Less Than Nothing by R.E. Blake

(Image found on Goodreads)

"I’ve been living by my wits for the last four months, and I’ve learned that you never back down when you’re protecting what’s yours, or the world will take everything from you." -R.E. Blake, Less Than Nothing

Sage has been living on the streets for a little while now and she's learned a lot of lessons, but most importantly protect her spot, or else her street musician gig may be up. But then Derek invades her territory and she's frustrated. But when he offers her a deal that will make more money for her how can she refuse? And then when he asks her to go to New York, what else can she do? But secrets are hidden and they'll come into the light one way or another. Can Sage and Derek ride them out or will all their dreams be for nothing? Find the official description on Goodreads.

I found that the style of writing really drew readers in, grabbed their attention and held it. It was really easy to make connections with Sage at least, if only because of one personality trait or another. The narration was lively but it wasn't super peppy and it was amusing to boot. Sage's internal monologue could keep readers amused for days on end.

Then there were the difficult truths. Especially about different attitudes towards homelessness. Admittedly we don't really have any homeless(or none that I know of) in my small town. But I never really thought about how homelessness was perceived or how they were treated. So seeing through Sage's eyes and the different situations that both Sage and Derek find themselves in was wonderful, and attitude changing.

Then there's the fact that Sage could be wallowing in self-pity or working in other ways to help herself survive. But she doesn't. Or at least not often(for the self-pitying I mean). This made her a really good character to read because I don't know about you but people who go why me? And poor me all the time can be a bit annoying.

Now that I've chatted on about Sage, let's get on to Derek. I definitely was a fan of him in the beginning but started wavering towards the middle and now I'm not sure what to think. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book if only to see what happens and how Derek changes or doesn't.

I was very much shocked several times in this book, mostly towards the ends. There were a few twists that I did not see coming and I almost gasped when they were revealed.

Less than Nothing was a great read, one that I would be happy to read again.