With her mama recently dead and her pa sight unseen since birth, fourteen-year-old Amelia is suddenly in charge of her younger brother and sister, and of the family gas station. Harley Blevins, local king and emperor of Standard Oil, is in hot pursuit to clinch his fuel monopoly. To keep him at bay and her family out of foster care, Melia must come up with a father, and fast. And so when a hobo rolls out of a passing truck, Melia grabs opportunity by its beard. Can she hold off the hounds till she comes of age? @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
4 STARS
*I won this book in a GOODREADS FIRSTREADS GIVEAWAY*
When this beautiful little hardback came in the mail I felt I wanted to read it right then. This is a story about hard times and perseverance, family and what you will do to keep it all together.
Amelia's (Melia) mom died and they buried her in a grave in an area her mom liked to be. So now Melia is the sole owner of Brenda's Oasis, the gas station, grocery store, and vehicle repairs. Melia is still a child just a few years shy of being able to adopt her brother and sister (Janey and Earle). Every day Melia worries how she is going to pull this off and keep everything together.
Let me tell you that the character of Melia is something else. She's hard, she gets it done, she one hell of a mechanic and has a mouth like a sailor.
Melia tells their lawyer (Chester) like it is and that she's going to figure it all out. All the while she's fighting off the jerk down the road that wants to buy out her station. He has every other station up and down Virginia. He's not a good guy and does some really terrible things to this family and I will not dignify him with a name even though he's fictional.
Melia has some really good friends in the truckers that come by every morning and evening to get their cigarettes and gas and chew the fat for awhile. They were kind enough to bring some things for the family. One man is meaner than a skunk but he likes Melia because she fixed his truck and he always tells her if she need something let him know. Pretty much while cussing about this and that :-)
I have already mentioned that Melia is one smart cookie so when a hobo sort of lands, yes lands, on her property.. she decides to clean him up and make him her father so that she can keep the family together. She really doesn't give him the chance to decide, she decides for him and that's that.
This hobo would be a man called Hiram Watts. After a little bit, Hiram fits right into the family and he actually helps them make more money than they do. He works in the store for them as before, they would just leave out a plate and hope people would be honest and leave the right amount of money. Not so much everyone, but Hiram had a way of making people buy more than they would have and the truck drivers finally took to him. Hiram also puts together other things to bring people in and help them pay off their bills. But at ever turn is that dreadful man that wants to bring them down and you know what? He just doesn't. He's no match for Melia and Hiram.
One day things happen and Melia is putting together and new scheme and it all works out. I find it funny that she tells a boy that she's dating that they are going to get married and that's how it is.
The characters are so full of spunk and I loved each one of them. Having relatives from the era that went through things made me think of the past and stories. The little family have a rich voice in the book. They are funny at times and serious at times. They do what they have to do and eek out a living with the love they have for each other.
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1695719592
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Strikes-Louis-Bayard/dp/1627793909/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468325166&sr=1-1&keywords=lucky+strikes+in+books
MY AMAZON REVIEW:
https://www.amazon.com/review/R27MQBT05E6KIT/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
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