Seventeen-year-old Renita discovers some subtle inconsistencies in her birth certificate that put her mother, Sharon’s long held account that she was adopted into doubt. Sharon decides that it is finally time to tell Renita about both the laudable good deeds and the lamentable oversights that had led them to the current situation. Using a series of old framed photos that have hung for years in the living room, Sharon slowly reveals the complex set of events involving a star-crossed trip to Mexico, a very young stowaway Hispanic baby sitter named Juliana, the untimely death of Sharon’s husband, the unexpected pregnancy of Juliana, the eventual birth of Renita to Juliana and finally Juliana’s struggle with clinical depression that leads to her suicide. Through some sketchy paperwork filled at the county recorder’s office, Sharon was listed as Renita’s mom.
The first in several short-novels to follow, I'm here to help involves the characters (and generally society's) misperceptions about illegal immigration, suicide, the marginalisation of undocumented residents, clinical depression, teen pregnancy, home childbirth and adoption.
My Rating: 4/5
I got this book for review from Netgalley and will be published on 1 July 2012.
This was an unexpected enjoyable read. I didn't know anything about it prior to reading.
It is an interesting and captivating story about Renita's birth mother and the parents that raised her.
It was very fast paced and had alot of depth for the amount of pages it contained.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick read full of emotion.
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