This one was alittle out of my comfort zone but I enjoyed It. It was heart wrenching and sad. Even though it’s mostly a fictional account this is something that happens too much in these extreme religious groups

TITLE: INTO THE LIGHT
AUTHOR: Mark Oshiro
PUB DATE: 03.28.2023 Now Available
AUDIO: OrangeSky Audio
NARRATED BY: Alejandro Antonio Ruiz
LENGTH: 12 hours and 41 minutes

The narration by Alejandro Antonio Ruiz of Mark Oshiro’s INTO THE LIGHT captures the tense, bitter, and dark story of Manny and his involvement with the Deacon, the leader of the Christs’ Dominion, and how his only family, his sister Elena is being pulled away because of this. Mark Oshiro writes a triumphant story with deep themes though written for a YA audience, addresses teen homelessness, Christian cults, and the pitfalls of the social services in this country.

In a nonlinear story telling, Oshiro provides a twist no one will ever see coming that you just have to read or listen to.

Manny doesn't trust people. Even oeople who try to help him. He's trying to find his sister, Elana.
The sad parts of this storyare necessary to understand why Manny doesn't trust anyone. Although the events seem extreme, I'm sure they happen in our messed up country.
This is a book that will likely to be banned in certain states, but I think people need the opportunity to read it!
I was confused toward the end. With the audiobook, it would help if the chapters about Eli were announced. Other than that, it's a great story!

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝐁𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐎𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐨
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐓𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧 / 𝐎𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟑.𝟐𝟖.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

Thank you @tlcbooktours @orangeskyaudio and @markdoesstuff for the spot on tour and gifted audiobook.

𝘏𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

Manny lives by the rules—the rules that have kept him moving, kept him alive, and have helped him survive being thrust into adulthood long before he was ready. It’s been a year since breaking the rules got him cast out of his family. But the existence of an unidentified body found in the hills of Idyllwild, California is drawing him back to his deepest trauma because he may know who it is.
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Manny’s story is uncomfortable, painful, and heartbreaking. Latinx, gay, and bounced through the foster system, he ends up going through what I can only describe as a horrific cult-like situation.

The narrative is not linear; Manny readily jumps from families he and his sister have been with, to a forced religious conversion within the cult, living on the streets, and then quickly back to his present. Through it all, you sense the tension of the traumatic events and abuses that have happened in Manny’s life, so much so that he had to escape and try to survive on the streets. But he wants to find his sister who he left behind.

This is a raw, poignant story, with a shocking twist that makes it thriller worthy. Your emotions will be stirred as this brings to light the dangers of religious cults and the failures of many social services to so many children.

What a powerful story that will make people talk! The narrator seemed flat at first but actually really got me into the story and Eli’s character.
Must read!

This was a great listen. I cannon put into words how painful this story is, with a bit of tension to keep me going, to want to finish and find out what has happened to these characters.

One thing, it is non linear, with the present, the past, and two different characters. Audio does not distinguish that, but you can figure it out by the language used, etc. But I did listen to the whole thing in one day. I just had to. There's this uncomfortable feeling about the story, you just have to know. You need to know.

Manny is a Latinx, gay, homeless kid on the move. We get to hitchhike with him in the beginning, and feel his uneasiness with the hole process. How he feels sitting in a car with a leery grown up, how he feels ditching a caring family, how he lies to get away from those that care too much. And little by little we get to hear Manny's story of how he ended up here.

We figure out early on that his sister is most likely living in a church cult. And you get a feeling that it isn't a good church right away. Like I mentioned, there's some uneasiness about the whole thing, and tension, and you just have to know how Manny ended up out of that cult. When he meets a family on the road that are willing and wanting to help him, we get a bigger picture. There are many youth kids that have escaped, run away, SURVIVED something similar to Manny. And this family wants to help these kids in any way they can. This time, to help Manny find his sister.

I want to talk about TW, because I feel this one will be painful to read for a lot of readers.
The whole time I felt so icky about the church. I just knew it was evil. There's this veil, but enough hints that I knew it wont be good. Big triggers for those that have left a harmful church life. Big trigger about conversion treatments. Implied sexual abuse. Mental abuse. Manipulation. Gaslighting. Murder.

It is not a happy book to read. But it is very real and raw and beautiful in ways that portray real life stories. There's love in the end, and people that do care. There's healing after going through trauma. There's hope. I definitely recommend reading this book. It is just a must.

This is a heart wrenching story. It may be difficult for some so I would definitely look for the authors note. But if you can read this book it is eye opening to what happens to children in the foster care system. The story follows Manny a child who has left the foster care system and is trying to survive and get back to his older sister. The author weaves a beautiful story that’s almost lyrical. The narrator, Alejandro Antonio Ruiz did a phenomenal job in bringing the story to life and Ruiz portrayed Manny very well. It’s very disheartening to see what Manny has had to go through and I just wanted to scoop him up and hug him and never let him go. This book brought out a range of emotions and the author really let Manny shine. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the plot twist. While I gasped audibly it just didn’t connect with me and perhaps I was just one of the ones that didn’t understand it. I also thought that the relationship between Carlos and Manny moved rather quickly, especially since they just started actually talking. Apart from those two this was a really addicting listen that I enjoyed very much and I highly recommend to mature adult readers. I also love how the title and cover tied into the story as well.

Special thanks to TLC book tours, Netgalley, and OrangeSky Audio for the gifted ALC.

Thank you to @tlcbooktours, @tlcdiversity, @orangeskyaudio and @markdoesstuff for the #gifted audiobook and the spot on the tour.

“When you’ve wandered a desert for most of your life, you are overjoyed when it rains.”

𝘏𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵

Manny lives by the rules—the rules that have kept him moving, kept him alive, and have helped him survive being thrust into adulthood long before he was ready. It’s been a year since breaking the rules got him cast out of his family. But the existence of an unidentified body found in the hills of Idyllwild, California is drawing him back to his deepest trauma because he may know who it is.

Eli lives for the future—he’s put his entire faith into the teachings that raised him: family, duty, and love. After all, obedience leads to deliverance from a harsh world into an eternal paradise. But why doesn’t Eli remember his past? What if he can’t escape the doubt that eats away at his foundation of belief?

This is definitely not an easy or lighthearted story, but it is a powerful one. The narration is spot on for the characters and the angst, fear, and underlying hope is felt throughout. If you enjoy audiobooks and stories involving cults then you will certainly enjoy this YA Thriller. Unforgivably religious fanaticism and cults are such a turnoff for me in books so I just couldn’t stay invested in this story.

I am not okay…

This is an incendiary story that ripped my heart right out. Utterly heartbreaking and so breathtakingly beautiful at the same time.

Religious cultism is one of those things I am equally enthralled by and terrified of! It literally scares the hell out of me but learning about why people fall prey to it is so interesting to me.

I will never fully understand, but maybe that is why I choose to read books like this… There were many things in this book that made me fully enraged, but it was so ridiculously well written. Not everything is perfectly wrapped up and topped with a bow, but there is so much glaring hope in this book.

The pain that is detailed in this book, the despair and longing, the absolute predatory nature of people who prey on the malleable and lost individuals like this makes me sick to my stomach. I bawled my eyes out through this book!

This is one that will give you an uneasy feeling throughout but it’s so incredibly worth it!