Recent Reads: Relatiaton by Yasmin Shiraz

Retaliation by Yasmin Shiraz
Series: Retaliation #1
Publisher: Rolling Hills Press
Publication Date:  February 15, 2007

 

Format: ebook
Source: From the Author in exchange for an honest review. This in no way altered my opinion or review of the book.

Rating:




 



Goodreads Synopsis: 

Violence runs rampant on the streets of Washington, DC, and on one seemingly quiet day, the Odom family finds its world destroyed when seventeen-year-old Tashera is brutally attacked by a group of high school girls.
Retaliation exposes the corrupting existence of violence in our communities and the retaliatory measures families go through to protect themselves and their children. 

Review: 
I think that everyone should pick up this book - it is such a realistic account of inner city living, violence and teenage angst and will hit any reader hard. Shiraz does a wonderful job with this book - it is told from multiple perspectives, all focusing around retaliation for an incident - all the ways people become involved and take it upon themselves to make things 'right'. It was a very deep contemporary read.

This author emailed me about Retaliation and from the very beginning I was interested. I went to college and grew up outside of DC in Northern Virginia and Towson, MD - but for explanation purposes when asked were I would live I would just say DC. However, my life and experiences were far from what those face in the inner cities as show by this very realistic account of city life and involvement. 

In the book Tashera is brutally attacked by people that she doesn't even know and everyone in her family takes it upon themselves to provide her justice - only adding to the emotional agony in her life. The book was all about choices and how many can effect your life so deeply without you even knowing. 

I really think everyone should grab this one and read it for themselves, it was violent, real, and overall a hard-hitting portrayal of life.