Buying Samir

Book Review: Buying Samir
Author: Kimberly Rae
Genre: Christian/Teens/YA
Publisher: BJU Press
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 (Excellent)
Pros: great insight on human trafficking; exciting plot; good character development
Cons: confusing plot structure sometimes

Buying Samir is the second installment of the India’s Street Kids series, with Capturing Jasmina being the first. Jasmina is a former street kid, now living with the Christian missionaries who rescued her from slavery. With the missionaries, she is now on a mission to locate her brother, Samir, and to rescue him from slavery. What she doesn’t know is that Samir is no longer the enslaved, but the enslaver. When she runs from the missionaries in an attempt to rescue him on her own, she not only endangers her own life, but the lives of others she meets along the way.

Kimberly Rae hit a home run with this series. Exciting and suspenseful, Buying Samir continued the story begun in Capturing Jasmina. Both books end in such a way that creates a suspense which makes the reader want to continue on to the next book. Because Capturing Jasmina was such a hit with me, I was anxious to read Buying Samir. I did have my doubts about it, however, as the second installment in a series (whether book or even movie) is not always as good as the first. I was not disappointed. Buying Samir fluidly continued the plot, and set the stage for Mrs. Rae’s next book in The India’s Street Kids book series. Although this series is meant for young adult, or teens, I believe many adults would benefit from it as well.

The writing structure and style in this book is very interesting. Almost poetic (and I am not talking about rhyming), Mrs. Rae’s words flow so creatively. She does not always come right out and say something. Instead, she uses imagery or more creative language in an interesting way, although not difficult to understand. Her writing style was fresh and caused me to enjoy her writing even more. She had a great balance between descriptions and character dialogue. So often in fiction authors will write an overabundance of one over the other, which can make a book somewhat boring at times. Her dialogue is fresh and realistic. There is no boring chatter. Her characters were well defined, and I really fell in love with Jasmina and her cause. Throughout the book, I really started to care about what happened, and found myself almost telling her what to do when she needed help. That is a craft not many writers have—causing the reader to care about the protagonist. Mrs. Rae’s style is almost biographical, and sometimes I forgot that I was reading fiction. On the other hand, the story is based on the truth of child trafficking and was really eye-opening. I appreciated the knowledge and research that Mrs. Rae put into this novel. I particularly enjoyed learning about another culture. India is not exactly the most common setting for a novel, and that definitely made this book a tad higher on my reading list. Mrs. Rae added in some subtle humor with Jasmina’s view on American culture. At one point Jasmina notices a tablecloth and is confused by what its use could be, only to come to the conclusion that the table must be broken and is being covered to hide the holes. There is also the time when Jasmina attempts to use an American shower, but I won’t go spoiling any more.

The only thing that I found to be a “con” to this book was the diary. Jasmina writes in a diary throughout the book, and occasionally that is what begins the chapters. The diary in itself was a neat aspect. I really liked reading what Jasmina was thinking and how she viewed things. I think it helps the reader love her more by knowing how she thinks. However, it caused some slight confusion with me as the diary tells what is coming next. At first I was confused, because once I got into the next chapter, the story went backwards. Once I got used to that, however, it didn’t bother me and actually created suspense. If the reader took that into consideration, and understood the aspect of the diary, it probably wouldn’t confuse anyone. In fact, I could be in the minority on this, but I still felt like mentioning it.

This book is a quick read at only about 160 pages. I read it in about a day, reading off and on throughout the day. I honestly couldn’t stop reading. I had to find out what happened. Of course, there is still a loose end for the next book. As I mentioned above, this book is meant for teens, but could be enjoyed by any age really. For teens, I really would recommend it because first of all, there is no questionable material for that age group. It is difficult to find novels for teens without unnecessary material. The spiritual aspect in this book is great—it gives the gospel although not overpowering. I also think it would be a great book for teens to open their eyes to what is going on in the world. Teens naturally tend to focus on themselves, and this book series could get their eyes on other people and how they live. One quick thing I will mention, these books have to be read in order. If you haven’t read Capturing Jasmina, DON’T read Buying Samir until you have. In conclusion, this is definitely a great book. I give it four and a half stars.

I received Buying Samir from BJU Press through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The opinions stated are my own.

This review also appears on The Christian Manifesto. http://thechristianmanifesto.com/fiction/buying-samir/