Customer Reviews

Underneath It All

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Margo Candela's debut novel, Underneath It All, is the perfect book to curl up with on a lazy afternoon and escape. Candela creates a likeable character in Jacqueline "Jacqs" Sanchez, a Latina, thirty-something divorcee who has the thankless job of assisting the Mayor of San Francisco's wife with being "Mrs. Mayor" (think a scaled down version of Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada). Couple that with a traditional Latino family she believes should all be on anti-depressants and hilarious interactions with a host of other colorful characters(including her married older boyfriend and her Indian best friend who is engaged to a man who may not be who he claims) and you have got a well-written novel that I hope finds its way to the big screen.

Jacqs is a character that a lot of women will see parts of themselves in. While the ups-and-downs of her life are quite dramatic, they are still real and can teach some valuable lessons (think Carrie in Sex and the City). Candela also does a great job of integrating Latino culture and traditions into the storyline. I appreciated that because this was my first time reading a novel with a Latina heroine and I learned a lot.

This is a fun, witty novel with plenty of sarcastic asides to keep you laughing out loud. I liked the fact that the chapters were short and each named for a different memorable character, of which there were many. However, because Candela is skilled at character development, it was not hard to keep up with their storylines. I would love to see any of them return in a sequel, perhaps even carrying more of the story.

This was an excellent first effort and after reading the excerpt from her next novel due out later this year, it appears that Candela has a promising career ahead.

Reviewed by Danielle H.
APOOO BookClub

Margo Candela deserves the lion's share of accolades for her debut novel, "Underneath It All" (Kensington Books, paperback $14).

She is, after all, the one who put in the hard work to create her smart, successful and sexy protagonist, Jacquelyn "Jacqs" Sanchez, the fictional personal assistant to the wife of a fictional San Francisco mayor.

Candela also went through the arduous task of finding a literary agent who was a good fit for her. And let's not forget the time and energy spent creating a Web page to introduce herself to the world.

But Candela also can thank one other thing for her success:

Insomnia.

Not Candela's insomnia, though she might have suffered a few sleepless nights along the way to getting published.

One evening, Sulay Hernandez, Candela's eventual editor at Kensington Books, couldn't get to sleep, so she decided to do Internet research. That's how she "stumbled" upon Candela's Web page at 3 a.m. Hernandez liked what she read, sent an e-mail to Candela, and within a few days obtained the manuscript from Candela's agent, Jenoyne Adams. Hernandez loved the book, and Kensington bought it a short time after.

Though Candela says that her characters are purely fictional, her cultural background as the daughter of Mexican immigrants imbues her novel with a realistic flavor. The California locales also ring true, which is no surprise: Candela, the middle of five children, was born in Los Angeles and then headed north to San Francisco to attend college. She eventually moved back to Los Angeles, where she now lives with her husband and son.

Aside from insomnia, Candela owes much to her mother, who spent part of her childhood in El Paso before settling in Los Angeles as a young woman (Candela still has relatives in El Paso and other parts of Texas).

"I wasn't sure how to translate wanting to write into an honest job," Candela said. "When I mentioned this to my mother, she wondered why I wouldn't do something in the realm of writing, since I seemed to enjoy it so much."

Her mother's gentle but insightful suggestion took root. When it came time for Candela to transfer out of junior college, she enrolled at San Francisco State University and majored in journalism. This put her on the road to becoming a published author.

"Underneath It All" is fast-paced and funny, the literary equivalent of "Sex and the City" meets "The West Wing" but with a decidedly Latino flavor.

Candela's protagonist is by no means perfect. Yes, Jacqs has the brains, beauty and fashion sense to maneuver through the political and personal shenanigans of her boss, a former soap opera star turned big-city mayor's wife. But Jacqs still suffers the pain of a failed marriage and just can't help looking for love in all the wrong places. And then there's the culture gap between Jacqs and her more traditional parents back home in Los Angeles.

What advice does Candela offer to aspiring writers? "Treat the whole experience as a business," she said without hesitation. "You have to invest time and effort and also make sacrifices to get anywhere in life, and writing is no different."

"A healthy dose of pragmatism doesn't hurt either, but aim high."

Hernandez, Candela's editor at Kensington, obviously knew a good thing when she saw it: "What I loved most about 'Underneath It All' is that it's so many things -- it doesn't have a formula. It's funny and yet touching. There were so many aspects of the heroine and family that reminded me so much of my own life."

