Summer in the Badlands

Life is a roller coaster, and no one knows that better than Summer.

After escaping an abusive home at fourteen, Philadelphia native Summer finds a home with a motherly drug-dealer. Nightmares torment her in her sleep, while remorse plagues her when she awakens. Wracked with guilt over abandoning her younger siblings, Summer is determined to make money to free them from the life she fled. But dangerous choices make for a dangerous life—a lesson she learns quickly.

Throughout her life, Summer experiences love—and loss—in all its forms. Friends, family, and lovers change. Happiness quickly shatters into heartbreak. Hopelessness is resolved by fortune. Despite the horrors she witnesses and the bad luck that befalls her, Summer perseveres. Will tragedy and betrayal finally break her? Or can Summer rise above it all to make a better life for herself and her family?

Trying to overcome an abusive childhood, Summer suffers several tragedies and betrayals, each more heartbreaking than the last.