Monica P. Carter’s Sacrifice the One is the story of Rosetta Armstrong-Seta for short, a young woman who struggles to find identity and family in all the wrong ways. Seta’s mother dies a few days after Seta’s birth, which thereby her father is left to grieve his wife’s death, while rearing Seta alone. With the help of his sister and brother-in-law, Robert does his best to raise Seta until he uncovers a letter from his. This letter changes Robert’ view of his daughter and Seta’s childhood forever. As Seta grows, she is left to grapple with not only the loss of her mother, but also the abandonment of her father. Out of a thirst for love Seta stumbles down a few wrong turns that may cost her a future she has worked hard to obtain.

The only thing I liked about this book was that Seta had to fix her own mess. Kudos to Carter for that!

There was a beginning, middle, and end, but this book didn’t really begin until Chapter Sixteen. The first chapters were character background and should have been left out and put in throughout the book in a more subtle way. All the characters were underdeveloped. Epilogues are indicators that the author didn’t really work through plotting. Everything should have wrapped up in the conclusion. Too much showing; not enough telling. The book read like a synopsis not a novel.

Monica P. Carter

I commend Carter at trying to tackle paternity neglect as an issue. However, I hope that she takes the time to build a solid story that will make the reader think about this issue longer instead of glossing over it or not reading the book all together.