Second Mile Press
Cover for Some People's Kids

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Some People's Kids

Strummer gets dropped at Hope House and left there. No goodbye. No plan.

Hope House isn't juvie. It isn't prison. But for Strummer, it might as well be.

At seventeen, he's stuck in a halfway house with a group of kids carrying their own damage, their own secrets, and their own ways of surviving. With freedom just out of reach, Strummer has to figure out who he can trust, what he's willing to fight for, and who he wants to be when he finally walks out the door.

Raw, darkly funny, and painfully human, Some People's Kids is a coming-of-age novel about the kids who fall through the cracks—and what it takes to find your way back out.

Literary / Coming of ageReleased May 24, 2026
Buy the paperback — $16.99Read on Kindle

4.19 on Goodreads · 16 reader reviews

Praise

What readers are saying.

  • Gritty. Raw. Unnerving.

    Kelly, Goodreads reviewer

  • The voice of this author grabbed my attention immediately. It's raw, cynical, poetic, and angry.

    Greta, Goodreads reviewer

  • His prose is vivid, atmospheric, and filled with memorable imagery that lingers well beyond the final page.

    Sue, Goodreads ARC reader

  • The descriptions were so vivid I could picture everything perfectly… Definitely one of those books that leaves a mark.

    Mondo, Goodreads reviewer

  • A quick read that packs an emotional punch. So many flawed characters that still make you want to root for them.

    Lizz, Goodreads reviewer

  • This book is raw and it is sad, and I am looking forward to book 2.

    Holli, Goodreads reviewer

  • Raw, heartbreaking, and impossible to put down.

    Rose, Goodreads reviewer

  • This book was heart wrenching, honest, and didn’t shy from the truth of what treatment with challenges looks like.

    Kai, Goodreads ARC reader

  • It is a book that I won’t forget any time soon. The raw emotions that were expressed through the characters reflected real world problems some children face in their lives.

    Ann, Goodreads ARC reader

Read all reviews
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Back cover of Some People's Kids with the jacket copy

From the back of the book

Strummer gets dropped at Hope House and left there. No goodbye. No plan. It's not juvie. It's not prison. It's a halfway house for troubled teens with rules, routine, and a clock that doesn't care how you feel about it.

He tells himself he'll keep his head down. Do the program. Get out at eighteen. Then Hope House does what places like that do. It gets under your skin.

The kids aren't a group. They're a mess of stories. The staff isn't a safety net. It's a system. And the longer Strummer's there, the harder it is to pretend none of it matters.

Strummer is close to freedom. Close enough to taste it. Now he has to decide what kind of person walks out.

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