Yours to Keep

What a pleasant surprise - a contemporary romance novel that tackles the issue of undocumented immigration with an impressive amount of realism (not to mention an impressive amount of passionate sex as well). Serena Bell creates memorable lead and secondary characters, especially Ana and Ethan's family members. I appreciated Ethan from the moment he came to Ana's rescue at their first meeting, but I really fell in love with him as he struggled to be a good father to his recalcitrant teenaged son Theo. And it was impossible not to feel Ana's pain as she tried to make a good life for herself within the restrictions of her status. There are so many things we take for granted - bank accounts, drivers licenses, etc. - that Ana could never hope to achieve as long as she was undocumented. The scene in which she listens to a bunch of middle class women blithely talking about “cutting back” their expenses (as in, not putting in a swimming pool heater) and contrasted that internally to her family eating more dried beans instead of canned ones just broke my heart.

Of course it is a fantasy that a handsome, noble pediatrician solves Ana's problem by falling in love with her, but major kudos to Bell for respecting the genre's boundaries while highlighting this issue - and in her debut novel, no less. I'll definitely put her on my “authors to watch” list.