Maria Juana's Gift

Tina and Jake are a married couple. They are teachers in La Cholla in Mexico. Jake and Tina are a normal couple. They met, fell in love, got married and had a baby. Only when Tina gave birth to their daughter, Emma did Tina and a nurse at the hospital named Maria realize that something was wrong. Though, it is hard to get any help when you have to convince your husband that the baby is not well. If Tina and Maria have a hard time convincing Jake than they will have an even harder time convincing the doctor as well. When they do finally convince the doctor that something is not right with Emma will it be too late?

I liked this book but I thought it was a little disjointed in the way it read. It started out with Tina in the hospital after giving birth to her and Jake’s daughter, Emma. I knew something was wrong from the summary but than the story line switched to the past but abruptly. Tina and Jake were a nice couple. It was good getting to know them and how they met as it helped to really to make me feel for them and the situation they were going through. Again, though if the switching from past to present was not so choppy, I would have enjoyed this book more. In fact, to be honest, it got to be too much for me that I finally flashed forward to about the last third of the book and finished reading the book. Except for the disjointedness, I liked the characters and the story.

T. LLOYD WINETSKY has always had a passion for helping the underserved, devoting his 40 years as a teacher to those who lack access to quality education. He is currently an ESL instructor to adult farm workers. His first novel, Grey Pine, is set during the ash fall from Mount St. Helens. He lives in Yakima, Wash. with his wife of 41 years, Kathleen. They have four grown children. For more information, please visit http://www.tlwinetsky.com/