THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

   Poetry is like a song, like a psalm, like a prayer. Poetry is different things to many people, and April being Poetry Month, The  Latina Book Club  is celebrating by featuring Latino poets all week long. We welcome to our site poet Ariel Francisco , whom we thank for sharing his poem with us.            A VIEW OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY FROM THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE Locks cling to the bridge’s facade like piercings, inscribed with names in marker or lipstick. Their keys sunken to the bottom of the East River, combinations lost in the brackish waters of memory. A man in a black trench coat sells the locks to passing couples, encourages them to latch their hearts onto the bridge that’s already heavy with rust.  Way out on the jilted water: the silhouette of a dream-sized woman standing on a distant corner looks so familiar from this far away– arm raised to hail a cab that will never com...

      The Latina Book Club is proud to be part of C.Michelle’s Blog Tour.   We congratulate her on her debut novel.   Brava! I enjoy being a pin-up model as a side gig.   I love to indulge myself in wearing kick ass wiggle dresses, bustiers, and some awesome “fuck me shoes.”   What can I say; sometimes I have over the top girly moments. ---Nina Funny, outrageous and over-the-top sexy!    Fans of chick-lit will enjoy C.Michelle’s debut novel, PINNED UP, with its snappy dialogue, edgy humor and flamboyant characters. We love the book cover too.   It’s colorful and sensual just like our heroine Nina, and the San Francisco skyline adds a brilliant sparkle that’s present throughout the book.   We hear this is the first in a Pinned-Up Trilogy.   If so, we can’t wait for the other two books! SUMMARY:   Valentina Moretti aka Nina is a crime victims’ social worker by day and a pin-up model by night. ...

  "The kids who play Ripper are a select group of freaks and geeks from around the world who meet online to hunt down and destroy the mysterious Jack the Ripper."       RIPPER is not the type of novel fans expect from Isabel Allende.   This is a totally new genre for her, and instead of keeping to the "norms" of a typical suspense novel, Allende creates her own.   And, while this may be a novel about young-adults, the graphic and sexual nature of the killings call for a more mature audience.   RIPPER is about revenge, obsession, betrayal and loyalty.   The premise is very interesting -- gamers in search of a real killer--, but Allende over populates this novel to the point where the reader loses sight of the story.   Instead of the focus being the murders and the gamers, the focus becomes the never ending list of who's who of secondary characters -- the psychic, the neighbors, the lovers, the exes, the policemen, the clien...