Review: Cinque estrellas (5 stars) for Serena Bell's sexy, romantic, and powerful new novel, Yours to Keep
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 18, 2013
After reading the holiday collection, Heating Up the Holidays from Loveswept, I wanted to read more titles by each of the three authors. Luckily for me, Serena Bell has a new book coming out on November 11, Yours to Keep, and her publisher shared it with me.I don't care where you fall on the topic of immigration issues, but whatever lines in the sand you may have drawn, read Yours to Keep and your world view may shift dramatically. I had a great deal of experience at navigating some of these issues through an educational institution I used to work at , which had a blind immigration status admission policy. Unfortunately not all institutions or organizations have an option like my former one and Yours to Keep is a window into the world of someone who came to this country with all the right documentation then through tragedy and mis-chance became "undocumented" and whose daily life is filled with fear of discovery.I love this book on so many levels. First of all it's a beautifully written contemporary romance. Secondly the characters are just perfect and I so enjoyed the teenagers - and their rebellions - who added so much to this story. Third, it's a story that needs to be told. We need to see the "who" behind the issues. And finally, I loved the description of the ESL classes as having taught a few knew that these were spot on, and hilarious.Serena Bell is an amazingly talented writer and I do hope that you will join me in reading both this book and her story in Heating Up the Holidays. Yours to Keep could also be added to a list of holiday-themed books as some of the action occurs over Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it's a real love story and you'll fall in love too with Ana, Ethan (Dr. Handsome), and his son Theo. Five stars and the only thing that would have made this better is if there had been a recipe included for habichuelas, the Dominican red beans & rice dish that Ana prepares.Fab Fantasy Fiction[...]I received an eARC from the publisher through NetGalley for use in this review.