This Family Sucks! Sincerely Yours, Peter Frazier

By Leigh M. Hall

Have you ever thought that maybe you didn't belong? Have you ever looked around at your family members and thought, there is no way I am related to these people?

Both Peter Frazier and Trent Lockley thought this about the families they were born into.

Two boys, the same age, miles apart. They are both from small Texas towns, born in the same hospital, on the same day. However, their lives turned out to be nothing alike.

The Frazier family is a large, lively bunch. The fact that they are close-knit and share every detail of their lives with each other always seemed a little strange to Peter. Although he loves every one of his six siblings and his overly affectionate parents, he couldn't help but feel out of place around them.

Trent Lockley is an only child born to abusive parents and spent most of his life posing as a punching bag for the town drunks. As he grew into a young man, his anger grew with him. Trent got in a lot of trouble as an adolescent. He would start fights at school frequently, and once he grew up and got even bigger than his drug addict father, he started fights at home.

It is the summer of 1996; the Frazier family is preparing for Peter's High School graduation, and Peter is a little nervous because he has yet to make any plans for his future. He always figured that once he turned eighteen, he would hit the road and never look back, but now that the day is here, he isn't so sure. The idea of leaving his family, mainly his baby sister Tallulah behind now scares him.

Right before the two strangers turn eighteen, they cross paths. Trent has somehow managed to wiggle his way into the Frazier's life, and Peter becomes suspicious of this newcomer and starts to question everything about him. The rest of the Frazier family seem to be blinded by Trent's charm and simply adore him.

A dark cloud is hovering over the once perfect household. At every turn, the Frazier family get nothing but devastating news. Peter is not sure what this Trent character is capable of, but since his arrival, everything has gone wrong, so he must have something to do with it. Peter starts to piece the puzzle together but is it too late? Once the truth is discovered, Peter starts to realize that his family doesn't actually suck as much as he initially thought.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leigh M. Hall
• Release date: Dec 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393075394

Leigh M. Hall

Leigh is a believer in fairytales, the kind that keep some people up at night. She lives in Texas with her family of gremlins and their amazing dogs. Not only does she love the heat, but she is preparing herself just in case there, in fact, will be a hell at the end of all this. Growing up, she spent most of her time in the land of fictional characters and kept her head buried in a book. With ideas continually running around in her strange mind, she decided to dip her toes into writing. Leigh published her first novel, Girl Bully (a best-selling psychological thriller), in 2020. Since then, she has published many more intensely dark and captivating novels. Many of her books can be listened to through Audible and Apple books. Leigh loves staying in touch with her fans. You can follow her through her newsletter and many social media sites. She is very active in the writing community. You can find her at an in-person signing at any point during the year, including the incredible Wild Dead Wood Reads held during Wild Bills days in South Dakota every summer. She also attends Wanderlust in San Antonio, Texas, an event known for attracting a plethora of different readers. Over the last few years, Leigh has been very busy building her career as a writer. She is a Houston Writer’s Guild member and an active in-person member/contributor to the 20 books community. She is also a sponsoring author for The Bookworm Box/Bookbonanza, a Texas-based charity bookstore, and event. As of 2022, Leigh is an associate member of International Thriller Writers (ITW). Visit her website for upcoming release information, https://www.leighmhall.com/

Book preview

For all the 90’s kids, we got the best decade.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally and are not to be considered as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

This Family Sucks! Sincerely Yours, Peter Frazier.

© Copyright 2020 by Leigh M. Hall. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

This Family Sucks!

Sincerely Yours,

Peter Frazier

A Novel

Written by: Leigh M. Hall

Chapter 1:

THE FRAZIER FAMILY is a large, tight-knit group. Mary Beth and Michael have been married for twenty-six years, and have seven beautiful children together. The two lovebirds met while Mary Beth was still in high school. A couple of years older than Mary Beth, Michael had just returned from Vietnam when he walked into her family bookstore while she was working the register. She recognized him right away. He was the local hero everyone had just celebrated the week before. Mary Beth had a few months left before she would graduate, and Michael waited it out. As soon as she was free to make her own choices in life, he asked her on a date. They have been inseparable ever since.

