JUGANDO CON CHICOS

When Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez' first novel was published last year, it caused a sensation. Readers flocked to the story of six friends in Boston because both the voice and the characters Valdes-Rodriguez created were utterly fresh. A brand new, large, and eager audience came out for a book they felt had been created just for them-young American women whose Hispanic side had been overlooked by commercial novels until The Dirty Girls Social Club.

In Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez' delicious new novel-each a Latina in her late 20's -take Los Angeles by storm in Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez' delicious new novel. Marcella, Olivia and Alexis have bonded not only over the trouble with men but about how tough it is to make life work in L.A. no matter what you do. Marcella is a hot young television actress, hardly able to enjoy the life she's bought for herself and certainly not enjoying her body, which is never quite perfect enough. Olivia's boy is her toddler son-and she's tethered to him and to her suburban mommy track so tightly the other girls sometimes cringe. Alexis has a smart mouth and an ample body; she's a beautiful musicians' manager with loads of style but about enough self-esteem to fill a Prada card case. Her complicated love affair with the casually sexy Cuban rapper Goyo is a deeply satisfying romance that will delight readers almost as much as the emotional richness and girly fun of the heroines' friendship.