Guardians’ Betrayal is a story told from the point of view of the three main characters through interwoven alternating perspectives of Shayla, her mom Bernice and her dad Tom, enlightening the reader that there’s more to a family than the eye meets.
Shayla’s birth parents abandoned her. At age ten she came into foster care, together with her younger sister, Abby. Tom and Bernice adopted both girls soon after. Shayla is insecure and doesn’t have a lot of friends. Seven years after adoption, her long-forgotten older sister contacts her and announces her birth dad wants to reconnect. Her past abandonment haunts her and she has terrifying flashbacks of her old life. She starts shoplifting.
All hell breaks lose when Bernice wants to slow down a reconnection with her birth dad. Shayla uncharacteristically rebels and starts keeping secrets from her mom. She has a few parties at friend’s house, and is planning to end her virginity, determined to turn her crush into her boyfriend.
Bernice suspects Tom has an affair, as he barely participates in the family, due to his busy work schedule. Bernice has him followed by a P.I., who confirms what she feared. She confronts Tom, who can no longer deny the facts; he leaves the family.
Bernice has trouble with accepting the reality of raising a family of four alone and fails in dealing with a rebellious Shayla without Tom. She realizes she needs help when she discovers Shyla’s self-harming and contacts Shayla’s birth-dad. She is pleasantly surprised when she meets him.
Tom is disappointed, when all of Bernice’s attention is for the children. He moves in with his new love, but life with this young lady is not as wonderful as expected, and the shine soon disappears from that idyll. He misses the equality and fairness of his marriage with Bernice and really misses the children. With the re-appearance of Shayla’s birth dad in the life of the family, his place in the family is at risk. Tom makes a point of faithfully showing up for his planned activities with his young sons and studies how his family members relate to the new man. When Shayla gets caught shoplifting, Tom offers to go to court with her.
Are relationships between guardians and children strong enough to face the truth? Is the marriage going to survive? Is the family going to pull through? Read Guardians’ Betrayal, a book for adults and mature young adults with an interest in adoption.
