Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser

by:  Travis Mulhauser
published by:  Ecco
publish date:  February 2, 2016

As a blizzard bears down, Percy James sets off to find her troubled mother, Carletta. For years, Percy has had to take care of herself and Mama—a woman who’s been unraveling for as long as her daughter can remember. Fearing Carletta is strung out on meth and won’t survive the storm, Percy heads for Shelton Potter’s cabin, deep in the woods of northern Michigan.

But when Percy arrives, there is no sign of Carletta. Searching the house, she finds Shelton and his girlfriend drugged into oblivion—and a crying baby girl left alone in a freezing room upstairs. From the moment the baby wraps a tiny hand around her finger, Percy knows she must save her—a split-second decision that commences a dangerous odyssey in which she must battle the elements and evade Shelton and a small band of desperate criminals hell-bent on getting that baby back. 

Percy's mama is a junkie.  Percy has always had to look out for the both of them.  Now that the blizzard is coming and there's no sign of her mother, she has to go find her.  The first place she goes to look is her dealer's house.  She's not there, but she finds a baby crying and alone near a dog that's been dead for days.  So Percy takes the baby and heads out into the blizzard.  Of course, Shelton, the drug dealer has no idea who took the baby, but he sends his band of less than bright dealers out to find it.  Shelton is out in the storm high on laughing gas riding an ATV.  Percy is just trying to stay alive and get the baby to shelter.

I was a little skeptical about this book, but I ended up really liking it.  Percy was a great character.  The story was well written and well paced.  These stories about backwoods meth heads are always somewhat amusing to me for some reason.  I guess because I just don't get it.  This story was really funny at times and really sad at times.  If you liked Winter's Bone, you'd probably like this one.