I knew I had read a book in the subseries Blue Thorn Ranch previously and that, coupled with the description on the back cover, had me mistakenly thinking that this subseries was the one where teens got sentenced to time on a ranch. That is not the case--I now suspect that I may have read a bit about Ellie and/or this book at the end of the first book in the subseries.

This book contains many characters struggling with trust issues.

Ellie has fled home to Blue Thorn Ranch after finding her fiance in the arms of her best friend and she has trouble trusting her own judgement of people as well as trusting her heart in letting anyone get close to her (beyond family).

Nash has taken a job in Martin's Springs after being shot twice by a teen he'd befriended in LA. Nash fears that anyone who gets close to him has the potential to tear him apart.

The church kids in the program struggle with adults who don't give enough of themselves (parents, teachers, etc.) The two kids most featured are Mick, whose father doesn't even care enough to be present when the police question his son, and Marty, who is trying to reconcile the views of her father (who blames the Bucktons for the loss of construction jobs) and what she knows of Ellie through her involvement in the after school program.

The story leaves several questions unanswered.
1. What will Ellie do about her Atlanta job? She stated to Nash that she wanted to uphold her commitment or promises to them, but she also wants to stay in Texas. In the end, we see her setting up the website for her family's bison products--but we aren't ever told if she returned to her job briefly to fulfill the obligations she had with the fundraiser, or found a capable replacement, or did her part of the job remotely from Texas over the internet, or found another solution.
2. What happened to Mick and Marny after they were charged? Did they go to trial? Did they plead guilty and throw themselves on the mercy of the court? Did they do any time? Did they get probation or community service? Did the Bucktons drop the charges? (We do learn that Mick got a strike against him and chose to join the miitary.)
3. How did Ellie and Marny end up making up? And how did Ellie convince her family to allow her to hire Marny to help out with the store? I can see Ellie forgiving Marny as part of her new found trust restoration. How would that translate to Gunner and Audie? Did Marny apologize? Did she get some counseling to help with it happening again? ( )