Read it... Entertaining, if nothing else. ( )

5 stars! This is a sleeper hit! Not at all what I expected!

Megan wants to prove to her newspaper boss that she's ready to be a real reporter. She gets the idea to go down to Santa Monica Blvd and interview some street kids to bring awareness. She is shocked at what these kids have to do to get by down there.

"Observe, don't get involved..."

That is until she meets Mouth, a 17 year old hustler who has made a lot of tough choices in order to survive. There is something about him that draws her in immediately.



He might be six years younger than her but has lived a life that has aged him well past her comprehension. He's reluctant to help her at first but after a bit of convincing he gives in, for a price.

She tells herself...

"You're here to report, not judge." But she wants to slap the bastard's face."

Over the course of several weeks she finds herself making frequent and sometimes unnecessary trips to the Boulevard hoping to run in to him. Then one night she finds Mouth beaten and robbed. She pleads with him to come home with her for a night so he can heal. He does. Then she manages to convince him to stay until he can come up with a plan for his life that doesn't require him to going back to the streets.

"He might only be seventeen, but Mouth had shouldered adult responsibilities much earlier than Megan ever had and it showed. He was also probably far more used to being treated like trash."

Now that he is under her roof Megan struggles even harder with her feelings for him because they seem inappropriate. Things get even worse when he starts to make his growing feelings towards her more obvious.

Imagine suddenly passing this guy in the morning on your way to the kitchen.


“Sean, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let this happen. I’m the adult here.

He turned his face toward her, still looking blank. “It’s okay. I understand. You don’t need to make up excuses.”

Megan frowned. “What do you mean? I’m telling you the truth. You’re too young, you’re supposed to be in my care, and it’s just—wrong.”

“And I’m a cheap street punk. A hustler. You don’t want to fuck a whore. I get it.”

He's in a tough transitional phase. Megan feels the right thing to do is keep him at arms length and be a supportive adult but it's hard. Especially when he doesn't see their situation, especially their age difference, the same way.

“I told you, I’m not a fucking kid!” he spat out, staring at the television screen in front of him. “I've lived through shit you can barely imagine. If you were out on the street, I’d be the one looking after you. Give me a break, Megan.”

Megan's heart and conscious battle it out something fierce!

"I leave people behind.” He paused and took a deep breath before plowing on. “I don’t want to leave you behind. I want us to be...I don’t want to lose you, too, Megan.”

I loved this story! It was forbidden in the sense that Sean was 17 yrs old in age but he was clearly much older in mentality. It felt wrong but also right for them to be together. Sean needed someone to care about him, not just what he could do for them. Megan helped him get into a healthier mind frame so he could slowly deal with his issues. I felt less dirty about myself by the end of the story! LOL! I also thought Megan had the most judgmental friends and I hated them.

Other than that it was a fantastic read! Highly recommended!
( )

Younger man/older woman; former rent-boy with a heart of gold; hurt/comfort; lots of sex.

I'm a simple woman with simple wants. ( )

Overall I thought this was a great book. There was a very strong chemistry with the two main characters throughout the entire book, even before they became intimate. While I loved the concept of the book and the fact that the hero, Sean, was a homeless kid and overcame it, I had a couple issues with it. 1. Sean seems to adopt to a fairly "normal" life a little to easily and Megan seems to think he should be a "normal" guy despite all he has be through. 2. HE IS 17 AND SHE IS 23, this bothered me a bit.

Despite the issues I had, a really loved this book and would recommend it to anyone if you can get over the age issue. A great quick, easy and STEAMY read ( )

Read full feature here: http://everythingatoc.blogspot.com/2012/08/review-finding-home-by-lauren-baker-a...

Please leave your morals out the door and keep an open mind when reading this book because it's a pretty dark book. It covers prostitution, homelessness, abuse, drugs.. but immediately after finishing the initial chapters, I was completely hooked.

Megan, a 23 year old aspiring writer, was working on her debut article that covers the life of kids in the boulevard who sells their bodies for money. Really wanting to prove she had talent to her boss other than proofreading, she pursued getting interviews from the kids themselves and that's where she met the 17 year old hustler, Sean aka. Mouth.

As Megan spends more time with the kids and at the boulevard, she finds herself attracted at the young man and they started a civilized friendship. After not seeing him for a few days, she finds him beat up. Concerned for his safety, Megan took Sean to her home where he stayed for a while as he tried getting a job and completing his GED. As the days go by, the sexual tension between them sizzles and the two finds themselves in a situation that has written doomed from the start.

Whoa, what a ride. Realistic.. heartbreaking and beautiful. The story was written in 3rd person but the thoughts are mostly from Megan. Being attracted to Sean and all, it was pretty weird hearing about her non-stop sexual desires. I like that she wasn't an insecure heroine or a fucked up one, she was... pretty normal but I did questioned her initial intentions with Sean because the girl was pretty damn horny for him. I didn't think this was supposed to be erotica but there was a lot of descriptive sex! She appeared selfish at times but I believe her heart was really in the right place.

"I'm a fucking whore," he continued.
"The people I meet either want to fuck me or fuck me over. End of fucking story."

Oh Sean... you broke my heart. I just wished I could have heard his own thoughts in the story because even though he was there, it didn't really feel like it. The romance plot, his business and his past.. he would have been a more interesting and heartbreaking voice to listen to. I just can't help but feel bad for him especially when he meets Megan's family and friends.

I'd say age is nothing but a number, but i'd be a hypocrite because I know I would have felt better if I knew he was 18 instead. He went through so much and knows so much, it's easy to forget he's only 17. The age thing was almost overkill since the prostitution part was already a potent subject but oh well, it did add more drama.

This book just had everything that can tear your heart to pieces but the last few chapters definitely made it worth the heartbreak. I want more though, Ms. Baker and Ms. Dee should really write a companion novel or a sequel! Maybe Sean's POV or with the other street kids because their stories we're pretty sad too. ( )