The Ticket

Some people never realize how difficult it can be growing up and dealing with all the stereotypes in school. From those social group "clicks" to just knowing how to process what teens deal with in school to making that transition from home all while dealing with the changing of hormones and brain development. Harder than it looks and one we don't give them enough credit for.

In Debra Coleman Jeter's coming of age novel, The Ticket, we get a long look at how hard that life is for Tray Dunaway who has to deal with all those peer pressures that come from going to school and being seen as less than worthy in the eyes of not only her classmates but also from her own mother. Being raised in a poor family, her grandmother painstakingly makes all of Tray's clothes which are mocked by those she faces whenever she goes to school. This pushes Tray to become the shy social outcast who prefers to stay by herself whenever possible but longs for a life that everyone seems to have who have more than she does. She desperately wants to fit in and be accepted, but finds those opportunities have been shut off from her.

She longs for the day when she might be able to buy something that would make her feel the way she dreams about and in the meantime, spends those wasted moments looking through a catalog hoping one day soon, she might be able to buy something instead of homemade clothes. Her mother struggles with a deep depression, spending her days stuck in bed and dealing with migraines that only seem to increase whenever Tray possess a question about when things might change, like simply being able to buy a new pair of socks that won't slide down when she wears them, but is met with less than worth responses you would expect from a mother. When her father is given a lottery ticket as a way of thanking him for driving a man into town to purchase his, they aren't prepared the amount of problems that they will have to face when they actually win. Is this the life she dreamed she'd have one day or is this simply a way of introducing a set of problems they never dreamed they would have when the man suddenly wants a share of the winnings!

I received The Ticket by Debra Coleman Jeter compliments of Firefly Southern Fiction, a division of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest opinion. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained here are strictly my own. The one thing I truly loved about this novel is how it is written from Tray's perspective. How she views her life before the ticket and even afterwards. How she believes money will change things and doesn't realize how greed can destroy much more than poverty can. She dreams of a day when this might happen, and when it does, the reality is a lot different than what she imagines and it might be just what the family needs to learn how to appreciate the riches they never noticed before. I give this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and thing this is a great young adult novel for any teen struggling to find their sense of purpose and self worth in the world, when faced with seeing things through a different perspective!

For more information about The Ticket, Debra Coleman Jeter or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Ticket by Debra Coleman Jeter

You can find Debra Coleman Jeter on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest books.

To read more reviews on The Ticket, please stop by Christian Fiction Blog Alliance's Book Tour page.