Disclosure: I received an advance copy of The Secret Side of Empty for review purposes only.*
I can’t remember the last time I took time to myself to get lost in a good book. I was fortunate enough to get an email from Author Maria E. Andreu for the opportunity to read her first book and I couldn’t pass it up.
It took me some time to get adjusted to reading alone and not aloud like I usually do with my kids. I missed the feelings books make me feel.
Maria’s book, The Secret Side of Empty, is a non-fiction novel about a high school girl who was born in Argentina and brought over to the states by her parents as a baby. M.T., the girl in the story has a hard time dealing with the reality of what it is to be an undocumented teen who can only call America home yet still not fit in.
M.T. goes through a series of emotions and several situations in her life all changing her attitude with dealing with her reality. The life that comes after high school you know the grown up life! When she should have been planning her life and choosing a college and career she was left with a harsh reality or so she was brought up to think that way and fear that way.
I too went through a series of emotions as I read the book. I tried to understand and play out each scenario. I wanted to shout! I wanted to cry! I wanted to help!
My most favorite part of the book is seeing how M.T. finds love and how that relationship helps her even if just for a moment. I love the person she was becoming until well you know reality hit her again.
I learned that you never know what someone is truly going through. M.T. knew her friends and school teachers for years, yet she never shared her issues. She always had an excuse and always seemed to convince people to get off her back.
Where I relate most with M.T. is where she feels she could never fit in. I too felt that when visiting my extended family I was never “Mexican” enough and growing up I felt my family ethnic traditional ways and family could ever be compared or relate to the average American family. I never felt the need to defend why I didn’t fit it I just knew one was never quite like the other.
I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Maria’s book:
“I will always be a stranger everywhere. With my parents, I am too American. With Americans, I am a spectator…never quite understanding them completely.”
The Secret of the Side of Empty goes on sale March 11th!
For more information on Maria E. Andreu and to purchase The Secret Side of Empty visit Indiebound.org
Also visit my Amiga, Ezzy over at Ezzylanguzzi.com she also shares her reviewed Maria’s novel.
*The above are my true and honest opinions
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