At seventeen years old, Courtney Apuzzo is fed up. With a dead mom and an alcoholic father that beats her every chance he gets, Courtney decides that enough is enough. Packing up only what she needs, Courtney leaves home without telling a soul and heads off to find her new life.Life on her own is not exactly as she thought it would be. With nowhere to stay, Courtney finds herself sleeping on an old stoop in an abandoned apartment alleyway. A chance meeting with a new group of friends seems like a great beginning to her second chance at a real life. But everything is not as it seems.
Tricked into a life she never wanted and fears, Courtney needs to run away, again. She needs to find a way out of this new and dangerous life. With the help from a man she barely knows, will Courtney find her way out? Or will she find herself on the run from a dangerous past, and a hopeless future? Faced with a choice that will change her life forever.
Excerpt:
Another loud bang beats at the door. Her father growling as he begins to speak. “Courtney! You had best get your ass out!” He hits the door just right, it busts open, and catches her ankle.... She looks down, watching a line of blood surge from her opened skin. A tear falls from her face. She knows what’s next. Her father is like clockwork. Immediately, she covers her head as her towel slips down her waist and she leans over trying to get as close to the floor as possible. If she leans into the floor, she won’t have to worry about her face bouncing, causing more bruising.
He begins pushing his way through the door. “God damn it girl! You get out when I tell you to.”
A hard punch to the back of the head. She shivers as she waits for him to hit her again, pushing her way deeper into the back of the toilet. Anything to keep him from hurting her. This time he uses an open hand slap to her lower back. She jumps hugging the toilet. “Please,” she whimpers.
“Please, what? More?” He kicks her rear at that, and her legs are the only thing exposed by this time.
She continues laying down, shoved as far as she can get herself beside the toilet. Waiting for whatever else her dad might throw at her. Courtney is shaking uncontrollably, tears are streaming down her face and mingling with the snot coming out of her nose. More whimpers as she lays, waiting.....
Runaway by S.M. KnowlesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
First, I would like to thank the author S.M. Knowles for giving me this book for an honest review. This story was amazing and kept me in until the very last page. The characters are well developed and written. The story-line is very good and keeps you invested in the story to find out what is going to happen. I am looking forward to reading more from this author.
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About the Author
While growing up, S.M. would travel the roads around her house while imagining she was somewhere else. Her imagination would take her everywhere, making the long hot summer days seem shorter throughout her fantasies. At the age of twelve, she decided to write her first book. Filled mostly with dialog, she filled up one-hundred pages, front and back. After taking the book downstairs to show her mom, and persuading her to buy her more paper, she excitedly ran back to her room. As she barreled through the door, S.M. tripped over items left on her floor, and her papers came raining down in her room. Discouraged, she stood there in tears, picking up her papers and throwing them in the trash. Her work had no organization, no numbers on her pages, just a child fulfilling a joy that she would put down and not pick up again. When she became older, she joined the military for something different. In that time, she was able to explore many places and even met her husband in Iraq. After coming home, she started her family in Arizona and went back to school, earning a Master's degree in Adult Education and Training.
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