Dirty Girls on Top [Hardcover]

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2008

The Dirty Girls are back, saucier and sexier than ever….but would it be wrong to ask them to be a little smarter, too?? Especially when it comes to men. And sex.

Lauren Fernandez is at the top of her game as the cleverest columnist the Boston Gazette has on board—but she can't quite figure out how to pick a guy or how to eat (and not drink) like a healthy person.  Usnavys is still sashaying all over town, 260 pounds of her dolled up in designer duds and ready for action—from anyone except her husband Juan, that is.  He’s become just a bit boring staying home scrubbing the tub and cooking up chicken fingers for pre-schooler Carolina while somebody else brings home the bacon.

Maybe the other Dirty Girls could help Lauren and ‘navy out, but they've got their own messes to deal with: Rebecca Baca hasn't gained a pound since college (well, who would, if they had an ounce of self-control?) but suspects her picture-perfect marriage may not yield the baby she longs for; Sara may be the star of her own decorating show on cable television, but her dangerous pull toward her ex-husband Roberto isn't so pretty;  Amber keeps renaming herself and doesn't want to hear that her soulfulness and reinvention aren't enough to make fans actually buy her music; and Elizabeth is discovering that a relationship with another woman takes more than bravery and a nesting instinct.

Dirty Girls on Top is about trying to figure it all out without quite as much time left as there was five years ago.  And it’s about sex and love—getting it, not getting it, yearning for it, having it with the wrong person, fighting it from the right person, trying it a new way, giving up on it. And, in the end, if your fingers are crossed and the planets are in alignment, having it come out just the way it should.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Valdes-Rodriguez introduced these caliente chicas in 2003's successful The Dirty Girls Social Club. Now, five years later, the sucias reunite at a New Mexico resort, and the passionate and provocative getaway signals more changes for the crew. Usnavys—a United Way executive, self-proclaimed plus-sized manizer and sex blogger—is married to sedate Juan, who cares for their daughter while Usnavys begins an affair. Lauren is a journalist and bulimic whose fiancé, a former drug dealer-turned music industry professional, has a little something secretly going on the side. Rebecca, a magazine publisher, has dreams of a baby with her husband, but they can't conceive. Sara, a Latina Martha Stewart, is frightened and exhilarated by the reappearance of her abusive husband. Cuicatl, a wild Latina rock star, must face her feelings for her older manager, and a fickle public. And Elizabeth is slowly realizing her lesbian partner doesn't want to parent their recently adopted son. Friendships are strengthened and threatened, and facets of each woman's life crumbles while others blossom. The prose is fast and casual, and the plot moves at a fast clip. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In her debut, The Dirty Girls Social Club (2003), Valdes-Rodriguez introduced six feisty Latina friends, and the genre chica-lit was born. Now the sucias reunite five years later. Lauren’s low self-esteem has her dating cheaters and battling bulimia. Former playgirl Usnavys feels trapped as a wife and mother. Successful publisher Rebecca struggles with her failure to conceive. Elizabeth adapts to life as an adoptive parent with an unsupportive partner. Amber, now a rock star called Cuicatl, is seeing her popularity falter. Sara’s deranged ex-husband, Roberto, has returned just as she’s begun dating. Each woman is so preoccupied, it takes a near tragedy to bring them together. Valdes-Rodriguez has matured with her characters, relying less on steamy sex and brand-name-dropping and more on emotional development. Balancing six story lines is challenging, but her fans will be satisfied with the resolution in this interesting sequel. --Aleksandra Walker

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (July 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031234967X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312349677
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #998,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, December 7, 2009

By 

A. Arce "Chica in LA" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dirty Girls on Top (Paperback)

Struggling to finish this book, I have read most of the author's books and am disappointed with what came out of this book. I really wanted to like this book as I loved the first book and enjoy listening to her at speaking engagements. The characters are unlikeable and predictable. I would have to agree with the other comments that the book is filled with gratuitous sex. Lastly, I kept wondering why these women are still friends, as they don't appear to have much in common and some of them don't even like each other. I would say if you are going to read this book, check it out from the library or borrow it.

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your time and money, August 3, 2008

By 

Minnie2 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dirty Girls on Top (Hardcover)

I struggled to make my way through Dirty Girls on Top and only finished through sheer force of will. The characters are very undeveloped and there was little plot of which to speak. It took me a least a hundred pages to begin to differentiate between the six main characters (I still got Sara and Rebecca confused at the end of the book). There were a lot of sex scenes, all of which were uncomfortable and awkward. The constant dropping of mall brands got to be comical by the end of the book, as did the strange lectures on Hispanic identity politics liberally sprinkled throughout the narrative. My favorite was the part where one character lectures another about human sacrifice in different world cultures as an attempt to minimize Aztec mass killings. The passage concluded with the two copulating at an Aztec pyramid. Oy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointing View of an Interesting Culture, June 20, 2010

By 

Randi Cardoza - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dirty Girls on Top (Paperback)

Frankly, I was disgusted by the end of Usnavys first chapter in this book. I was expecting a funnier Latina version of Sex and the City but got something that pretty much was a repulsive view of the fairer Latin sex. I struggled to finish this book and really had to force myself to do so just so I could make sure I really wasn't missing anything. I don't even see why these women are friends because they are all so different, and really don't even seem to like or care about each other unless something drastic happens.

This book struck me as being similar to a porno flick. There is a lot of gratuitous sex with no meaning behind it and furthermore the women seem to lack emotion. I've been through some of the things Rebecca has gone through and the emotion was very much lacking. Overall, don't read this book if you are expecting a funny, girl power book because as much as these women exude that on the surface it really isn't there.