Macy Cashmere’s mother, Yasmin, chose her name when she found a cashmere sweater inside a Macy’s bag on a bus during her pregnancy. At the time, Yasmin thought the bag was good luck. Macy believes that the bag was not good luck for her mother – but could still be good luck for Macy. And she could use some good luck right about now.

A few weeks ago, Macy’s younger brother was admitted to the hospital after an injury. The doctor called Child Protective Services. She has not seen him since then. In order to get him back and stop CPS from picking her up next, she needs to help her mother get back on track – get a job and go to parenting classes – to convince CPS that she can take care of her children while their father is in jail. Macy also needs to convince her best friend, Alma, that she is not “disturbed,” as her school’s staff suggests. She can nobly clean her entire house to save Yasmin’s reputation when CPS visits, she can save her home from hungry stray dogs, and she can even help a sketchy girl named Velvet who just needs a ride to the gas station.

Macy Cashmere is an extraordinary, well-developed character like none any reader has ever seen before. Her sometimes reckless decisions show that she sees the world in an awe-inspiring, fascinating way that no one else does after facing more in the past few years than many people will ever have to deal with in their entire lives. Two words that could be used to describe her are simply “determined” and “real."

No book I have ever read is quite like this one; however, one loosely similar book is Uninvited by Sophie Jordan.