Their eldest child, Elan, has just turned twenty-three. Then comes Poppy, the eldest Frazier girl. She is only nine months behind Elan. Michael obviously could not keep his hands off of his wife for the recommended six weeks. Besides the fact that Elan has been about three feet taller than his little sister since the time they were ten, they could have passed as twins. Next up are the actual twins, at twenty-one, just fifteen months behind Poppy. Phoebe and Penn were always together as children. Some people like to dress their twins up to match, but these two are actually identical in every way, and they love it. Vladimir lives up to his name; At nineteen, he is the oddball Frazier kid. He was born during Mary Beth’s vampire phase. Thirteen months Vladimir's junior, Peter is the only one that doesn’t resemble any of his siblings. He has darker hair, still blond but not as bright yellow as the other Frazier kids. His bright blue eyes stand out among the dull brown that surrounds him. His older siblings sometimes tease Peter. They would say he had been left on the doorstep and was adopted. Peter didn’t think this was funny, but his grandmother Bethany always came to his rescue. She says that he is special because he is the only one who got her eyes, even though they were not the same blue shade as his. Peter is known as the sensitive Frazier; he takes everything to heart and tends to overthink things. Tallulah is and always will be the baby of the family. Tallulah and Peter share a birthday; she is exactly one year behind him to the day. She is a free spirit and does not seem to care what people think about her.

All of the children are close, but Peter and Tallulah seem to share a superior bond. Even though Tallulah is one year younger than Peter, she was always a little bigger than him growing up.

When Peter was born, the family just happened to be on their first book signing trip with their mother, Mary Beth. She was eight months pregnant and thought she could get through the long weekend with her family before giving birth. She wanted to bring everyone along in case she never got another chance. This was the first time Mary Beth had been invited to a bookstore to sign a new release, and she was ecstatic. Maybe no one would like her future books. Perhaps no one would even show up to her first signing? She did not know, but she did not want to take any chances. Mary Beth only had to spend one afternoon at the bookstore, and then they could sightsee all over San Antonio, Texas for three whole days. However, it didn’t work out that way. She went into labor in the middle of the signing and was rushed to the nearest hospital in San Antonio.

Peter's birth was spotless, well minus the blood and other bodily fluids that come with every delivery. There were no complications; however, the next day, there were some concerns in regards to the new baby. Peter was born at seven pounds six ounces; by day two, he had dropped almost a full pound and was having a hard time keeping his respiratory rate under control. On top of that, he had developed jaundice, couldn’t seem to keep any formula down, and wouldn't latch on to breastfeed.

Peter was kept in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a week after his delivery. Mary Beth was grateful that this had happened when it did. If she would have gone into labor and delivered in Tyler, Texas, their little Podunk hospital would not have been equipped to handle Peter’s needs. This was back in the seventies, and not many hospitals could handle a newborn with special needs.

The Frazier family had a hard time keeping five toddlers in a hotel room. Especially since Michael wanted to spend as much time as he could at the hospital with his wife. Bethany and Nigel Stevens, Mary Beth's parents, came in to retrieve the kids from the weary couple so they could focus on their sickly newborn. The grandparents took the five Frazier children back to Tyler and cared for them until little Peter was well enough to get released.

Once home with their new addition, everyone was happy, but there was still a looming dark cloud around little Peter. He was in such poor health, and his parents had never dealt with anything like this before. They contributed it to the possibility that they can't all be perfect. When you had created as many children as they did, one was bound to have some sort of issues.

As Mary Beth started to settle back into her home with her new baby, she also started rethinking her life. She had started writing years ago for something to do as a hobby, and it had blown up into this full-time job. Now she had an infant that called for her undivided attention. She no longer needed anything to fill her time. Peter demanded all of it. She contacted her publicist, Ella Wood, and told her she would be taking a hiatus from writing indefinitely. Mary Beth’s romance novels were the bread and butter that allowed the Frazier family to live the way they did, but they would make do. Family always came first.

It did not take long for Peter to gain some strength; with so much nurture and love being thrown at him all day, it was impossible not to thrive. The Frazier family had a hard time after his birth, but they knew it was temporary. Peter was the most challenging child, but with so many helping hands surrounding them, Mary Beth’s parents and Michael’s father living so close, it almost seemed natural.

Everyone wanted a piece of the new baby, the helpless child that couldn’t even eat on his own for almost two years. Mary Beth had to start shooing people away just so she could get a moment alone with her baby.

