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I don't know what all of the hype was about and to be completely honest I question the authenticity of this memoir. It came off an overdramatized whine fest and pity party by a bitter middle aged woman unable to come to terms with her childhood seeking attention.

1. While she claims her stepmother was evil I failed to see this noticing only that the stepmother belongs to some crazy cult, forces the Lauck children to join this cult, and believes New Age Whackos can cure her gravely ill husband better than doctors at the hospital. No mention of beatings or starvation. Where is all of this supposed abuse?

2. The author spends the summer at some camp run by the stepmother's cult and after being unable to swim when ordered to do so is repeatedly thrown into the deep end by an aggressive counselor until she is nearly drowned and then sentenced to 20 twenty hours of hard labor according to the demerits she is given. Her father happens upon her pulling weeds by hand, is clearly confused about what his daughter is doing and suggests she stop, but ultimately does nothing about the humiliating and sadistic madness his children are being subjected to. Her father was supposedly her hero not to mention that anyone with half a brain would ascertain that this crazy cult needs to be investigated and run not walk to the nearest Exit. What a devoted and loving father Daddy Dearest was to let this blatant abuse of his children continue!

3. The author is supposedly sent to live alone in a group home in Los Angeles belonging to the stepmother's cult, because she is obviously very unhappy at home. In this residence she is the only child and must work for her keep then walk 20 blocks one way to get to her elementary school....at 10 years old. The adults are indifferent to her and do not question this arrangement, which I find to be very strange because an unsupervised child is a huge liability and use of child labor is illegal. She essentially drops out of school to wander around the city like a homeless orphan and basically runs wild somehow managing to avoid falling prey to creeps, but no one ever notices or questions why she is out at all hours and the school does not investigate why she is not coming to school,which again is illegal in all 50 states.

4. Her stepmother eventually invites her back to live with the blended family, but says the family is too poor to afford professional movers and apparently no adults are available to help, so little Jenny must move her entire bedroom set by herself to the new residence.....by dragging the heavy furniture for over a dozen blocks one way across busy city streets for several hours in broad daylight. Again I ask, where on Earth do people just stand around and watch something so obviously jacked up like this without intervening and calling the police?! What sane person, child or adult, is going to agree to such a ridiculous not to mention dangerous task?! In the same way 'Deb' arranged for Jenny's furniture to be delivered to the cult's group home she could very well arrange for the furniture to be moved to the new residence and if that could not be arranged then little Jenny did not need that stuff so desperately as to go along with Deb's senseless suggestion! It makes no sense whatsoever.

5. The author is located at age 11 by her aunt and uncle who have supposedly been searching the entire city, the 2nd largest city in the entire country without any of the modern navigational tools mind you, for her and her older brother. They happen upon her completely by chance as she leaves her home and walks down a crowded street. Do I really need to explain why that is about as likely as a pig flying? They scoop up Jenny and her brother and take them to a hotel, but for some strange reason they tell 'Deb' where they are with the children and predictably 'Deb' shows up threatening to call the police if the Lauck children are not returned to her possession. Several weeks later however, 'Deb' abruptly sends first the author's brother away and then shortly after puts Jenny on a bus back to Nevada to her grandparents. How is it that this woman who threatened to report her in-laws for kidnapping just a short time ago, decides out of the blue that she no longer wants the orphaned stepchildren and their much needed source of monthly income?

Bottom line is something is not right here and I do not believe we are being given the 100% Gospel Truth in this memoir. Long before the author's relatives 'rescued' her, the stepmother and her whackjob cult should have been reported to the authorities and the Lauck children removed from their toxic influence. In researching this book I found that there has been some questioning of the authenticity of this book and I am inclined to believe the opposer.