Special Delivery

Freedom #2

by Kathi Macias

In book two of the “Freedom” series, readers find Mara fighting against her attraction to Bible college student Jonathan Flannery even while wrestling with risking her own precarious safety to become involved in the rescue of another girl who is pregnant and desperately wants to escape her captors and save her own life, as well as her child’s. Halfway around the world in a brothel in Thailand, a young girl is rescued with the promise of being reunited with her younger sister who was adopted by an interracial couple in the States, friends of Jonathan’s family. Meanwhile, Jefe―Mara’s uncle, who held her as a sex slave in his brothel in San Diego for years―seeks revenge for Mara’s testimony that put him behind bars for life. Will his underworld connections be successful in kidnapping and killing the girl who believes she has finally won her freedom?

Genres: Christian Fiction, Chick Lit, Christian

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2011

About the author

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About Kathi

0019 Kathi Macias - EDITED emailed (2)



Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Her novel set in China, Red Ink, was named Golden Scrolls 2011 Novel of the Year and was also a Carol Award Finalist; her October 2012 release, Unexpected Christmas Hero, was named 2012 Book of the Year by BookandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.

Kathi is passionate about The Voice of the Martyrs and Open Doors. To learn more about the persecuted church, please visit VOM’s website and Open Doors Website

Reviews

[Maureen Timerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Freedom series, and though you can read this one alone, I think it helps and you don't want to miss, to read the first one!
Kathi once again has me wanting to hide under the covers, I want to help these Children get out of these situations so badly. The book is a fairly quick read, and you will be glad it is, as it is a real page turner. I had my heart in my stomach, and could not put this book down.
The book is mainly Mara and Lawan's stories, who we met in Deliver Me From Evil. There is so much Evil in this world, and it is still touching these girls. Mara has tried to move on with her life, she is working as a waitress, and spots a girl with a man, and she just knows what is going on. You can see God using Mara, and he brings the people who rescued her back into her life.
What happens to little Lawan is amazing...but thinking of all those little girls as Slaves is so very upsetting. Especially when it is based on fact! The Golden Triangle indeed! UGH!
I loved that Kathi included an Epilogue...I enjoy it when a book has this. You will enjoy this book as I have, and it is a real mind opener!

I received this book from New Hope Publishers, and was not required to give a positive review.

[Kathleen (Kat) Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kathi Macias has always placed a unique passion into her books and Special Delivery is no exception. Written as a sequel to Delivery Me From Evil in her Freedom Series, we pick up once again with the story of Mara. Mara has finally found freedom herself after spending a lifetime in the human trafficking ring that was run by her Uncle. She has spent the last two years striving for citizenship in the United States, while her Uncle Jefe seeks his revenge for her betrayal and arrest. She makes her living working as a waitress in a seafood cafe in San Diego and is trying hard to put her tragic past behind her.

Jonathan Flannery, a Bible college student, was one of the men responsible for Mara's rescue along with other girls being held against their will and forced into prostitution. He now finds himself wondering about how Mara is doing and what is going on her life. His family was instrumental in taking Jonathan's advice that human trafficking was going on near him and that Mara was one of the missing girls he had seen on the streets. Now the family has taken a proactive role in preventing and locating girls involved in human trafficking and prostitution. There appears to be an attraction between Jonathan and Mara but because of Mara's previous encounters with men, she has sworn off them completely.

Just as Mara believes she is finally moving forward she encounters a pregnant girl that she believes is mixed up in another trafficking ring and finds herself slowly being dragged back into helping her escape. However, her Uncle Jefe has plans for Mara thanks to her testimony in bringing him to justice and he's not about to let her forget she's the one responsible for putting him in prison.