Somehow, Michael and Mary Beth did seem to find some peace though they found themselves pregnant again a couple of months later. This was not planned; the Frazier house was already full, so they decided then and there that this was it for them. The kitchen was closed. They didn’t want to intervene in God's plan, but they felt like they had done enough of his work.

When Tallulah was born, Mary Beth decided to close up shop. She was still struggling with her challenging one-year-old, and a newborn added to that was really starting to test her. It was a good thing her parents lived across the street, and her husband was an amazing father. It also helped that the five older Frazier children were little angels. Well, at least in Mary Beth's eyes they were. She knew they were not perfect, but she wouldn’t change one single thing about the crew that she and Michael had produced.

It wasn’t until Peter started preschool that Mary Beth finally wrote another book. It had been over four years since she had published anything, and her hope was that she had not lost her fan base completely. Fortunately for her, it was the mid-eighties; soap operas and romance novels were all the rage. Ella, her publicist, welcomed her back with open arms. It didn’t hurt that they were also longtime friends.  

The Frazier house was crazy. The two eldest boys, Elan and Penn, were heavy into little league football, so the family could usually be found at a game or practice most nights and weekends. Poppy was a bit of a tomboy and had an almost unhealthy obsession with skateboarding as an adolescent. Phoebe was her brother's biggest fan and joined the cheerleading squad for Penn’s little league football team. Vladimir had discovered reptiles and was trying to send Mary Beth to an early grave with all the creatures he kept bringing home. Then, there was Peter and Tallulah. They were the cutest little things ever to set foot on the whole freaking planet. They seemed to live in a world all their own. They revolved around each other. Mary Beth cried right along with Peter and her baby girl when Peter had to go off to school and leave his sister behind. Somehow in Peter’s five years of life, he had acquired an old keychain with a rabbit’s foot on it. No one knew where it had initially come from, but one day, Peter just had it in his tiny hand. It acted as sort of a comfort toy or security blanket for the little man ever since then. You could always find Peter with that little fuzzy foot; he would sometimes absent-mindedly rub it on his face. Mary Beth had to repeatedly threaten to take the nasty thing away if he didn’t put it in his pocket. She thought it was disgusting, and Peter did not understand why. Peter suffered from severe allergies; the family could never have any furry pets because of this. When Peter got the rabbit’s foot, he discovered what it was like to hold something that was soft and tender, and to him it was almost like he got to pet a real bunny. It was an incredible feeling, unlike any other he had ever felt.  

One morning Mary Beth caught Peter getting up extra early and was trying to sneak Tallulah off to the bus stop with him, so she could join him during the day at school. Their little minds didn’t understand why, after so long, they suddenly had to be separated. This broke Mary Beth's heart, but it also made her realize that maybe having them together every second of the day wasn’t all too healthy. When Mary Beth separated them at that bus stop, Peter reached into his pocket, pulled out that old rabbit's foot, and handed it to his little sister. He had never wandered far from that thing, even took it into the bathtub with him, but that morning, even at five years young, Tallulah’s happiness was more important to him than anything else in the world. Even with her rabbit's foot, it still took almost three months before Tallulah stopped giving her mother the stink eye once Peter had left for the day. When the tears finally stopped, Mary Beth got to stay home and enjoy beautiful afternoons with just her, her baby girl, and her typewriter.

GROWING UP, PETER LOVED his family but also loathed them at the same time. He had never seen a crazier bunch of people in his life! Peter Frazier had a pretty large group of friends, considering he lived in a small Texas town. He noticed from a young age how different his family was, compared to others he knew. Visiting other people's homes and seeing how they interact with each other confused him. Why weren’t the McMenemy’s singing and dancing every night after dinner? The Finley family did not have pictures of nearly nude women strewn all over the kitchen table, pictures that you were forced to rate from best to worst by their romance-writing mother. No one else felt the need to share sexual experiences with their parents. Why was it discussed over breakfast with his family like it was no big deal? His friends were never exposed to rated R movies before the appropriate age.

When Peter was only a few years old, his family went out for a movie night. Sounds innocent, right? Well, not when you are taking your kids to see The Evil Dead! Tallulah was deemed too young to go out that night and was left with Grandma Bethany. However, at just a year older Peter somehow made the cut and was taken along. Peter believed it was because Tallulah wasn’t fully potty trained, and it had nothing to do with their age at all. The thing was, no one else felt there was anything wrong with their entertainment choice. They could not understand why Peter cried and covered his eyes through the entire movie, not when all the other kids loved it. There was just no getting around it. The Frazier family were unique yet equally insane.

