Spanish Eyes (Five Star Expressions) [Hardcover]

Jackie Griffey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Five Star Expressions | Publication Date: September 2007

When Eleana Castillo arrives in Las Flores from Mexico to work and meet her brother Carlos, who is already working there, her troubles begin. Carlos has disappeared without a trace and Carlotta, her sister-in-law who is with child, is missing from her home in Mexico. Oliver Avery, a handsome artist who teaches at the local college, sees Eleana search for Carlos at the town mall. He falls in love with her beautiful, sad and questing Spanish Eyes.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Eleana Castillo arrives in the U.S. from Mexico with the necessary papers, expecting to meet her brother Carlos. When she cannot find out where he is working, Eleana searches the local mall in the hopes of seeing him, and draws the attention of Oliver Avery. An artist and teacher at the local college, he must know this mysterious woman with beautiful Spanish eyes. Learning about her missing brother, Oliver contacts the local sheriff, who discovers that Carlos is not the only missing immigrant worker. While worried about her brother, Eleana must also protect her sister-in-law, who has illegally crossed the border with Eleana's younger brother hoping to deliver her child in the U.S. Oliver, totally smitten, is frustrated because his beloved holds fast to her secrets. Griffey reels off an old-fashioned love story that embraces and illuminates the plight of legal and illegal immigrant workers who endure horrific conditions at the hands of unscrupulous employers. Engelmann, Patty

Product Details

• Hardcover: 239 pages
• Publisher: Five Star (September 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594146144
• ISBN-13: 978-1594146145
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,781,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

N E W S !!! LIVE NOW! New Maryvale cozy mystery. A HYSTERICAL SITE begins with bloody RED murder; scatters COLORFUL Characters and clues from New York to the little town of Maryvale, Tennessee; and has a couple of scenes guaranteed to make the paranormal shows on television GREEN with envy - ENJOY!

See my list of Kindle books in all genres from $0.99 to $3.99 and happy readng!
Jackie
PS: With my other cozy mystery series- romance/suspense series; and the Chris and Duff Insurance series there are plenty of good cozies to choose from and all at reader-friendly prices. There are also romance/suspense stand alone novels and more of them will be coming. So watch for them as I said, in all genres. In fact, it looks like it's about impossible to get away from me since I have novels in several genres in every format (currently) known to man. LOL.

Also,please come to my blog: jjgbreaktimewithjackie.blogspot.com for a visit and sign my guestbook. I love meeting new readers and writers.
* * * * * * * * * *

Brief Bio:
Hello fellow readers and writers. I'm a 'southern' author: born in Hot Springs, Arkansas; grew up in Memphis, Tennessee; and now live with my family in Arkansas near Little Rock. All my books but one take place in the south. Though I'm published in several genres my favorites are cozy mysteries and romance/suspense.They are listed on Amazon; B&N and can be ordered from book stores (no S&H if you pick up the book at the Book store, just like Amazon). The onlyl way I heard about this is a reader came to me with one she'd ordered from B&N and was glad to see she could do this (so was I :-). Nearly all of my list is available as e-books.
Please come visit my page and blog. You can always find my books here on Amazon so your comments and input is welcome and appreciated.I love meeting fellow readers and writers.)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars entertaining romantic suspense, September 21, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spanish Eyes (Five Star Expressions) (Hardcover)

Legal immigrant Elena Castillo comes to Las Flores seeking her brother Carlos and their cousin Jorge Brazos, who legally cross the border to work on construction projects. The two men are out of town working at an isolated location. Las Flores College art teacher Oliver Avery notices Elena at the mall and suddenly believes in love at first site.

Carlos' pregnant wife Carlotta and his teenage younger brother Juan illegally cross the border from Mexico because she wants her child born in America. They obtain work at the Santa Maria de Las Flores mission. His siblings and wife remain ignorant to the fact that Carlos and Jorge are in danger from an unscrupulous contractor who will cheat the immigrant work force and kill those who threaten their enterprise. Elena trusts Oliver with what she knows happened to Carlos and Jorge, but though attracted to him fears the connection his best friend Matt has with the sheriff when it comes to her younger brother and sister-in-law.

SPANISH EYES paints a different picture of legal and illegal immigrants than is typically discussed in Congress at least on the fence side of the issue. Instead of terrorists committing crimes and stealing jobs, the illegals are described as abused and used. Although the villains (American contractors) have no redeeming qualities as they behave more like Dickensian capitalists taking advantage of no legal recourse for illegals and to a degree legals, readers will appreciate this entertaining romantic suspense in which most crossing the border seek economic freedom in spite of allegedly NAFTA sent the jobs to Mexico.

Harriet Klausner

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great story, weak storytelling . . ., February 10, 2008

By 

sweetpeamama "sweetpeamama" (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spanish Eyes (Five Star Expressions) (Hardcover)

I wanted to like this book. The plot is really fascinating, and could have made an even better story except for some things which made it hard for me to immerse myself in it. I did not like Oliver, one of the main characters who it seems you are supposed to empathize with and/or identify with. He is really jealous and irrational, which leaves me feeling he is controlling and somewhat unstable. His "love at first sight" of Elena does not come across as sweet to me, but almost creepy. I just don't buy the love story, because there is really no description of any actual connection or emotional development between Oliver and Elena, just his instantaneous infatuation with her based solely on her "Spanish Eyes." I also did not like the dialogue between Oliver and his friend Matt. I felt that the author was trying way too hard to use the lingo and banter that she believes two males in their 20s or 30s would use in their conversations. However, as a woman several decades removed from that generation, she misses the mark and Oliver and Matt's conversations come across as annoying and cliched. The villains of the story are portrayed cartoonishly in how one-dimensionally bad they are, you can almost imagine one of them letting out an evil "Mwhahh-ha-ha!" The ending is as completely tidy as you can imagine any fairy tale being, complete with a wedding happening within a few days of when the lovelorn Oliver proposes to the object of his obsession. In short, all of these overdone touches in the storytelling kept "Spanish Eyes" from feeling genuine or allowing you to truly identify with any of the characters, in spite of the potential inherent in the actual story.