I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A wealthy businessman is dead, and fifteen-year-old Ruby Monroe is in a Dallas jail awaiting trial for his murder. Ruby has no one she can count on—no one, except her state-appointed caseworker, a woman named Cadence Ware. In Ruby’s experience, that’s not anyone she can trust.

Cadence is familiar with the cold reality of Ruby’s situation, even before Ruby was arrested. Angry and alone, homeless and hungry, breaking the law just to survive, she is the kind of girl no one wants to listen to, especially not the prosecutor who wants to put her away for life.

But no one knows the story—the real story—of what happened the day Ruby met the man who would end up dead. As the layers of truth are peeled away and time is running out, Ruby and Cadence will both have desperate choices to make—choices that could mean the difference between Ruby spending her life in prison or her name being cleared.

Short and Sweet Review

Fifteen year old Ruby is in a Dallas Jail waiting for her trial, for the death of a prominent businessman. Ruby has no one in her corner until her state appointed social worker Cadence comes along. Cadence knows how hard life has been for Ruby because she’s experienced some of it herself. Ruby’s story is told through letters, court transcripts, and news articles. Slowly we learn more about Ruby and what happened to her that got her to be in the position she’s in.

Ruby Monroe hasn’t had the easiest upbringing, her mother was on drugs, she witnessed her mom being abused, eventually Ruby was sexually assaulted by one of her mom’s boyfriends. Ruby ends up homeless at the age of thirteen and she meets a guy like ten years older than her. Ruby doesn’t have anyone on her side so when she meets Cadence she isn’t sure if she can actually trust her. We get to see the meetings between Cadence and Ruby and see Cadence chip away at Ruby and eventually get to learn her story. We see the court transcripts and we see the story unfold through the eyes of witnesses. Ruby also writes letters to her friend as a way of therapy, and through the letters we see Ruby kind of relive what led up to her being in prison. This book has a lot of heavy content in it. I liked how we got to learn about Ruby but everything we learn makes us feel for her. Cadence does a good job at making Ruby understand that she’s the only one who can really help her. The ending had my jaw on the floor I was shocked, honestly it was something I wasn’t expecting and it’s something I keep thinking about.

Overall, this isn’t a light hearted book and there’s a lot of things that could be triggering but it’s a really good book. I enjoyed learning about Ruby and also the way the story was told is really captivating, I loved seeing the news articles and the court transcript. I also liked the fact that the author wanted to bring awareness to juveniles being tried as adults more often than not. Girls Like Her, tells the story of a girl that just wants to be heard and not only has she had to overcome her childhood, but now she has to overcome the American justice system. I would recommend this book if you like reading realistic fiction and want to experience the unique storytelling.