Maria (Someone's Angel) and Jillian (Someone's Angel) are two novellas by the same author, London Shey, that fit together hand in glove. As a matter of fact, it appears that they must have originally been written as one book and then broken in half by the author. If this was a clever ploy to collect $2.99 twice, it certainly worked in my case. If you are going to read them, read Maria first. I have mixed feelings about this combo. Ostensibly, these works are about children who have been kidnapped, sold into slavery, and then feminized to make them “desirable” and highly marketable quantities for their despicable captors. This is a horrendous phenomenon, disgusting beyond words, that most likely actually occurs in real life. How does the writer characterize these events? On the one hand, the author has depicted a tale of horrible and tragic abuse. On the other, she has cleverly crafted a stimulating tale of romance, sex and love in the context of a great escapade that eventually leads to a great escape.
On the positive side, a good job has been done in the portrayal of the dynamic that the psychological community describes as “Stockholm Syndrome,” where the victims bond with their captors. In addition, these little books are pretty well written and edited. However, there is definitely something very “freaky” about how these young children, although somewhat predisposed to the feminine side prior to their abductions, so readily embrace their transition and new lives of slavery. On balance, I believe these two tales carry some redeeming social value, if for nothing more than calling attention to this horrible issue. That they do so in a somewhat salacious and titillating manner is a bit of a concern, but one must remember, this is just fiction.[Reviewed by Samuel]
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