomi is vibrant and memorable, and the narrative moves with pace to show how quickly her life seems to move from thing to thing. Less sensationalist than other books in many ways, it focuses a lot on the small details of what makes Naomi and what makes her life, both past and present.

I have to admit that I'd never heard of this author before but the synopsis for this book really intrigued me.

I've never read a story quite like this one, it goes into depth on what life for a teenager like the main character Naomi is like to go from foster home to foster home.
This was a super fast paced read which I enjoyed and although I didn't always like and connect with every single character I did really love the story and I was rooting for Naomi throughout. I found some of the dialogue a bit hard to understand at some points but that was my only real issue.
I would definitely consider reading more from this author in the future.