New release: Mama Graciela's Secret, by Mayra Calvani PLUS Goodreads Giveaway

Mamá Graciela’s Secret

Publication date: October 10, 2017

Written by Mayra Calvani

Illustrated by Sheila Fein


MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing

www.maclaren-cochranepublishing.com

36 pages, 3-7 year olds

Reading guide at: www.MayrasSecretBookcase.com

Description:

Mamá Graciela’s TENDER, CRUNCHY, SPICY bacalaítos fritos are the best in town...

Local customers (including stray cats!) come from all over the island to enjoy her secret recipe. But when the Inspector discovers that Mamá secretly caters to so many cats and he threatens to close her tiny restaurant, Mamá must come up with a plan to save it—and all of the animals she loves.

About the author:

Mayra Calvani writes fiction and nonfiction for children and adults and has authored over a dozen books, some of which have won awards. Her children's picture book, Frederico the Mouse Violinist was a finalist in the 2011 International Book Awards; her anthology Latina Authors and Their Muses was a First Place winner at the 2016 International Latino Book Awards; her nonfiction book, The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing, was a Foreword Best Book of the Year winner. Her stories, reviews, interviews and articles have appeared on numerous publications like The Writer, Writer's Journal, Multicultural Review, Bloomsbury Review, and others.

She lives in Belgium with her husband of 30+ years, two wonderful kids, and her three beloved pets. When she's not writing, editing, reading or reviewing, she enjoys walking with her dog, traveling, and spending time with her family. www.MayrasSecretBookcase.com

Connect with the author:

https://www.facebook.com/Author-Mayra-Calvani-162383023775888/

https://twitter.com/mcalvani

https://www.instagram.com/mayracalvani

About the illustrator:

Born in Queens, New York and living in Los Angeles since 1987, Sheila Fein has always been inspired by the changing world around her. Earning her BA in Design from Buffalo State College of New York, her concentration was on drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography. Sheila's education as an artist has taken her everywhere from Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia to Bath University in England. Today, Sheila Fein runs two figurative workshops, Imaginings Sketch in LA and People Sketchers in Thousand Oaks. She has been featured in numerous collections, magazines, books, solo and group exhibitions. Her paintings and drawings reside in public and private collections. Sheila loves to make the imagination of others a reality and has done so through her commissioned Fein Fantasy Portraits and Interactive Paintings. In addition to being a fine artist Sheila works as an illustrator. She just completed the book "Mama Graciela's Secret" for Maclaren-Cochrane Publishing.

Book info:

ISBN:
HC 978-1-365-86153-6

SC 978-1-365-86155-0

ISBN Dyslexic Font Version:

DY HC 978-1-365-86154-3 DY SC 978-1-365-86156-7

**This book also has version printed in the Dyslexic font, the typeface for people with dyslexia. Go to www.dyslexiefont.com to find out more about the typeface.

Suggested Retail Price - 17.99 Hardcover & 13.99 Softcover 40 % Discounted Price – 10.80 Hardcover & 8.40 Softcover

Available through - Ingram - Discount 40% Returnable – Yes

MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing – Discount 40% - Orders@maclaren-cochranepublishing.com Returnable – Yes

Publishing company Contact Info: MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing 1024 Iron Point Rd 100-1478 Folsom CA 95630

916-897-1670

Tannya@Maclaren-cochranepublishing.com www.maclaren-cochranepublishing.com

MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing 620 Buchanan Way, Folsom, CA 95630 916-897-1670 www.maclaren-cochranepublishing.com

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Mama Graciela's Secret

by Mayra Calvani

Giveaway ends December 31, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Book Review: ‘Luck Is Just the Beginning’ by Celeste Leon

Based on a true story, Celeste Leon’s beautifully written debut novel is the story of a young man in 1940s Puerto Rico who wins the lottery, only to realize that, as the title states, luck is just the beginning.

Young Ramon is able to see visions, a gift he inherited from his mother. When he sees a number flash across the sky, he decides to buy a complete lottery ticket. At first, he’s thrilled to have won a fortune, for his plan is to go to college, become a dentist, and make the world a better place by helping the people of his village. But, as it turns out, money changes a lot of things—people’s intentions, expectations, desires—even one self’s, and not always for the better. Now, people approach Ramon because they want something from him, and he starts to doubt everyone, even the girl who claims to love him. Likewise, he starts doing things he later regrets.

