January 2017 – Book of the Month
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova
Synopsis:
Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.
The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…
Bio:
Zoraida Córdova was born in Ecuador and raised in New York. She is the author of The Vicious Deep trilogy, the On the Verge series, and Labyrinth Lost. She loves black coffee, snark, and still believes in magic. She is a New Yorker at heart.
Website at: http://www.zoraidacordova.
Verdict in the Desert by Patricia Santos Marcantonio
Synopsis:
In the summer of 1959, everyone knows his place in Arizona. Michael Shaw is an alcoholic lawyer struggling with his reputation as the son of one of Mitchell County’s wealthiest, most successful attorneys. Toni Garcia, the first in her family to obtain a college degree, has returned to Borden, Arizona, because she’s worried about her father’s health. But as a Mexican American, she can’t get a teaching job in spite of her education and intellect. Their worlds collide when Michael is assigned to represent Maria Sanchez Curry in the bloody murder of her husband and Toni, desperate for work, accepts a job as the defendant s interpreter.
Maria and Ben Curry’s tumultuous marriage was well documented by Maria’s many visits to the ER. The couple was also well-known at local bars, where they often drank to excess. But the killing of a white man by a Mexican woman even in self-defense is not permissible in a time when justice is determined by the good-old-boys’ club. Also unacceptable is the growing relationship between Michael and Toni, who fight to save María against all odds.
In this evocative exploration of class and race in 1950s America, Bobby Darin is on the juke box, Doris Day is on the silver screen and pink flamingos grace front yards. Former crime reporter Patricia Santos Marcantonio crafts a stirring tale of forbidden love in a world where democracy rules but due process and fair treatment aren’t as readily available on the wrong side of the tracks.
Bio:
Patricia Santos Marcantonio comes from a family of storytellers.
They tell stories about their own past and traditions, tales about people they have met and things they have done, and all in a way that makes you want to keep listening and beg for more. That’s where she got her desire to write and tell stories of her own.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree with distinction in mass communications from the University of Southern Colorado (now Colorado State University-Pueblo). She is an award-winning journalist and served as a Newspaper Association of America New Media Fellow.
Her children’s book, “Red Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Cuentos,” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) won an Anne Izard Storyteller’s Choice Award; and earned several recommendations including: Commended Title – Americas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature; Starred review–American Library Association; Best Collections to Share – Wilde Awards; and recommendations from Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. The book was also ranked among Amazon.com Latino children’s books best sellers.
She also co-authored “Voices From the Snake River Plain” and contributed to and edited “Hauntings From the Snake River Plain,” and co-wrote with Bonnie Dodge, “Billie Neville Takes a Leap.”
Her screenplays have won, placed or hit the top percentage in several contests, including MORE Women in Film, Screenwriting Expo 5, Women in Film Las Vegas, the Phoenix Film Festival contest, Reel Women of the West, Idaho Writers Guild and Cinestory.
Member of Dramatists Guild of America and Idaho Writers Guild
Website at: https://