THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

        There is only one happiness in life, to love and to be loved. – George Sand To love profoundly means both to soar and to dive. – Serge Libros Publishing American girls in search of amour and adventure in Paris, the City of Love, is a popular and much beloved theme. Author Cecilia Velástegui has taken an old theme and given it a new life.     PARISIAN PROMISES is a sensual, suspenseful and satisfying novel and our February Book of the Month .  The characters are passionate; the setting authentic (it’s Paris, the center of the world!); and the action quick with nail-biting suspense.  SUMMARY:  Set amid the tumultuous era of the 1970s, when radical insurgent groups plot social upheaval and guerrilla warfare at the Sorbonne, our naïve heroine arrives in Paris thirsty for romance and excitement, and gets more than she ever imagined. A California girl more at home with horses than people, Monica secretly ho...

    The Latina Book Club was part of the MultiCultural Children's Book Day yesterday.   It was a tremendous honor and we want to continue the celebration of children's books and diversity this week.   So today, we'd like to celebrate Latino Children Picture Books.    Below are some fun ones.---mcf LAST STOP MARKET STREET by Matt de la Peña Every Sunday after church, CJ and his grandma ride the bus across town. But today, CJ wonders why they don't own a car like his friend Colby. Why doesn’t he have an iPod like the boys on the bus? How come they always have to get off in the dirty part of town? Each question is met with an encouraging answer from grandma, who helps him see the beauty—and fun—in their routine and the world around them. LALO LOVES TO HELP by Cecilia Velastegui Lalo, a yellow-naped Amazonian parrot speaks many languages and loves to sing opera. He lives a happy live according to the Amazonian oath of friendshi...

    Once again the New York Times failed to name any books by Latinos or about Latinos on their annual list.   Hence, we here at The Latina Book Club have created our own list of powerful books we read in 2013.    All the books are about Latinos, but not all books are written by Latinos.   We are open-minded, after all.   Some books are oldies, some are new, some are children’s, some are not.   All are worth reading .   So here for your reading pleasure is The Latina Book Club’s First Annual Books of the Year 2013 .      Happy Reading and Happy Holidays!   PS—Books make great stocking stuffers!   --mcf       BOOKS OF THE YEAR (in alphabetical order by title) 8 WAYS TO SAY I LOVE MY LIFE by various authors   (collection) ALMOST WHITE: FORCED CONFESSIONS OF A LATINO IN HOLLYWOOD by Rick Najera ASK MY MOOD RING HOW I FEEL by Diana Lopez (YA) BIRDS OF PARADISE: HO...

Libros Publishing, 2013 "Never forget our ceremonies and hide the rest of our icons and our precious ancestors, for they alone will speak the truth to use." -- Inca Emperor Manco Capac   “They were here on this spot trying to find love. This was their last shot, and none of the women was prepared to lie down in defeat like the famed woman of the Dead Woman’s Pass. Each was struck as if by a lightning bolt, and understood that if there were such a thing as a soul mate, he had to be here on this Inca Trail—or no such thing existed at all.” -- MISSING IN MACHU PICCHU I love Cecilia Velastegui’s books! They are always an adventure. Velastegui is a master at weaving anthropological history and modern tales in such a way that the reader doesn’t realize she/he has been given a history lesson. The narrative is rich and detailed; her characters are realistic and appealing; and her plot lines are gold. MISSING IN MACHU PICCHU is her best novel to date, which is probab...

It was standing room only last night at the 15th Annual International Latino Book Awards sponsored by Latino Literacy Now and held at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City during BookExpo America.  Actor Toni Plana was the Master of Ceremonies.   There were 190 winners!  Some of the night's most notable winners included: Sandra Ramos O'Briant whose THE SANDOVAL SISTERS' SECRET OF OLD BLOOD took first place in Best Novel, Historical Fiction-English and Best First Book, Fiction. Another double winner was Carmen Tafolla's REBOZOS for Best Poetry Book-Bilingual and Best Arts Book-Bilingual. Reyna Grande's THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US won for Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book. Cecilia Velastegui's MISSING IN MACHU PICCHU won for Best Novel, Adventure or Drama. Melinda Palacio's HOW FIRE IS A STORY, WAITING won for Best Poetry Book - One Author, English. and Founder of Las Comadres Para Las Americas Nora Comstock's  COUNT ON ME: TALE...

         “We are all slightly delusional under the California sun.” Beautifully written and meticulously researched, GATHERING THE INDIGO MAIDENS is a must read for anyone who loves a good thriller. Velastegui does a excellent job of mixing fact and fiction, imaginary characters and historical figures, for an explosive combination of history, art, good and evil. Readers won’t want to put the book down. SUMMARY: Paloma Zuibiondo is a rich art collector and philanthropist living in a gated community in a gilded cage in Laguna Beach. Her life is perfect, quiet and safe, until a frantic phone call from a mysterious girl claiming to be sex-slave shatters her sanctuary. The girl begs for help; her capturers promise to free her if Paloma will return the 17th century painting of the Immaculate Conception the girl claims is rightfully hers. And thus is the shallow Paloma rudely awaken to the harsh realities of stolen art treasures and human traff...