While Hernandez might still suffer from insomnia, Candela shouldn't lose any sleep worrying about what readers will think of her novel. "Underneath It All" is a winner, pure and simple.

[This review first appeared in the El Paso Times.]

Jacqs isn't perfect and that's what I liked about her. She makes dumb choices and she doesn't try to sugar coat the realties of her life. It was refreshing to finally read a chick-lit book where the main character isn't perfect or worried about how fat she is or isn't. Once I picked up this book, I couldn't put it down.

So sorry PW disagrees, but I loved this book and could hardly put it down. Although I'm probably not the person most of the promo would be aimed at because it's about a very young woman and I'm not Latino and have never been part of a big, obnoxious family who all have a say in what the younger family members do with their lives, I could still relate to the heroine because she's confused most of the time, and yet handling it all with humor because what else are you gonna do? I spent more time laughing at the author's prose than I did worrying about plot points and to my mind, there were plenty of those. Her dense ex-husband, her totally narcissistic boss who was nothing but the ex-showgirl wife of a politician with big ambitions, her friends, all of whom had love problems, her dysfunctional but still somehow functioning family, and the heroine herself, still not quite sure what she wants to do with her life. Loved it all, every word of it.

Reading this book was a real treat. The characters reminded me of people I know and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the situations Jacqs found herself in. The book has its fun moments but its also about family and relationships and sheds light on the Latino culture.

Margo's UNDERNEATH IT ALL cracked me up until the very end. Margo is a wonderful writer, full of wit and charm. I loved the characters so much I want to read more, more, more about them. Margo, are you reading this...perhaps a spinoff is in the near future?

I started to read Margo Candela's "Underneath It All", then immediately double checked to see that it was fiction and not an autobiography. It parallels so many aspects of a San Francisco personal assistant - life imitating art - and also life getting in the way of one's goals and ambitions. People like "Jacqs" really do exist to manage people the likes of Mr. and Mrs. Mayor - I am one of them, sitting in my ivory tower alone, where you eat better, but you can't go to the restroom with telling someone. It's well written, funny and personable and I related only too well to this saga. I enjoyed the twists, temptations and the unfolding story, and I am looking forward to Ms. Candela's next work!

I stayed up half the night to finish off this book, which is quite a feat for someone who values her beauty sleep as much as I do! Margo Candela's prose is fun and often quite witty. Her main character, a savvy San Franciscan with LA roots, stands out as someone most women can relate to as she navigates the waters of friendships, relationships, career, and still tries to deal with family. She insightfully offers her take on reality, yet combines it with fantasy artfully. The plot is fast-paced and the short chapters make it a fast and easy read. Her colorful cast of characters, each displaying an interesting set of human flaws, often acts out in scandalous ways that really held my interest. I also enjoyed that Candela's writing showed she is capable of finding fresh, unique ways to phrase things without sounding as if she's consulted a thesaurus. Her analogies are delicious! This is a must read!

Just finished Margot Candelas first novel Underneath it all, read it in two days, it is delightful. She took me on a mini vacation. The story based in San Francisco rang stark, candid and comedically true. Candela peppers her story with sly and suppositious references to her Latino family stripped down to their unbearable essentials, she doesn't romanticize the culture, she keeps it real without being cliché. I feel like I dated the protagonist Ms. Jacks, we hear the voices inside her head, the hurts in her heart, and paradoxes of a newly single 30 something women in post modern ultra hip SF aristocratic political culture.

All this and I'm a dude.

I heard about this writer from a friend of mine who'd won a copy from a magazine. I went out and bought it and read it in one sitting! Too, too funny. The heroine, Jacqueline Sanchez, is just so girl next door, even when she's doing stuff that would definitely raise eyebrows. I absolutely loved all the characters! I totally felt like someone finally got me and my family down on paper. Love this writer! I liked Alisa Valdez's Dirty Girls, but I just loved this. Maybe because I didn't feel I was being talked down to. This was just a story about a woman's life--its ups and downs. In the end, the reader just has this feeling...like even if you've made mistakes, your life is really your own and you can always turn it around. (Kind of like that episode from Sex and the City when Carrie falls on the catwalk but just gets back up!!!! My favorite episode!!!) Can't wait for Margo's second one! Hope it's just as snarky and hilarious!