THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

“ I’ve given up on hope, from now on I fight.” – Nina Guerrera       THE CIPHER by Isabella Maldonado Thomas & Mercer Intense, thrilling, with a kick-ass Latina Heroine. Yes, I read it in one sitting, and yes, I love this "Warrior Girl" Nina Guerrera, who survives a nightmarish childhood, who thrives in the face of adversity, and brings villains to justice. I kept picturing a Latina Dr. Samantha Waters with brown hair, who gets inside the minds of serial killers to solve heinous crimes. The dynamic between Nina and FBI Mind Hunter Jeffrey Wade was brilliantly complicated. Not enemies, but certainly not friends. By the end, they learn to trust one another and have each other’s backs.  We’re hoping for a Book 2. We don’t want to let Nina and Wade go.  Maldonado’s writing is realistic, sharp, precise, graphic, and well detailed. It helps that she is a former Police Captain.  This made the book very intense, very suspenseful, and very addictive. Reade...

The Latina Book Club supports our Black Brothers and Sisters   and our Afro Latinx / Black Latinx Communities during these hard times.   Black Lives Matter.    We See You. We Hear You.   We Support You. Aside from donating money to the different organizations supporting the movement and the protesters, we want to support Afro-Latinx / Black Latinx authors by purchasing and reading their books.   Below is a short list in no particular order.   We welcome additions to this list.     Happy Reading.   Take care and Stay Safe.   20 AFRO LATINX  /  BLACK LATINX WRITERS  NO ONE IS ILLEGAL: FIGHTING RACISM AND STATE VIOLENCE IN THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER   by Justin Akers Chacón and Mike Davis (Haymarket Books) AN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINX HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES By Paul Ortiz (Beacon Press) 13 WAYS TO LOOK AT A BLACK BOY By Tony Medina & 13 Artists ...

Agora / Polis Everything changes here and  everything stays the same.  --Viridiana Desire. Glamour. Dreams. Deceit.   One hot summer. One bored teenager. Three enigmatic tourists. Viridiana is bored and tired of watching the local fishermen bring in their catch. Anything is better than staring at dead sharks so when three tourists show up in town, Viridiana welcomes being their guide.   She is enthralled at their glamorous lives, clothes, manners. But then one of them dies and Viridiana is soon caught up in shark infested waters of her own.   We loved this book. It’s suspenseful, compelling and a fast read.  We couldn’t stop until we knew the ending. SUMMARY:   Baja California, 1979. Viridiana spends her days watching the dead sharks piled beside the seashore, as the fishermen pull their nets. There is nothing else to do, nothing else to watch, under the harsh sun. She’s bored. Terribly bored. Yet her head is filled...

The Latina Book Club's March Madness begins.  No, not basketball.  Our madness is a dark and thrilling book that will keep people on the edge of their seats.  Happy Reading!   Independently Published He was not the demon everyone portrayed him to be, but rather he was a savior –a messiah—saving souls, and forgiving those who had failed to protect those they were supposed to protect. ---The Cowboy Dramatic. Scary. Thrilling.   Author Manny Meléndez has written a dark crime thriller that attracts and repels readers in equal measure, but keeps them reading. Clichés abound, but the author uses them wisely to quickly identify villain and hero alike. Readers are in for a roller coaster of emotions in this gripping page-turner, with twists and turns that will have readers on the edge of their seats until the surprising end. Meléndez doesn’t shy away from writing dark menacing characters.   Must be his love for the dark Master E...

    Tell your super-ego to fuck off, man.  The way you examine every single action, past and present, is twisted. The sin of pride. You’re not that important. You have to forgive yourself once and for all.   --- IN THE MIDST OF WINTER ATRIA BOOKS Isabel Allende starts a new book every January.  IN THE MIDST OF WINTER must have been started during a snow storm because this book takes place during a hard winter in Brooklyn. IN THE MIDST OF WINTER is a heartwarming, captivating, suspenseful, adventurous, gratifying novel.  It’s about love and loss, about justice and redemption, about survival and rebirth, about friendship and family. Allende tackles issues like gang violence, political atrocities, domestic abuse, illegal immigration and human rights se with truthfulness and integrity. Her characters are so realistic they could be your next door neighbors. This novel is fast-paced and with enough plot twists –I did not see that dead...

    Buyer Beware! Cyber pirating is a serious crime against the artist, the reader and society at large. Luckily, we have some really great tips on how to safeguard against cyber pirating from paralegal and author Raquel Zepeda Fitzgerald. And, she’s even written a fun, imaginative novel, TORRENT TRAGEDY , about a cyber pirate who gets just what he deserves. Luckily, The Latina Book Club is able to bring you an excerpt of this novel. EXCERPT TORRENT TRAGEDY By Raquel Zepeda Fitzgerald Next morning around 10 a.m. Steve walks into his office to tell him about the surge they just had in downloads of that new book. Right before Steve came in, he heard a sound like something had been dropped into the urn sitting on his credenza. When Steve looked at him he gasped and said what happen to your teeth? What do you mean? Your tooth, you’re missing a tooth,” he said. “That’s crazy.” But then he could feel that he was missing one fron...

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...

  The Latina Book Club congratulates Valerie Tejeda on the debut of her first YA novel.   We are happy to be part of her first Blog Tour.      Bloomsbury Publishing/ Spark "Hunters are not made.   They are born." Valerie Tejeda's debut novel is fun, fast-paced and fantastic.   The Latina Book Club interviewed Valerie last Fall and we learned how the premise for this book began with a dream about Marilyn Monroe being killed by a witch.   Now, after months of waiting, the book is out and we are thrilled.   HOLLYWOOD WITCH HUNTER is a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Men In Black.   We devoured it in one sitting, and could not put it down.   Our teenage heroine may not be on the cheer squad, but this California girl is smart, sassy and has killer instincts. SUMMARY:   Iris Maria Bently hunts witches bent on retaining their youth by sacrificing the beautiful, shallow women of southern California. ...

    The Latina Book Club is proud to welcome author Graciela Limón ,  who will tell us how she celebrates her Latinidad. Plus, we’ll learn about her new suspense novel,  THE INTRIGUING LIFE OF XIMENA GODOY. When I was a little girl growing up in East Los Angeles, I loved school.  You see, I went to Hammel Street School, a public grammar school that had been there since forever, and even better, it was a school where all the kids were Mexican.  Most of us were born in the barrio, but others had recently come up with their familias from Mexico.  But it was all the same; we all spoke Spanish – on the sly, of course, because the teachers scolded or punished us when they caught us talking, as they said, “funny.”  Another thing I loved was that kids took a lunch in a little brown bag, many times exchanging that delicious gordita for a burrito.  I loved school because it was hardly a change from home where I lived with my mom, da...