Determined to protect her mother and little sisters, fourteen-year-old Kacey Dalton takes the brunt of her father’s alcoholism and violent mood swings. He swears if she tells anyone he’ll shut her big mouth forever. Her mom turns a blind eye and does nothing; she’s got her own secrets to keep. Kacey’s quirky sense of humor helps her deal, and she hopes someday she’ll be free of his tirades.
Struggling to hold her dysfunctional family together, Kacey escapes into her best friend Maxine’s happy family. She finds sanctuary in Maxine’s perfect life: fancy house, loving parents, and handsome older brother Wade. Kacey’s been crushing on Wade for years, and he may or may not like her back.
As her dad’s explosive rages escalate, Kacey’s bruises get harder to hide–especially from Wade. He wants answers. If Kacey tells him the truth, she risks losing him and her second family forever. She ends up trapped between the wall of lies she’s built and the father who’s intent on taking every-crappy-thing-that’s-wrong-with-his-life out on her. Kacey seeks escape again, this time in the sanctuary of whiskey. The more she says she will not be like her father, the more she is like him, which has devastating effects on her sisters. Exactly what she’s tried so hard to prevent.
Kacey must find courage to stop the abuse. But saving herself means destroying the lives of everyone she loves. And standing up to her dad might just get her killed.
Heart-wrenching, humorous, and hopeful, Big Mouth Blues weaves a story of true friendship with a resilient young girl’s journey of triumph.