THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

The Latina Book Club has been celebrating Valentine’s and Galentine’s Days all week long. Each day we will feature a new Latina romance author for your reading pleasure. We remind you to always Read Latino Lit and Read Romance. DID YOU KNOW?! 53% of Romance Readers love romantic suspense; followed by 41% who prefer contemporary romances; 34% who prefer historical romance; 33% prefer erotic romance; 26% prefer New Adult; 19% prefer paranormal romance; 18% prefer Young Adult romances; and 17% prefer Christian romances.     MEET LYDIA SAN ANDRES Lydia is a Dominicana who lives and writes in the tropics, where she can be found reading and making excuses to stay out of the heat.  Visit her at www.lydiasanandres.com . ARROYO BLANCO AND CIUDAD REAL Don’t let other people decide who you are. In her novels, each of the protagonists struggles to define her own identity and desires, and reconcile that with what’s expected of ...

The Latina Book Club congratulates Jonathan Marcantoni on the launch of La Casita Grande,  a new publishing house specializing in Latino and Caribbean literature. WRITING TIP :  If you want to stand out as an artist, be true to your visions and push yourself creatively, without worrying about the marketability of your stories. --- Jonathan Marcantoni Jonathan Marcantoni , Publisher LA CASITA GRANDE An imprint of Black Rose Writing Q: For years, we've been hearing the lament of editors and agents that they can't find any Latino authors.  And when one attends Book Expo America (BEA), all the editors keep asking for more diverse books, more Latino works.  Yet, the majority of the publishing booths at BEA this year had little to no diversity. It seems we have the editors' ears, but not the sales and marketing staff.  Did you see this too?  Where do you think Latinos are in publishing? JONATHAN MARCANTONI :  T...

  The air was charged with electricity as the crowd held their breath in suspense.   Both men took their left hands, which were wrapped in their shirts, and put them behind their backs.   They then held their machetes out in their right hands and approached one another.   It looked like an ancient duel...and it was.   It was a real life duel with swords.   No rules. Real swords. May the best man win. --FROM MACHETE FIGHTS TO PARADISE Daniel DiMarzio's book about the machete fighters in the Dominican Republic intrigued me from the first, because it was ...real.   These fighters and these "duels" are happening today, in our lifetime, on a tropical paradise, and they are to the death! "When I first heard of sword fights in the Dominican Republic," writes Daniel, "I was very skeptical. I thought maybe I was hearing about a freak occurrence or a story that was blown out of proportion. But, then I heard another story…and another. All of them abo...