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Reviewed by Eric Smith for Readers' Favorite
Samia’s realistic fiction When I Grow up I Want to be a Prostitute: Stories of Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams is a sad but inspiring story about how child abuse affects three different young girls. It shows how they are exposed to sexual abuse during the early stages of their lives and predicts how that affects their futures. Emily is creative and loves to make believe with her sister. Until she visits her favorite cousin’s house. Then her make believe becomes a secret she cannot share. Tabbi is nine when she has to prove to her mother how much she loves her, by allowing cruel acts to be committed that shatter her innocence. Neka has an absentee mother and spends a lot of her time alone on the streets. Her life is difficult, and a series of abuses hardens her toward adults and men alike.
This is a somber tale of abuse. It is not for the faint of heart. But it is a beautiful story and I love how Samia turned that trauma into something productive, or at least useful, that the characters could eventually use. I also enjoyed how Samia separated the stories, telling different tales about the different girls in each chapter, and then tied them all together. I thought that was smart and helped build tension in this story, because while I was reading about the abuse of one girl, I was worried about the girl I’d left behind.