This is the era of WWII, and in the midst of it all Ramon tries to face the challenges that threaten to destroy his life, especially a man whose envy has made Ramon his target for revenge. Overnight, all facets of Ramon’s life turn upside down—his dwindling family business, his relationship with Elsie, his dream to go to college in the States. At some point, even the police are after him.

The novel is rich with Puerto Rican flavor and historical details, and Leon writes with simplicity yet profound perception about human nature. Ramon is an endearing, utterly likable character—an honest, good-hearted man who makes mistakes yet rises above them.

Luck is Just the Beginning was honored with a Mariposa award for Best First Book in the 2016 International Latino Book Awards, and was also a finalist in the “Fiction: Multicultural” category of the 2016 International Book Awards.

Read my Blogcritics interview with the author.

Find out more about the book on Amazon or from the author’s website.

This review was originally published in Blogcritics Magazine.

Guest Post by Eleanor Parker Sapia, Author of 'A Decent Woman'

I wrote the first draft of my historical novel, A Decent Woman, as a stay at home Mom in my late forties, while living in Brussels, Belgium with my husband and two children. By that time, I’d been an exhibiting artist for twenty years. A year later, my kids left for university, and I moved back to the United States as a single woman. There was no preparation for this—one day I was married and secure, financially and emotionally. The next day I was separated from my husband and had no real security, no job, and a future I couldn’t see. I immediately went to work and became a full time student while my kids worked on their own degrees. When they graduated and found good jobs, I made a life decision—I quit my job, bought a house in West Virginia, and packed my bags. When I describe that time as jumping off a cliff to save my life, I mean it; that’s what it felt like. But I knew it was the right thing to do. I had a novel to finish.

When I unpacked the manuscript I’d written several years before, I discovered that the story I’d written as a married woman no longer ‘fit me’, nor did it represent the story I needed to tell. As I looked back upon my life post-divorce and pre-publication, I realized all my wonderful, difficult, and challenging life experiences—personal and work-related—were in preparation for writing A Decent Woman; nothing I experienced was wasted.

As I rewrote the story, I filtered bits and pieces through my work experiences as counselor, social worker, refugee case worker, a staff member at a residential treatment center/school, an alternative health practitioner, and exhibiting artist. Stories told by my mother and my maternal grandmother, both born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, about their lives, and especially my grandmother’s stories about her Afro-Caribbean midwife, who caught my mother, two aunts, and my uncle, inspired the character of Ana Belén. Ana became an Afro-Cuban midwife born into slavery, who struggles to survive in male-dominated Puerto Rico. The story felt right.

It was eye-opening to compare the first manuscript with the final version, and I had an aha moment when I realized I could never have breathed the same life into Ana and the women of A Decent Woman—the women of different social classes, white and black, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, if I’d remained safe and secure in the soft cocoon of my married life. By struggling, scrimping, learning to fend for myself, I could finally understand Ana’s plight and her life, well enough to write her story.

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Puerto Rican-born novelist,Eleanor Parker Sapia, was raised in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe. Eleanor’s life experiences as a counselor, alternative health practitioner, a Spanish language social worker, and a refugee case worker inspire her passion for writing. When Eleanor is not writing, she facilitates creativity groups, and is making plans to walk El Camino de Santiago a second time. A Decent Woman is her debut novel. Eleanor is the mother of two adult children, and she lives in West Virginia.

About the Book 

Ponce, Puerto Rico, at the turn of the century: Ana Belén Opaku, an Afro-Cuban born into slavery, is a proud midwife with a tempestuous past. After testifying at an infanticide trial, Ana is forced to reveal a dark secret from her past, but continues to hide an even more sinister one. Pitted against the parish priest, Padre Vicénte, and young Doctór Héctor Rivera, Ana must battle to preserve her twenty-five year career as the only midwife in La Playa.

Serafina is a respectable young widow with two small children, who marries an older wealthy merchant from a distinguished family. A crime against Serafina during her last pregnancy forever bonds her to Ana in an ill-conceived plan to avoid a scandal and preserve Serafina’s honor.

Set against the combustive backdrop of a chauvinistic society, where women are treated as possessions, A Decent Woman is the provocative story of these two women as they battle for their dignity and for love against the pain of betrayal and social change.

Find out more on Amazon.