Customer Reviews

Luck of the Draw: A Novel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a fan of Garcia-Aguilera's Lupe Solano series, I was at first disappointed to meet a new heroine. However, if anything, this book was higher in quality than the later Solano novels, combining fast, upbeat tempo with a three-dimensional heroine.

I was drawn to the larger-than-life Navarro family, defined by their gambling style (everyone aced the SAT's in math because they've been calculating odds since they could talk).

After seeing an apparition, the Navarro family matriarch convenes four of the five grown children, each decorated with the name of a jewel, to search for the missing youngest child, Diamond. Esmerelda quickly rises to the challenge, flying to Las Vegas to search for her much-loved beautiful younger sister.

When her limo driver identifies himself as a retired NYPD detective, Esmerelda realizes she's gotten lucky. She follows clues and her own instinct as she learns about how Diamond lived just before she disappeared. A sudden interest in her Cuban roots? A tendency to religion? A possible involvement with criminal activity?

Thanks to wealthy parents, Esmerelda plays detective from the vantage point of a luxury hotel. In the end she draws on what she and her family know best: the gaming tables.

As she detects, Esmerelda also discovers herself as she learns to depend on herself in a new environment. She enjoys a brief escape from a troubled marriage and three loveable but demanding school-age sons. And she's too smart to accept, without question, a series of coincidences, beginning with the incident that set her on this quest in the first place.

True, Garcia-Aguilera does leave a few threads hanging. As another reviewer noted, she gets confused about dates and ages of her characters. Another plot element (I won't give it away!) remains a mystery, since every luxury highrise in Miami comes with alarm systems that could guard Fort Knox.

Most of all, any woman who can dodge the Las Vegas mob is perfectly capable of figuring out what to do with a dog while she's away. We're treated to a graphic description (mercifully brief) of the poor animal's digestive upsets and the husband's understandable frustration. Can't the well-heeled Navarros pay for his stay in an upscale kennel? Some services would even drop off the dog and pick him up.
Ms. Garcia-Aguilera should consult equally delightful mystery writers Carol Lea Benjamin and Susan Conant.

And Harper-Collins -- a very fine house -- slipped up on the dust jacket, identifying Esmerelda as the oldest and most sensible of the siblings. Between the covers, she's the middle child who combines commonsense with availability: sister Ruby, a lawyer, was getting ready to start a trial.

Minor quibbles! Luck of the Draw is the perfect book for a hot summer day, especially if you've ever spent time in South Florida.

I really liked this book, and recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed Garcia-Aguilera's writing in the past. I miss Lupe, but the characters introduced in Luck of the Draw are just as funny and interesting. I had no idea that there were so many Cubans in Las Vegas. Ms. Garcia Aguilera, if there are any in Topeka let me know where they hang out!

I am a gringa living in Miami, and I confess that I consistently look to Carolina Garcia-Aguilera for insight into the people that make up this vibrant and colorful city!

Garcia again delivers with "Luck of the Draw" and the story of Esmeralda. Hilarious!

I happen to be a huge fan of Ms. Garcia Aguilera's books. I fell in love with the Lupe series, and she has out done herself again!

Another meaty, humorous novel about Cuban Amercians. I never knew that Cuba had a big gambling industry prior to 1959, nor that Batista had invited in the American Mafia to run the Cuban gambling casinos. When Castro took over, shutting down the casinos, all those who made their living working in the casinos fled Cuba, and mostly settled in Las Vegas. I had no idea that Cubans were one of the major ethnic groups in Las Vegas.

This is another great novel. The newest character , from Miami, starts out being rather unsympathetic and unlikeable, seeming odd in her living habits, and giving her kids each two double expressos before school each morning just to wake them up ! But she soon becomes involved in tracking down the disappearance of her sister (who lives in Las Vegas). During the time in Las Vegas, we come to like the main character.

I view ALL of Aguilera's books as "women's fantasies." All of her books are about woman characters, told in first person, solving various mysteries. Yet, each book is about different characters and situations. Furthermore, while each book is a lighthearted mystery, really funny and clever, serious elements are brought in for the reader to consider. Usually, the main character is having some marriage problems (as most people experience in their 30's). Each character in each book deals with those problems in a unique way, while solving the main mystery in the story. I highly recommend ALL of Aguilera's books, and I can hardly wait until she gets her next book written!

Carolina Garcia Agulera has again written an excellent and very entertaining book that is easy to read. The characters are realistic and she brings the Latin flavour to another American city. A great story. A great read!