Although their house was large, it always seemed a little overcrowded with so many people in it. As the children grew, the walls started closing in around Peter, almost suffocating him. He consistently found himself in a panicked state of claustrophobia, unable to escape.

Through the everyday chaos of life around him, Peter can always find peace and comfort in the company of his little sister Tallulah. She is his number one friend. It is like she has been put on this earth solely for him. The two children shared a room up until Peter turned twelve years old. He didn’t want the separation, but his parents forced it upon him, saying, Your body is going to start changing, and it is not appropriate for you to share the same space with a girl, and, You are going to thank us later.

Ever since Peter could remember, he slept within the same four walls with his sister. They comforted each other through nightmares, and read stories late into the night. They talked about everything, even things they would never think to share with another living person. Peter had a hard time adjusting to his new accommodations. After weeks of protest, his parents never gave in and took it upon themselves to move his belongings out of his room and into his older brother Vladimir’s.

Peter thought Vladimir was just as insane as the rest of the Frazier family, but he was also incredibly creepy. He has this odd obsession with snakes. It started early on in life, at the age of four. After playing outside with his four older siblings, he brought home his first random snake. Vladimir didn’t understand why everyone freaked out when he entered the back door with his new friend. Why didn’t they want to pet him? Turns out, it was a rattlesnake, but oddly enough, it did not seem to be a threat to the young child that held it in his minuscule hands.

Once the family calmed down and saw that the child was not in immediate danger, Michael found a large shoebox to carefully place the snake in. There was no going back after that day. Vladimir had found his calling; some people now call him the snake whisperer. When Peter was twelve and forced to relocate into Vladimir’s reptilian cave, he was scared to death. Peter had always refused to even touch the snakes; they frightened him just as much as they amazed Vladimir. His parents brushed off his protests and told him that the snakes were beautiful creatures, and he would come to love them in time.

Peter was unable to sleep for the first few weeks. He was surrounded by tanks that held over a dozen different snakes. He wondered how anyone could sleep with all the hissing and the glow of heat lamps. When he asked his brother Vladimir about it, his response was, I don’t know what you're talking about; I can barely hear them. You should try to relax, man; I think it’s all in your head.

The largest snake is a thirteen-foot boa constrictor, his name is Topsy, and Vladimir had gotten him for his tenth birthday. Peter was a thin, frail boy, and just the thought of that snake getting out of his tank made Peter almost piss himself.

Every night Peter wanted so badly to sneak out and slip back into his old room. He wanted the comfort of his sister, his friend, his confidant. He needed the familiar smells and the sense of security. He wanted to stare at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and listen to Tallulah ramble on about her short stories. If they weren’t talking, then Tallulah was always singing along to some crying chick song or whatever music the latest boy band had released. It did not matter that the music sucked; Peter just loved to listen to Tallulah sing. Vladimir’s room always felt damp, and scary shadows cast from the snake's lamps moved along the walls at night. Sometimes when Vladimir would feed them live mice, the snakes would keep them alive for a few days. Then in the middle of the night, he would hear little mouse cries as they finally met their end.

Peter was stuck in what he called the dungeon for four years while waiting on a spare room to open up in the house. Finally, once Penn went off to college, he called dibs on the room his older brother would be vacating. Penn tried to object, saying that he would still need it when he came home to visit. Peter wasn't having any of that; he told Penn that if he decided to come back, he would have to bunk with Vladimir.

Penn did not like that idea, but since he was leaving, there wasn’t much he could do about it. Penn was the all-star jock in the family. Elan and Vladimir had also played multiple sports over the years, but they weren't at the athletic status Penn was at. He got into Texas A&M on a full football scholarship. Some people found him intimidating and would have cowered down at his insistence to keep his childhood room. Not Peter. Peter knew Penn would never harm him. Penn had always stuck up for his scrawny little brother. Everyone knew not to fuck with Peter growing up. Otherwise, they would have to deal with Penn and possibly Elan as well. Lots of mysterious fights ending in broken bones have happened over the years. Oddly enough, no one ever saw anything. Not even the person it happened to. You didn’t snitch on Penn or any of the Frazier’s for that matter, not unless you wanted to be next in line for a beat down.

