SMALL DAMAGES (BETH KEPHART)

 

 

Story Description: 

 

Philomel Publishers|July 24, 2012| Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-399-25748-3 

 

It's senior year, and while Kenzie should be looking forward to prom and starting college in the fall, she discovers she's pregnant. Her determination to keep her baby is something her boyfriend and mother do not understand. So she is sent to Spain, where she will live out her pregnancy, and her baby will be adopted by a Spanish couple. No one will ever know.

Alone and resentful in a foreign country, Kenzie is at first sullen and difficult. But as she gets to know Estela, the stubborn old cook, and Esteban, the mysterious young man who cares for the horses, she begins to open her eyes, and her heart, to the beauty that is all around her, and inside her. Kenzie realizes she has some serious choices to make--choices about life, love, and home.

Lyrically told in a way that makes the heat, the colors, and the smells of Spain feel alive, Small Damages is a feast for the heart and the soul, and a coming-of-age novel not easily forgotten. 

 

My Review: 

 

Young, Kenzie is sent to Seville, Spain in 1995 and upon arrival is setting off for Los Nietos to a farmhouse or cortijo.  It is owned by a man named, Miguel and is actually a bull ranch.  Miguel is a friend of, Kenzie’s mother, and he has agreed to take Kenzie in until her baby is born who will then be adopted by a couple named Javier and Adair.  Once the baby is born, the plan is for Kenzie to head back to American to start college.  

 

Kenzie’s mother has great difficulty dealing with any type of hardship.  When Kenzie’s father passed away whom she was very close too, Mom only grieved a short time, got rid of his stuff and signed herself up on match.com.  She appears to enjoy making things she can’t deal with disappear and she’s done the same thing with her pregnant daughter by whisking her off to Spain so no one will be the wiser.  The father of the baby, Kevin, hasn’t bothered to go to Spain with Kenzie and is letting her handle this all on her own.  Kenzie is alone until she get to know, Estela, a very stubborn and old cook. 

 

Although the premise of the story was good, I didn’t enjoy the writing style and found at times the story to be quite convoluted.  I don’t think I’ll be reading another Kephart novel.