Nobody Bodine is a nobody who came from a nobody and will
always be a nobody. He disappears into the shadows—no one sees him if he
doesn’t want them to. He exists in neither the white man’s world nor the
tribe’s, dispensing vigilante justice when he sees fit. There’s no other place
for a man like him in this world. Until Melinda Mitchell shows up on the rez.
From the first moment he lays eyes on her, he can tell there’s something
different about her. For starters, she’s not afraid of him. She asks where his
scars came from, and why he has so many. But more than that, she sees him. For
the first time in his life, Nobody feels like a somebody in her eyes.
Melinda has come west to run the new day care on the
White Sandy Reservation. She’s intrigued by this strange man and his tattered
skin, and when she discovers that he’s a self-appointed guardian angel for the
boy in her care, she realizes that there’s more to Nobody than meets the eyes.
But how far will he go to keep the boy safe? And will she be able to draw him
into the light?
Terrific book. It is the only one of the series I have
read, and it left me wanting to read the others. It was an emotional book about
a man who endured horrible things as a child and the effect on his life
thereafter. It was also the story of the woman who saw past the scars to the
man.
Melinda left Ohio after yet another failed relationship
to join her sister at the White Sandy rez. She will run the new daycare center.
The man who cleans the center and visits her sister and brother-in-law late at
night intrigues her with his scars and haunted eyes.
Nobody was a hero who pulled at the heartstrings. Named
Nobody by his mother, who told him he was "a nobody who came from nobody
and would always be a nobody," he lives in the shadows and avoids contact
with almost everyone. His history is heartbreaking, but it left him with a
streak of protectiveness, especially toward children.
I loved the connection that formed between Melinda and Nobody
from the moment they met. Nobody has an uncanny knack for melting into the
shadows, and it's a rare person who can see him when he does. Melinda is one of
those people, and it scares Nobody spitless. I loved watching her get to know
him by slipping into his world. She understands him and what makes him the way
he is, and she doesn't try to force him into her world. Instead, she accepts
him in all of his solitary glory while ensuring he doesn't push her away. Nobody
bought into the world's opinion that he's no good and doesn't understand what
Melinda sees in him. His internal commentaries are both funny and heartbreaking
as he tries to wrap his head around her interest.
It isn't long before their two worlds collide in the
person of a young victim of the same kind of abuse Nobody suffered. Nobody
protects young Jamie with his own form of justice, frequently taking the boy to
his own home and giving him a safe space to recover. I loved the connection
between the two of them. Jamie worships Nobody; his imitation of his hero is
spot-on. He is also as protective of Nobody as Nobody is of him. When Melinda
becomes aware of Jamie's situation, her reaction is to remove Jamie from his
home ASAP. She receives an eye-opening education on what happens to Native
children when they end up in foster care and struggles to find a compromise.
I loved the solution that Melinda and Nobody devised and
that it had a good chance of working. Unfortunately, fate intervened before
their plans could be fully executed. Melinda has the problem well in hand, but
it requires Nobody's patience and cooperation. I ached for Nobody, whose worry
for Jamie became so overwhelming that he did a very stupid thing. This left
Melinda in an awkward position of having to find a way to fix the results of his actions and ensure
that the solution is the one they want. I was quite impressed with Melinda as
she went to bat for both Jamie and Nobody, though her methods for Nobody were
very unorthodox. I ached for Nobody as he endured the consequences of his
actions and worried that he'd also lost Melinda.
The ending brought tears to my eyes as Melinda waited and
hoped for Nobody's return. I loved that she wasn't going to give him long to
avoid her. I loved how, once again, she felt him before she saw him. Nobody
broke my heart as he shared his fears and his feelings with her.
"I've
never loved anyone. I don't know how to love you. Will you show me how?"
And Melinda says,
"All I can ask is that you don't give up on us
." Nobody: "Us
. Never had an us
before." Sigh.
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