Penn was a nice guy and got along with most people, but the minute you crossed him, his unruly temper would show its ugly head. He wasn’t the only one in the Frazier family that had anger issues. Michael was known to get into some trouble when he was younger. Once he enlisted, all of his focus was on fighting for his country, and that seemed to help. Whenever the boys showed real aggression, Michael would take them to the gun range and let them take their frustrations out on the targets. The Frazier men always say that firepower is the best form of therapy there is.

Chapter 2:

IT IS THE MIDDLE OF April, 1996; Tallulah, the youngest of the Frazier kids, will be turning seventeen this summer and still does not have a car of her own. She also believes that she won't be getting one any time soon, or at least she really didn’t care to have one. Her mother has offered up her Ford Taurus, but Tallulah just can’t see herself as a driver yet. Between her parents, her siblings, and her best friend Daria’s new Miata, she has no problems getting to the places she needs to go.

Daria Smith has been in Tallulah’s life since elementary school. The two of them were fast friends and Daria helped get Tallulah through her separation anxiety at a young age. In middle school, both girls did gymnastics, but Daria went on to become a cheerleader as well. Tallulah didn’t have time to fit all the games and practices into her schedule, so she decided to skip tryouts in sixth grade. Their third wheel, Candy, showed up the following year, halfway through seventh grade. Candy and her mother had moved to town from somewhere in Utah. They were forced to move in with Candy’s grandmother after her parents got a divorce. Over the years Daria and Tallulah seemed to become completely different people but remained close friends; Tallulah was starting to think it might just be out of convenience. It seems like Candy and Tallulah are far closer with each other than with Daria. Candy had it a little rough in life, and Tallulah was empathetic; Daria just didn’t understand. Candy never talks about her dad and the one time Tallulah asked, her response was just that he had a new family now and she never talks to or sees him anymore. She would then change the subject. Candy’s mom was nice, but Tallulah figured she suffered from some form of depression because she always looked so sad.

Despite all of her transportation options, she seemed to always find herself in the passenger’s seat of her brother Peter’s Ford Ranger. After all, they go to high school together, hang out with the same crowd, and not counting Daria and Candy; he is truly her best friend.

Tallulah wonders what she is going to do once Peter graduates from high school. She might only have a couple of months left with him before he moves on and leaves her behind. She tries to picture her days without him. Not having him drive her to school, not sitting with him at lunch in the cafeteria, not spending hours in the evenings studying together. Who was going to make sure she didn’t drink too much at parties or make sure something did not get slipped into one of her drinks that led to her getting taken advantage of?

Candy is always smashed at the night's end, and Daria is never allowed to go to any parties most weekends because her dad acts like a damn drill sergeant even though everyone knows he doesn’t really give a shit.

Tallulah thinks now might be a good time to start dating. She has never had a steady boyfriend. Sure, she had dated and even made out a few times but never anything serious. Candy has been with her current boyfriend, Ryan, since sophomore year, which seems to work out pretty good for them. Candy doesn’t have a car, so Ryan drives her around, and when Tallulah and Daria are busy, Candy always has Ryan to hang out with. I guess that’s what you do when you don’t have a sibling to keep you company, Tallulah thought.

Tallulah is gorgeous, even she knows that; all the Frazier girls are. She has long, wavy golden blond hair, and mesmerizing brown eyes that always seem to glow. People appear to get caught up in her eyes and lose their train of thought when they are around Tallulah. She is an average height at 5’6", but years of gymnastics has given her a magnificently muscular figure. She gave up gymnastics after her freshman year, but the body will hold on to anything you have given it if allowed.

She knows guys are attracted to her, but she rarely ever gets asked out. She was the one that had to ask Steven Garza to prom, and he had the nerve to turn

Reviews for This Family Sucks! Sincerely Yours, Peter Frazier

[Eryn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Do you want a vilian to completely hate? This is your book! In true L.M.Hall fashion, she gives you a thriller with twists that make you anxious! This book moves fast and feels almost like a horror movie!! There's not an overload of story on each character, so it's easy to stay focused on the insanity of Trent and fear his next move at the same time. This book gave me moments of uncomfort but I still had to find out what happened! Hall has a unique way to make you squirm and become obsessed all at the same time. I loved the 90's storyline and had nostalgic moments of my teenage years. This book grabbed a hold of me and all of my emotions. Seriously, if you like books that suck you in and gives you real emotional reactions to the characters and plot, this is a must read!!