Release Date: January 8, 2019

Jodi Mccarty is 35 years old and has just been released from prison. She was incarcerated for seventeen years after shooting her girlfriend in a jealous rage. Her plan is to head back to West Virginia where she will live on her grandmother’s land. On her journey, she makes a stop in Georgia to help her late girlfriend’s brother who grew up in an abusive home. There, she unexpectedly meets and quickly falls for a twenty-five-year-old drug addict named Miranda who is struggling to raise three young boys. Jodi collects the brother along with Miranda’s family and brings them all to West Virginia in hopes of a brighter future.  

Upon her arrival, Jodi finds that her grandmother’s land is rundown and was sold while she was in prison. She also re-connects with her brother who lives on the edge as a heroin dealer.  With the stigma of being a felon it is difficult to get a job while her brothers activities are putting her and friends at risk. Despite her desire to do better and change her ways, she finds limited choices are conspiring to push her back into her old life.

This is a debut novel by Mesha Maren. I loved ”Sugar Run” and was quickly drawn into the story because of the unique and gritty environment. The character’s development was complex and authentic as she teters between moving forward and backward .