Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.
Showing posts with label Belinda Acosta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belinda Acosta. Show all posts

Monday, August 17, 2009

Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz by Belinda Acosta (Book Review)


Title: Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz: A Quinceañera Club Novel
Author: Belinda Acosta
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing


First sentence: Ana was finishing her coffee when she saw the full-page ad in the morning paper:
Everything you need for the ultimate teen birthday party!


My synopsis: I have been having a hard time trying to figure out how to sum this story up - so sorry if it comes out sounding a little disjointed.

Ana is coping with her husband, Esteban's unfaithfulness and the fact that he has moved out. Her 14-year-old daughter, Carmen, blames her for making her dad leave, when in reality - he is the one who moved out. Ana is trying to protect her daughter and her son, Diego, from their father's affair. When she sees the above ad, she decides that Carmen needs a traditional quinceañera - not so much for the tradition - but because she thinks it will help her and Carmen become close again.

Beatriz, Ana's niece, jumps in to help with the planning - even designing the dresses that Carmen and the damas will wear. She is living with Ana and her kids as her own father is traveling for business and her mother is in a mental hospital - a fact that Beatriz is having to come to terms with on her own.

Ana's son seems to be the calm, rational one when he is really as torn up as Carmen about his dad's leaving but feels his mom needs their support - especially after he starts hearing rumors about what his dad has done.

So, as you can see, this is a multi-layered story with Beatriz and her mom; Ana and her daughter, Carmen; and Ana herself - and the decisions she needs to make about her future with or without Esteban.

My thoughts: To be honest, I almost gave up on this book in the beginning. It had some Spanish phrases in it and I wondered how much of the meaning I was losing. But after reading a review that said the you could get enough of the gist of the Spanish phrases without knowing Spanish and still understand the book, I kept going. I am glad that I did.

I really enjoyed Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz as it portrayed not just one strong woman - Ana, but a strong 'young' woman - Beatriz, and a girl becoming a woman - Carmen. I also have a daughter turning 15 in 2 1/2 weeks so can kind of see the emotions that Carmen was experiencing - and definitely get to see the drama! (a quinceañera is a celebration for a young woman when they turn 15)

Read Belinda Acosta's guest post or visit my post on the blog tour for Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz.

Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz
Publisher/Publication Date: Grand Central Publishing, Aug 11, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-446-54051-3
336 pages


Monday, August 10, 2009

Blog Tour: Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz (8/10-8/18)


Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz by Belinda Acosta - Currently on a virtual tour!

About the book: All Ana Ruiz wanted was to have a traditional quinceañera for her daughter, Carmen. She wanted a nice way to mark this milestone year in her daughter's life. But Carmen was not interested in celebrating. Hurt and bitter over her father Esteban's departure, she blamed Ana for destroying their happy family, as did everyone else. A good man is hard to find, especially at your age Ana was told. Why not forgive his one indiscretion? Despite everything, Ana didn't want to tarnish Carmen's childlike devotion to her beloved father. But Ana knows that growing up sometimes means facing hard truths. In the end, Ana discovers that if she's going to teach Carmen anything about what it means to be a woman, it will take more than simply a fancy party to do it...(Hachette)

"Belinda Acosta's Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz delivers all its title promises and more: it's a book about damas of all ages, from teenage girls to the struggling mothers of those teenage girls; it's packed with drama so you don't want to stop reading; it's a novel that deeply and honestly tells the story of Ana Ruiz, her own coming of age as a woman and as a mother. Belinda Acosta is up to all of the challenges of such a rich panorama of characters and events. She's sassy, she's smart, she makes it look easy! But it takes a lot of hard work and a pile of talent to write such an engaging, touching book. A wonderful quinceañera of a novel!"
--- Julia Alvarez, author of Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA and Return to Sender
"Lively and perceptive... Acosta empathically captures the innermost feelings of her characters."
--- Booklist (Hachette)

About the author: Belinda Acosta has written and published plays, short stories, and essays. As a journalist, her work has appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, The Austin Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, The San Antonio Current, and AlterNet. Her short story Tortilla Dough appeared in Saguaro, a publication of the University of Arizona in 1992. In 1993, she produced, directed and performed in a multi-media dance-theater performance of La Llorona. National exposure came in 1995 when she read her personal essay Gran Baile, on Latino USA - the Radio Journal of News and Culture, carried on National Public Radio.

Acosta received a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from The University of Texas in 1997. She lives in Austin, Texas and is the TV and media columnist for The Austin Chronicle. (Hachette)

Follow Belinda's Blog!

Join Facebooks Fanpage for La quinceañera club books.

Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz
Publisher/Publication Date: Grand Central Publishing, Aug 11, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-446-54051-3
336 pages




Tuesday, July 28, 2009

ARC Arrival: Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz by Belinda Acosta

Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz: A Quinceanera Club Novel by Belinda Acosta

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Books

I received this for an August Blog Tour from Hachette.

About the book: Being a woman is never easy. . . no matter what your age.

Ana Ruiz can't change the fact that her husband, Esteban, moved out or make their tow children miss him less, but she can reach out to her angry and confused daughter, Carmen. What better way to come together as a family than a traditional quinceanera?

Carmen blames her mother for her parents' separation, and Ana is torn between telling her daughter the truth--that Esteban was unfaithful--and protecting her from it. The advice Ana gets from friends and family also pulls her in two directions: Some urge her to get over Esteban's betrayal while others think she should get over him altogether and move on. As the quinceanera approaches, Ana realizes that Carmen isn't the only Ruiz who needs a lesson in what it means to be a strong and independent woman. (from the back cover)

About the author: Belinda Acosta has written and published plays, short stories, and essays. As a journalist, her work has appeared in the Austin-American Statesman, the Austin Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, the San Antonio Current, AlterNet, Poets & Writers, and on National Public Radio's Latino USA--the Radio Journal of News and Culture.

Belinda received a master's of fine arts in writing from the University of Texas in 1997.

She lives in Austin, Texas, and is the TV columnist for the Austin Chronicle. (from the back cover)

Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz
Publisher/Publication Date: Grand Central Publishing, Aug 11, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-446-54051-3
336 pages



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