I received Special Delivery by Kathi Macias compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours for my honest review. I had read the first book in the series and wanted to know just how this would all turn out for Mara so I had to pick this one up. The subject matter of the story is very real and for some readers it might be difficult to deal with the horrors that are happening not just in this country but all over the world. Suddenly all those child kidnapping stories seem too real and what the end results might be are horrifying to comprehend. I applaud Kathi once again for shining a beacon onto the plight of child prostitution and human trafficking in her books and highly recommend this book for the awareness it brings to the surface. This book can be read as a stand alone without having read the previous one, but it makes the story so much more meaningful when you can see how it all got started in the first place. This one rates a 5 out of 5 stars!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kathi Macias again tackles the tough to realize topic of human trafficking, on US soil. I know I personally hadn’t given it much thought, how could something that horrific happen in the states, that is something that just happens in other countries. Not true! Kathi continues her Freedom Series with Mara, who was rescued from a trafficking ring, now working as a waitress, trying to forget her past. God brings her former counselor Barbara back into her life just as Mara notices a possible victim who has come into the restaurant where she works.
Kathi weaves a number of stories together in the novel not only with Mara’s story, but with a young girl in Taiwan who is sold into slavery.
Kathi has a strong theme of being rescued, not only from the slavery but by the Almighty Father, the only one who can truly rescue us. The characters in the book are dynamic and ever growing. I loved the interaction between the characters in both the US setting and Taiwan. The Sacrifice that people made for each other, modeling Godly character verses the characters that continued to take and deceive, modeling the evil one of this world.
Intricately woven, yet never losing site of the horror of this crime that is hidden in the shadows. Kathi informs us of a very serious topic through these fictional characters, but makes them so real that it stirs in my heart to seek out to help those involved in the real life bondage. May God Bless her as she seeks to bring light into a dark place.
Not a light, easy read. Serious in nature and thought provoking as it should be! Excellent work. I had not read the first one in the series and it wasn’t necessary to get fully out of this second novel. I will however be picking up the first to read!
I received a copy of this book from Pump up your Book in exchange for an honest review.

[Cheryl Malandrinos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! If you thought the first book in this series, Deliver Me from Evil, was good, then you definitely don't want to miss this one. Macias continues to shed light on the horrors of human trafficking with her readers, reminding them this is something that takes place closer to home than they might think.

Macias masterfully weaves a story that draws the reader deeper into the lives of the many characters they met in Deliver Me from Evil, while introducing new characters whose situations will also grab at your heart. While you definitely don't need to read the first book in the series to appreciate Special Delivery, I believe learning Mara's and Jonathan's stories from the beginning will add a great deal to the reading experience.

I eagerly anticipate the release of the final book in this series later this year. If you want to read a powerful story that will leave you thinking long after you've turned the last page, then pick up a copy of Special Delivery!

[Diana Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Special Delivery by Kathi Macias
Special Delivery part 2 in the Freedom series continues on with the story of Mara a young girl bought up as a sex slave. Sad to say this happens right under our nose. Little girls lives that are ruined or ended. Being in this kind of set up I would just want God to take me home as many of the girls pray for. This just breaks my heart it is a very emotional story but a story that needs to be told.
Human trafficking goes on all over the country. Little girls and boys being kidnapped for these sick perverted people to have their fantasy fulfilled. Kathi tells the story very well and I love the fact that Christ is in these books. Without Christ there is no hope. Thanks Kathi for opening my eyes. What happens with Mara in the story? Get the books you won’t be sorry you did.

Thanks so much for the books Kathi. The opinions of this book review is my own. I was not asked to give a positive review.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book, really developed the plot of book 1, and it was very emotional, and I really liked it! Can't wait to read the last book!

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story Description:

In book two of the "Freedom" series, readers find Mara fighting against her attraction to Bible college student Jonathan Flannery. Mara also wrestles with risking her own precarious safety to become involved in the rescue of another girl who is pregnant and desperately wants to escape her captors and save her own life as well as her child's.
Halfway around the world in a brothel in Thailand, a young girl is rescued with the promise of being reunited with her younger sister who was adopted by an interracial couple in the States, friends of Jonathan's family. Meanwhile, Jefe, Mara's uncle, who held her as a sex slave in his brothel in San Diego for years-seeks revenge for Mara's testimony that put him behind bars for life.

Will his underworld connections be successful in kidnapping and killing the girl who believes she has finally won her freedom?

