Thursday, April 26, 2012

Kathi Macias's Special Delivery ~ Reviewed

By Kathi Macias
Published by New Hope Publishers
ISBN#978-1-59669-307-4
320 Pages

Book Blurb: In book two of the “Freedom” series, readers find Mara fighting against her attraction to Bible college student Jonathan Flannery even while wrestling with risking her own precarious safety to become involved in the rescue of another girl who is pregnant and desperately wants to escape her captors and save her own life, as well as her child’s.

Halfway around the world in a brothel in Thailand, a young girl is rescued with the promise of being reunited with her younger sister who was adopted by an interracial couple in the States, friends of Jonathan’s family. Meanwhile, Jefe—Mara’s uncle, who held her as a sex slave in his brothel in San Diego for years—seeks revenge for Mara’s testimony that put him behind bars for life.

Will his underworld connections be successful in kidnapping and killing the girl who believes she has finally won her freedom?

Review: Special Delivery is the second book in the Freedom series, where Kathi Macias does an amazing job of bringing awareness to the sex trafficking business in America. This author helps the reader feel for these young women who are often times kidnapped and forced into a life of prostitution, with no hope of escape on their own. I’m thankful for the review copy of a book that shows a light of hope in the darkness of this tragic situation.  This author helps the reader recognize possible victims and how these guys operate and manipulate young girls. By knowing their actions we can help bring guys described in this book to justice for their horrific crimes.

The main character, Mara, has been rescued from the clutches of evil, and the pit of hell! She thanks the Lord every day for her freedom. She has a new life through the grace of God and people willing to risk so much to bring her freedom..

When people found out about Mara’s past would they treat her like the other girls her age? Could they put old things away and look at her through news eyes? She’s a woman saved by grace and cleaned by the blood of the lamb. She was still struggling to walk that out.

Kathi Macias shows the tentacles of evil go deep into society. Evil has eyes and ears that connect to underground organizations. Even if these girls get rescued from the horrible slave pit, evil is at work trying to get them back so they could have their revenge and continue to make money off their bodies. It’s about the money. It’s sick thing to think about but oh so real.

Mara is a waitress and spies a young girl with an older man at a table she’d soon be waiting on. Mara suspects something is amiss and discerns this man is not her father. It gives her the creeps as she watches the girls’ body language in reaction to the man next to her.

Mara prays as she goes to the table to take their order. As she is taking their order Mara looks at the terrified look in the young girls’ eyes, it breaks her heart. She knows how it feels to be a sex slave, her mind and heart start racing as she tries to get through their order. She knows this guy is bad news. How can she help this girl? She hasn’t been free long herself. It would be risky for her to get involved. The enemy might track her down and force her into the life she just left. She stops a minute and reflects. Didn’t people risk their lives for her sake? She had to do the same! She wanted to give this young girl a chance at freedom. No one deserved to life as a sex slave.

Kathi Macias pens a novel that pulls at your heart-strings and brings awareness to the horrific slavery happening in America. Once we become aware of what is going on we can find places to help. I pray society doesn’t go back to sleep and pretend this doesn’t exist. This author describes how hard it is to set these girls free and prosecute the evil doers. This is big business. It’s hard to find the camps and shut them down but it can be done. All things are possible through Christ that strengthens us.

Kathi Macias has a heart for the hurting. I’m thankful she is passionate about writing books that bring awareness to issues I should know about. She also helps me know about organizations I can get involved with to help whatever cause she is writing about at the time. I highly recommend this series on sex trafficking, you’ll never be the same after reading it.

Nora St.Laurent

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