Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my first book review. I really thought this would be a touching book but WOW is Laura Schroff the most self-centered, self-serving person ever? I was so angry at the story and I am dumbfounded that anyone thinks this is a good story. So let me get this straight: First we start off with a single woman in her 30's with huge issues about not having a husband or a child of her own. Then she finds this hungry kid on the street and clings on to him for dear life so that he can meet her parenting needs. It's all on her own terms though and she really doesn't care what happens to the kid or whether or not he eats aside from their 3 hour weekly meeting. She praises herself secondarily over and over again by saying how others say "oh you've done so much for him!" She panders with an obligatory "no I'M the one who's gained from this" and you can literally hear her pause so you can interject with how great she is. She tries throughout to paint herself as such the hero- "confronting" the door man so that he will let Maurice come in with out trouble. Such a hero. Astoundingly, once the boy sees her as a constant in his life she abandons him during his most formidable years as he becomes a teenager and young man. Why? Because she's finally found a man! So this guy comes along and she guiltlessly rids the kid from her life, not inviting him to Christmas, missing meetings, etc. Apparently she never brought up the idea of having Maurice in their life and the husband seems completely surprised by his potential presence- a clear testament to just how important Maurice was to her. Hilariously, as much as she's yearning to have a child of her own she marries a guy who doesn't want kids but she somehow never asked him this until after they're married! This woman is SO selfish and desperate for approval that she never pushes on having Maurice in her life. Am I the only one who sees the incredible selfishness of this period? It's horrible! Abandon by her for his whole teenage years the kid is on his own and ends up as a man in his young 20's working as a security guard or something and with like 5 kids and she gets passively-aggressively mad at him for having kids too young!! Of course her husband realizes what a self-centered jerk she is and divorces her. So where does she go? That's right- back to Maurice who she hasn't made an effort to see in the last 5 years! To top it all off she throws herself a ridiculous 50th birthday party (bc no one else would throw it for her) and has Maurice give a toast about what a great person she is and how she saved his life! I've never read a book that was so self-serving. This lady is an awful person and everything she did was for how own needs. Terrible story about a needy woman using a helpless child to meet her needs. Oh and you can get a sense of what people really think of her by reading the opening foreword by her friend and former boss. The lady is so painfully trying to find someway to say something nice about the author. I should have put the book down right there. I'd really love to hear comments- agreeing or disagreeing. This book just made me so angry it was a terrible terrible story if you look at the details.