My Review:

Mara is a waitress at a seafood café earning enough money to rent a room and meet her basic needs. It has taken her 2 whole years to finally gain citizenship in the United States, free from her homeland of Mexico at last. Her parents had sold her into slavery, and her uncle, Jefe, who had raped her for the first time and then prostituted her out until his capture and arrest and was sent to prison. To Mara, she had no family all of them were dead to her. At nearly 20 years of age, Mara has no interest in finding a man for herself as she’d already had enough of men and their sexually tortuous ways. She said she’d already had enough of the “male population to last her for several lifetimes.”

Leah is out of high school and Jonathan has completed two of his four years of Bible College. Jonathan had come home for Leah’s graduation and will be staying for two months.
Two years earlier, Jonathan had helped break up a human-trafficking ring that forced teens and young children to be sex slaves right in their own San Diego area. Mara was one of those girls and Leah questions Jonathan now as to whether he still wonders about her and where she eventually ended up. Jonathan admits that he wonders and things about her often and what is is doing now. Because of that rescue, Leah and Jonathan’s family are now involved in the ministry of rescuing human-trafficking victims and helping them recover, get established, and begin new and productive lives.
On her way home from work one evening, Mara thinks back to the night she stood in the darkness with a lovely young man who made her feel truly human for the first time a long time. That man was Jonathan and she wonders now where he is and whether he ever did go to Bible College as he had planned.
Mara’s uncle was in jail now serving a life sentence for human-trafficking and prostitution thanks to Mara he won’t again see the light of day. However, her uncle is enraged that she testified against him and doesn’t plan on allowing Mara to live happily ever after. Even in prison, Uncle Jefe has connections.
What then sets off is a string of page-turning events that will keep you glued to your chair until the last page has been turned. What a powerfully packed punch this story delivered!!! I’d highly recommend it to anyone.

PREVIEW COPY COURTESY OF NET GALLEY, WITH MANY THANKS!!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Special Delivery is the story of Mara, who is now free from sex slavery. It is the story of her life. Yet it’s more than just her life. It’s the suspense of revenge from Jefe. It’s the opportunity to help other girls get free. Will Mara find the grace to work through her personal issues and reach forth and help?

With Kathi’s incorporation of a tensive romantic relationship that intrigues both Jonathan and Mara, would Mara be able and willing to have a relationship that’s ‘normal’ with a husband? Would Jonathan be able to handle her brokenness?

Though this malady is worked feverishly in other countries, such as Lawan’s story and experiences, the United States is one of the biggest perpetrators of sex slavery. It’s an extension of what we have known as pimps and prostitutes, only in an uglier way, as it includes girls from ages five and up.

Kathi once again fleshes out the reality of sex trafficking and the devastation it brings upon the girls–mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. You will see how the repugnant self-centered, self-serving mindsets of the perpetrators clash violently with those willing to give their lives to help girls trapped in this horrendous situation. That there are lost, sleazy men and women who will do the bidding of the perpetrators. Her characters dig deep under your skin, crying out for you to help. It’s personal, drawing you into the devastation with a cry for freedom and abolition.

You will find that Special Delivery is just as compelling as Deliver Me From Evil. Both books are meant to draw you into the battle and expose the debauchery of humankind, bringing justice to the perpetrators and freedom for the slaves. What is God calling you to do? Will you heed the call?

I was given a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for posting the author’s interview on my blog. This blog tour is managed by Christian Speakers Services (http://ChristianSpeakersServices.com). No monetary compensation was exchanged.

[Beauty in the Binding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two years ago Jonathan Flannery stumbled onto a human trafficking operation and rescued the beautiful, abused Mara. Mara's testimony against her uncle, the leader of the operation, put him in prison and gave her freedom from sexual slavery. When Jonathan returns from Bible college for the summer and their paths cross, Mara finds herself longing for him, though she swore off all men long ago. Intentionally discounting her sudden affection for Jonathan, Mara focuses on her waitressing job until a man and young girl appear one day. Mara is certain that they are involved in human trafficking but feels lost as to what to do. More than anything, she wants to stay far away from her past. Adding to her distress, Mara suspects she is being followed by someone hired to exact her uncle's revenge.

