Readers will be immediately hooked on Hopkins' newest characters, Storm and Lake. These twins have pretty much everything stacked against them from the very beginning. Life with their mother and Beverly (grandmother) is not ideal, and when their mother decides they are too much of a bother, they end up in foster care.
A few placements keep them together, but that doesn't last. Both end up bouncing from home to home, and for the last four years they haven't seen each other at all.
Storm is living with a man named Jim. They get along well. Jim even encourages Storm to stay on the straight and narrow. Storm's temper doesn't make that easy. After his girlfriend in raped, Storm badly beats her attacker and lands himself in juvenile detention. Given his current anger, things don't go well for Storm.
Lake ends up in a placement with a girl named Parker. They develop a relationship and fall in love. When they are caught in bed together, they decide to run instead of being split up and sent to separate homes. Life on the streets is not kind to either of them. Parker disappears for days, leaving Lake alone. She decides foster care is a better way to live and returns to the system.
Following Storm and Lake's stories will surely touch the hearts of readers. Their stories are tough and focus on a system that doesn't always work for kids in need. Hopkins' direct and often hard verse has been criticized, but her stories tell a truth that needs to be heard.
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