Meca: A Life Within

Joha, Book 2

By: Ashley Johanna

Narrated by: Juliana Marin

In the second installment of the Joha series, Lia Dean begins her new life on Meca as a free woman, no longer under the harsh rule of her Johan Leaders. She enters into a partnership with a group of Mecans, hoping to right the wrongs of her people. When she is double-crossed, she finds herself in the middle of a human trafficking ring. The toughest decision she’s ever had to make is whether to save the other captives, risking her chances of ever seeing the love of her life again, or return to Colt and be plagued by guilt forever.

©2017 Ashley Johanna Sweat (P)2019 Ashley Johanna Sweat

Wow! I am Shocked!

Without giving away an important storyline, I will say that this book is every bit as “timely” as the first one. Although it continues to deal with the political, cultural and moral issues that divide us, this book dives into what is likely the most emotion charged topic on our planet, but one people know very little about.

Although, any deeper of a dive into the topic would have made the book inappropriate for its primary audience and may still cause some parents to hesitate allowing their teenage children to read it, I think that would be a huge mistake. It’s an evil they need to be aware of and while making us aware of an indescribable evil, it does not turn it into what could be a hard “R” rated book. It is not that, but it will be something that will occupy your thoughts for some time, hopefully to a point of action on all our parts.

All the main characters are interesting, well defined and memorable. You will experience a vast array of emotions and skilled writing that, gratefully, will mercifully carriy the reader from sorrow to joy, anger to gratitude, but always with a touch of underlying fear due to the unpredictability of those involved and the highly volatile situations our heroes have to deal with.

The two main characters are deeply in love and the writer dives into the frequent emotional turmoil that besets them throughout their unrelenting challenges, without being histrionic in the descriptions of their feelings, certainly not for their target audience. It is appropriate, based on the young woman’s previous life experience on another planet.

The main female character certainly is a “wonder woman” from another world and will be a positive inspiration to any young female reader, while also portraying her earthly love interest in a way we would all like our son’s to emulate.

I really like the context in which the writer puts things of a spiritual nature like a prayer, mention of going to church, Christmas and even love and forgiveness, things she knew absolutely nothing about on her planet.

The book was very enjoyable and I highly recommend it. I truly am interested in what will happen in the next book.