Special Delivery by Kathi Macias is the second book in the Freedom Series. I highly recommend reading Deliver Me From Evil, the first book, prior to reading Special Delivery. The story could stand alone, but reading the books in order makes for a more meaningful reading experience. A well-written story with heart-gripping characters, Special Delivery catches and retains the reader's attention from the very beginning. Macias handles the subject of human trafficking by providing a hefty dose of reality coupled with gentleness towards its victims.

I highly recommend this series to any adult, as it is probably not appropriate for younger readers. It is Christian fiction. However, I think everyone should be aware that such atrocities do happen in America and ignoring reality only leads to more victims.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author via Pump Up Your Book. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

[Breath of Life · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review:
Didn't think that I could get into another book quite like this again. Due to the fact that I cried and was so moved by the first book in the series that I just didn't know if I really could read more. But I also knew that at the end of the first I wanted more. I needed more. I had to find out what was going to happen next.

But it still took me a few months to even think about starting to read this one from one of my favorite authors. Her first book in the Freedom Series was so over powering that I was not able to put it down. It was the first book of author Kathi Macias that I had read but it will diffidently not be the last.

But picking this book up and reading it was another amazing, scary, angry, mystery and much much more. Mara is fighting her demons, all the while knowing that her uncle who kept her as part of his sex slaves is after revenge. Why is he after her? Will he find her? All the while Mara is also trying to rescue someone.

I can't wait to see where this series takes me next. Author Kathi Macias has me captivated and wrapped up in the lives of her characters and books.

So due to the above, if I could it would be higher, I am giving this book a Breath of Life ratings of:

Five Clock Rating!!!

Disclosure: I received the above book in exchange for my honest opinion and review. Opinions are my own and yours may differ.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, I am wowed by the story Kathi Macias has painted in this second book in her Freedom series. Such a heart-wrenching read!!

I really liked how Jonathan and Mara were still in the series, and how the reader got a glimpse into Mara's journey toward healing. A very rough road!!

Full review to come.

[Wanda (The Watered Soul) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through Mara's life readers are reminded how God can take the horrific events in our lives and not only deliver us through them but use our past misery to minister aide to other's like us.

[Victoria (hotcocoaandbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars
I think I liked this book better than the first one.

Here's the rundown:
Two years have passed since the first book. Jonathan is home from college and he can't stop thinking about Mara. Mara is now a waitress working in the same area she had been trafficked in the first book.

Lawan, Chanthra's younger sister, has been in Thailand working in a brothel. She has a customer who lays with her and seems pretty kind but really possessive of her. He wants her for himself. Lawan can't stop thinking about what her baby sister might be up to. She misses her family a lot.

Francesca is a new character in the series. She was kidnapped and trafficked from Mexico into California. She wants a way out but her trafficker doesn't keep his eyes off of her. She has really hated all the abuse she has received.

This story was really good. Some things to keep in mind is that this is a Christian fiction story, so there is prayer and elements of God throughout it, but not in a preachy sort of way. It is well done. Also there is a lot more violence in this one than there was in the first one. The story is a little more horrific, especially Lawan's tale. The whole thing is well done though.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kathi Macias does a masterful job of tackling a very difficult subject in a way that has just enough detail to convey the horror, but not enough, in my opinion, that you feel it is inappropriate or that you should quit reading it. I was not aware of the prevalence of sexual slavery and abuse until I began reading the Freedom series. The focus on Christian adults and young people who are drawn to help those who are being abused is motivating. I sincerely wish her books were more available in stores in my area, as I would like to see others introduced to her writing. I look forward to reading book three in the series.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was impressed at this novel. It was an eye opener to the personal aspects of human trafficking. Helps you to realize that doing good for just one person has a profound affect. Great read you can't put down.

[Donita Corman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense storyline but well worth reading. This series deals with modern day slavery of a different type. Human trafficking is a real serious issue. Its touched my heart and my prayers are with those who have to endure such a horrible life.