Illegal by K.J. Gillenwater – Review by Christie Mitchum

Illegal by K.J. Gillenwater
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Illegal by K.J. Gillenwater is a heart-pounding, riveting read! Once I started reading, it was impossible to put down.

Selena finds herself alone in Mexico, the country she was born in but doesn’t remember living in. She grew up in Arizona, thinking she was an American citizen. That was just one lie her mother told her. Her goal is to do what she needs to do to get back to her life in the US. Little does she realize that everything she knew about her life was a complete lie which puts her life in grave danger. Thankfully, a chance encounter with handsome stranger, Wyatt, saves her life in one instant. Now, they both are in a fight for their very lives, thus putting them on a journey of not only survival but truth and quite possibly love!

Wow! As I wrote in the earlier paragraph what a riveting read! Gillenwater did a phenomenal job of balancing romance, suspense, and drama! My heart went out to Selena. Everything she thought she knew about her life was a complete lie. I’m not a reviewer who likes to bring politics into reviews because I read books to escape things in the news, but this one really made me think alot about the children who have been essentially raised in the US and know nothing about their birth country and suddenly finding themselves facing deportation. It was obvious she was a foreigner in Mexico too. As the author wrote the following passage, my heart just broke for her.

“Or was she American? What exactly made someone American anyway? A look? An experience? A certain length of time living in the US? These questions had been ping-ponging around in her mind for a couple of weeks, and she had no answer?”

Not only was this a journey in discovering who she really was, but now she had no idea who the strangers were who were after her, and whoa, when she discovered who she really was, what a shocker for her!

Wyatt has quite a dark past himself…a dark childhood, and he is learning some things about himself as well in his quest to keep her safe all while falling helplessly and hopelessly in love with her.

There was nothing I didn’t like about Selena and Wyatt’s story! They were complicated and complex characters who just kept growing and evolving. The suspense and twists kept me turning the pages as well! If you are looking for a great romantic suspense with some great human lessons within the pages as well, this one is a winner!

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