Hard Life
Loretta Harris
ISBN: 9780978668129
Children's Heart Publishing
Reviewed By Sarah Givens

Official Apex Reviews Rating: 


Travon Iverson, affectionately known as "T.I.", lives in a one-bedroom apartment with his mother in Miami. She has a good job as a registered nurse, but she suddenly loses it one day when she accidentally gives a patient the wrong meds, sending him into a coma. She and T.I. then struggle to make ends meet, which is made even more difficult when she's car-jacked one day, hospitalized with serious injuries. While trying to recover from her wounds, something goes terribly wrong, and she suddenly dies, leaving T.I. alone with equal parts grief and rage.

Determined not to let his mother's death go in vain, one day T.I. follows up on a tip he's received regarding the identity of the person responsible for his mother's car-jacking. The information he eventually learns, though, is far from what he could ever expect, involving someone he never could have imagined would turn on him so coldly.

As he ponders his next move, T.I. is thrust into the dark underbelly of an ongoing internal & external struggle, signifying just how hard life can be.

Hard Life is a gripping, powerful read that serves as a startling testimony to the numerous difficulties facing teenagers everyday. Just like T.I., many of them are suddenly confronted with tragic events beyond the scope of their control, and – without proper guidance and direction – they all too often fall victim to the various societal trappings just waiting to swallow them whole - mind, body, and soul. Fortunately, in T.I.'s case, he's able to overcome the adversity of his environment with amazing fortitude and make right a wrong that was done to him with the illest of intentions.

Hard Life is a story that needs to be shared at youth centers, churches, and counseling centers worldwide. Highly recommended.