Book Review - Goddess of the Flowers: One Girl's Journey by Stefanie Auerbach Stolinsky, PhD

Goddess of the Flowers: One Girl's Journey by Stefanie Auerbach Stolinsky Ph.D
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The shocking, eye-opening story of a young girl’s desperate run from a powerful Mexican cartel leader.

Gorgeous Xochitl (pronounced “so-she”) Gonzalez is a fifteen-year-old street waif in rural Mexico who is seized with her mother by cartel leader Carlos Morales to be his “queen” at his massive hacienda. 

Life becomes a dream of wealth, gold, expensive cars, bag loads of cash, and jewelry. And all she has to do is “train” new girls to the tricks of the trade. How to please the men they will be sold to across the Rio Grande and into the U.S. Not realizing these girls will also be sneaking drugs and other contraband into the States, Xochitl entices them into the life of fantasy that a gang girl can have riches in America. 

During a trafficking exchange, Xochitl witnesses the brutal murder of a 13-year-old; she realizes the same thing will happen to her. She escapes with two girls, a stash of coke, and a gun. 

She tells Carlos she is pregnant with his child and thus starts one of the most astounding chases in storytelling. Aided by the U.S. Government, incarcerated in a detention hall, and bailed out by a brothel madam, she agrees to trade her son for the release of girls primed for slavery, emerging triumphant.

Goddess of the Flowers by Stefanie Auerbach Stolinsky is a riveting tale of one girl’s harrowing escape from the hands of a vicious drug lord, drug smuggling, human trafficking, international corruption, and the unbelievable amounts of money involved. Her story is shocking and eye-opening, not only in its life-threatening brutality and non-stop danger but for the sheer reach of the cartel’s power and influence. However, even the cartel is no match for her resilience, determination, and inextinguishable hope for a better life for herself and her unborn child.

Xochitl (meaning “Goddess of the Flowers”) is just days shy of her sixteenth birthday when cartel leader Carlos Morales, who keeps her as his sexual plaything, coldly murders a thirteen-year-old girl who is in their mansion headquarters to be trained to perform sexually for her buyer across the border in the U.S. She’s known all along that she’s just a cog in the horrific sex human smuggling machine and her usefulness to Carlos, too, would soon reach its expiration date as she aged. But Xochitl had connected with the younger girl when she’d arrived that day, and her ruthless execution galvanized Xochitl into action to get herself and two more of the new girls out of the cartel compound and to safety across the river.

Xochitl had been aware that Carlos had a network of connections in the U.S., but it wasn’t until she made her desperate run for freedom that she realized just how far and wide his reach really extended. He has eyes and ears everywhere she turns, and she constantly feels she’s still easily within his grasp and that he is just toying with her before snatching her back up. Xochitl quickly finds out she can trust no one and with good reason. Even the ‘good’ guys have agendas where she is just a pawn and an expendable one at that. There’s no respite for this poor girl: no real moments free from fear or pain. Still, she perseveres.

The story unfolds from Xochitl’s point of view, and the author gives her a voice, attitudes, and emotions that feel starkly authentic. The narrative is, at times, stream-of-consciousness, and the language and actions are raw, desperate, and uncensored. Characters are brutalized, and many die. The picture that is painted is shocking and grim, yet throughout it all, Xochitl continually taps into inner sources of strength, replenished by hope. The style of narrative may not be to everyone’s taste; the events are often too brutal for comfortable reading. However, I was mesmerized by her story and rooted for Xochitl to find freedom and justice, compelled to see the story through to its resolution.

I recommend GODDESS OF THE FLOWERS to readers of gritty and dark crime thrillers.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

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