Gabi, Hardcover/George Hatcher

Gabriella Guerrero has been independent ever since she was a little kid doing her best to care for her drug-addicted single mom. Her world changes when her mother dies, and her aunt takes her in. She has to learn everything all over again, especially how to trust her Aunt Isabel. She has to learn how to live with her aunt and her three cousins in the little house in East Los Angeles. They don't have much except for each other. Gabi does more than learn how to survive. She thrives in the fertile soil of her aunt's loving family. She excels at school, and she sets her goals high. She wants to become a lawyer. Then she meets Alex Rose. He changes her life. And not for the better. She's walked a far distance from growing up in her aunt's rented shack in East LA to getting hired by the public defender's office. Gabi is not only a survivor. She is ambitious and hungry for life. She has done a lot of shady things to get where she is. If her long-term plans bear fruit, one day she may leave the public defender's office to work in private practice. That's where the real money is. She loves being an attorney, except for one little thing. If her wild history surfaces, she will face disbarment. Gabi has a lot to hide. Annotation: A battered girl from East Los Angeles becomes a hooker to put herself throughlaw school.