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 continues its celebration of Women’s History Month.   Hence, we are pleased to welcome as our guest blogger Erika M. Martínez ,  editor of an exciting and courageous new literary anthology by 25 Dominican women.   The book will be released on April 15. Watch for it! Announcing the call for submissions for Daring to Write: Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women in environments full of machismo was quite the challenge. When I attended literary events in the Dominican Republic men offered to contribute to the anthology, yet their writing often objectified women, depicting them as helpless victims or as possessing only sexual power. “This is going to be an important work. It should include men,” someone said to me once. Men assumed they could speak for women, but it wasn’t enough to have female characters in a story. I had to defend my decision to concentrate my work on women writers. At the 2009 Intern...

Cinco Punto Press The real Cuba—the one that existed between the cracks, the one that was full of poverty, suffering and hopelessness—was revolting. It angered him that people allowed it to exist. – Frank SOFRITO is a fun, entertaining and suspenseful novel that is bound to become a favorite with foodies and readers alike. This book has everything – mystery, espionage, romance, and an exciting trip to Cuba. Each chapter starts with an actual quote from celebrities which adds flavor and authenticity to the book. Readers are in for a favorable treat. SUMMARY:  Frank Delgado, his brother and cousin own a restaurant in the Bronx that is going belly up. They are desperate for a solution to save their father’s legacy, when a crazy idea comes to them – go to Cuba and find a secret chicken recipe guaranteed to bring in customers. It’s supposed to be an easy trip, Frank would bribe one of the kitchen staff to sell him the secret ingredients and then return home. But t...

    "La vida le pone situaciones por delante a las personas y no queda más que afrontarlas con entereza por debíl que uno crea que es."   //   "Life places people in difficult situations and the only recourse is to face them head-on no matter how weak one feels." --Ramona   ¡El que persevera triumfa! // He who perseveres triumphs!       ¡A ESTUDIAR, CARAJO! may be a short book -- 56 pages! -- put it packs a wallop.   Ana Maria Gonzalez' novel is about female empowerment; about perseverance; about overcoming all obstacles with determination and hard work.   It's about the immigrant experience; about racism; about tolerance; about survival. It's about being a woman, a mother, a student, a worker.   This novel is in Spanish.   It's written in the third person and is mostly narrative, but it contains a lot of action, a lot of living.   ¡A ESTUDIAR, CARAJO! is inspiring, empowering, and makes you want ...

   The Latina Book Club welcomes Dominican writer and illustrator Genia I. Nunez.   For her, it all began with a poster over a decade ago.   Today, she enjoys writing poetry, photography, crafts and keeping her inner child alive! I believe that education is very important for our children. Being bilingual is more relevant than ever before. – Genia I. Nunez Q:   We know you are a Civil Engineer and a college professor. Where did the desire to write children's books come from? A: I've always enjoyed helping children learn. I also taught catechism classes and tutored elementary aged children during my free time. I've always had a creative inclination, and writing and drawing were always ways to express myself. The interest of writing children’s books came because I wanted to help my own children and their friends in school. I always have enjoyed children’s books and their illustrations. I think it’s important to keep your inner child alive! ...

Race is in the eye of the beholder .—Raquel Cepeda It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness, it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful .—Adrienne Rich Raw and honest, brilliant and brutal. BIRD OF PARADISE is one woman’s daring journey to self discovery and family peace. The book is broken into two parts. The first part is the story of Raquel’s birth and upbringing by an abusive father and an indifferent stepmother. The abuse is excessive and cruel so readers beware. The second part of the book is heavy on DNA codes, but it is also full of new discoveries, new relatives, new connections. Part two is Raquel’s quest, her time traveling back in time through the DNA testing, to find the ancestral roots of her Latinidad. BOOK SUMMARY: Raquel’s obsession over her racial ambiguity begins at a young age. Abandoned by her birth mother, she comes to belief that there is a fukku (a curse) on the women of her family who could never have a good...

  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...