From Publishers Weekly
On her way to a wake in Coral Gables from her Miami Beach home one July evening, 35-year-old Margarita Solana savors her purchase of a new black dress with practical joie de vivre. Margarita has the proverbial everything: she enjoys a successful career as an immigration lawyer and a good marriage to a handsome, successful self-made Cuban lawyer who adores her; their life in the upper-class Cuban-American enclave is enviably comfortable. The only question troubling her is whether she should resume her career now that she's reaching the end of parental leave following the birth of her son. Her husband, Ariel, and her mother are encouraging her to have another child, but what does she truly want? Things heat up when Luther Simmonds, her gorgeous, Anglo college boyfriend and first love reappears, intent on winning her back. Even after a visit to her psychic, Margarita can't decide whether to change her life, but soon questions about adultery and other moral choices are inevitable. Meanwhile, her best girlfriendsVivian, an attorney, and Anabel, an architectare facing decisions of their own. Garcia-Aguilera perfectly captures the conflicts of these cosseted Cuban-American women. Her tongue-in-cheek humor enlivens the situations she describes with intimate familiarity, and she treads gently around other aspects of the exile experience (including the Eliùn Gonzalez case). Despite Margarita's emotional conflicts, the outcome is never seriously in doubt, but no matter, it's how she reaches it that provides this zesty tale with its sparkle. Garcia-Aguilera's Miami sleuth, Lupe Solano (Havana Heat and Bitter Sugar), has won her the Flamingo and Shamus Awards. By sticking to a world she knows well, the author has produced another crowd pleaser.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
The Cuban-born author of the popular "Lupe Solano" mystery series here makes a foray into contemporary romance with disappointing results. Living in Miami, successful Cuban American lawyer Margarita inexplicably threatens her admittedly wonderful life with her Cuban American husband and their young son for a tryst with her "American" (i.e., not Cuban) college flame, who wants her to leave her husband and marry him. Margarita also has to decide whether to return to work after a yearlong leave of absence to spend more time with her son. Her husband and mother think that she should stay at home and have more children, but Margarita has worked hard to become a partner and doesn't want to throw her law career away. This book is often laugh-out-loud ridiculous, with unbelievable plotting straight out of a daytime soap opera. In addition to frequent references to Margarita's gas-guzzling Cadillac Escalade and designer clothes, barely a page goes by without a reference to Cuba or something Cuban. Although the characters are Cuban American, these references often seem gratuitous and overstated; the author's opinions on the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Eli n Gonzales ordeal, for instance, have no bearing on the story and seem particularly out of place in this romance. Not an essential purchase, though there may be demand. Samantha J. Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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