Summer is officially here! We hope you take some time to rest, enjoy the sun, and with it, a good book. Check out our most anticipated releases and make sure to pick up one (or more – we won’t judge) of these books to enjoy while on your summer adventures.
The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez
There’s no better way to combat the heat than with more heat, and this debut romance novel brings just that!
Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows she needs to move on. But before she gets the chance, she must deal with a bigger problem: Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo's plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela convinces him to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place. But when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.
Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her feelings for the groom, so they decide to roll with the lie. Until one night, they take it a step further and begin a rebound relationship that may be working a little too well.
How to Eat a Mango by Paola Santos|Illustrated by Juliana Perdomo
Carmencita doesn’t want to help Abuelita pick mangoes; she doesn’t even like them!
But Abuelita adores mangoes, and patiently, she teaches Carmencita the right way to eat them. Together, they listen to the tree’s leaves, feel its branches and roots, and smell and feel the sweet, smooth fruits. Each step is a meditation on everything Mamá Earth has given, and in the Earth’s love, Carmencita feels the love of her family.
When they finally bite in, Carmencita understands. The mangoes are more than just mangoes… and she’s ready for another!
How to Eat a Mango’s delicious story and artwork will leave you craving the sweet golden fruit, a perfect snack for this time of year.
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen. But nothing is simple for Catalina. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world that has no place for the undocumented.
She infiltrates the school’s elite subculture and is both fascinated and repulsed. Craving a great romance, Catalina finds herself drawn to a fellow student, a budding anthropologist eager to teach her about the Latin American world she was born into but never knew, even as her life back in Queens begins to unravel. And every day, the clock ticks closer to the abyss of life after graduation. Can she save her family? Can she save herself? What does it mean to be saved?
Brash and daring, Catalina is sure to pull you in until the very last page.
My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes
For generations, the Olivares women have sought to control their daughters’ destinies, starting with their names. In life, Olvido constantly clashed with her carefree daughter. Then teenage Angustias discovered she was pregnant and left her mother’s home in search of her own. Ten years later, Felicitas finally meets her estranged grandmother and is terribly disappointed when Olvido is nothing like a grandmother should be. She is strict, cold, and…dead.
Now, Olvido is convinced the only way her spirit will cross over is if she resolves her unfinished business—to make sure Angustias is in a better place regarding family, job, husband, and God—and Felicitas is the only person who can see or hear her.
As Olvido attempts to puppeteer her granddaughter to “fix” Angustias’s life from beyond the grave, all three Olivares girls are forced to learn how to actually listen to one another and learn the true definition of home.
My Mother Cursed My Name is a charming and magical journey you won’t want to miss!
Elizabeth Cervantes is a proud Mexican book lover. She has a bachelor’s in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso and is currently working on obtaining her master’s in Publishing at Pace University. When she is not studying and reading for her classes, you can find her crying, swooning, or locking her doors while reading children’s books, romance novels, and mysteries/thrillers.
