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...

   Happy New Year!   (I can still say that, especially with the Chinese New Year around the corner.) "Monday Musings" is a new feature for The Latina Book Club.   It will be a place I can share things with you about books, authors, my TBR pile, and other musings that just don't fit on a 140-character tweet.   Happy Reading!   --mcf QUOTES FROM MARTIN LUTHER KING JUNIOR Today is Martin Luther King Junior Day.   Americans everywhere are reflecting on MLK's life and his dream for little black boys and girls to hold hands with little white boys and girls.   I would like to add to that dream that those little black and white boys and girls also hold hands with little yellow and brown boys and girls too.   Here are two of my favorite MLK quotes: "No person has the right to rain on your dreams." "We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools." BEST AWARD SPEECH TO-DATE Congratulations to Gina Rodriguez.   She ga...

     Vibrant.   Enchanting.   Sensual.   Author Patricia Engel continues to be a refreshing voice in literature.   She has taken a classic theme and made it new again.   IT’S NOT LOVE, IT’S JUST PARIS is a coming of age story.   It’s about being independent.   It’s about growing up.   It’s about breaking tradition.   It’s about finding oneself.   It’s about romance.   Patricia’s prose is seductive; her narrative evocative.   She does a great job of bringing her characters to life and making us care about them, cheer for them, cry with them.   The story is well written and well plotted.   And not only do we fall in love with Lita, Cato and Countess Séraphine , but we fall in love with the City of Lights itself (again!).   This is a great book to end the year on a high note.    Vive la France!     Book Summary:     Lita del Cielo, the daughter of t...