Hispanic Heritage Month

1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town-- until it isn't. By 1998 Anita's name has been all but forgotten, and certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student, is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved for them, Rachel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret. But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita's story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist. Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last, is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.

Sisters Matilde, Pastora, Camila, and Flor thought they knew each other well, until Flor--inspired by a documentary her daughter Ona made her watch--decides she wants a living wake, a party to bring her family and community together and celebrate the long life she's led, while she's still around to enjoy it. She's not ill, as far as anybody knows, but Flor does have a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. Has she foreseen her own death, or someone else's, or does she have other motives? She refuses to say. But Flor isn't the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for decades to cover the extent of her husband's infidelity, but she now must confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora is typically the most reserved sister, but Flor's wake motivates this driven woman to attempt to solve her sibling's problems. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own: Yadi, reuniting with her first love, who was imprisoned when they were both still kids; and Ona, married for years and attempting to conceive. Ona must decide whether it's worth it to keep trying-in having a child, and in the anthropology research that's begun to feel lackluster. Spanning the three days prior to the wake, FAMILY LORE traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, the Dominican Republic and New York City.

Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat. People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

But there's one person who's always in Charlie's corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing--he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her?

A sensitive, funny, and painfully honest coming-of-age story with a wry voice, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.

Seventeen-year-old Marisol and her little sister Gabi are detainees of the United States Government. Fleeing the gang that killed her older brother in El Salvador and consumed by her guilt over his death, Marisol will do anything to keep Gabi safe--including consenting to an experimental procedure. For the chance to stay in the United States, Marisol becomes a grief keeper, taking the grief of strangers into her body, relieving them of their pain as she lives through it. Although Marisol agrees to risk her own health and mental well-being, she never imagined that one of the risks would be falling in love. Her shared connection with a troubled but beautiful teenage girl erupts into a powerful love that just might be enough to save each of them from their crushing grief.

The story of a young girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago. Capturing her thoughts and emotions in poems and stories, she is able to rise above hopelessness and create a quiet space for herself in the midst of her oppressive surroundings.

This historical fiction recounts the story of the Mirabal sisters—Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa—who were assassinated by the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic for their opposition to the dictatorship. The novel, which also features the surviving sister, Dedé, explores themes of courage, resistance, and the impact of political oppression through the interwoven narratives of the four sisters.

Mike Muñoz is a young Mexican American not too many years out of high school--and just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew. Though he tries time and again to get his foot on the first rung of that ladder to success, he can't seem to get a break. But then things start to change for Mike, and after a raucous, jarring, and challenging trip, he finds he can finally see the future and his place in it.

Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico blends poignant romance, bittersweet wit, and delicious recipes. This classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother's womb, her daughter to be weeps so violently she causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef, using cooking to express herself and sharing recipes with readers along the way.

Glamorous socialite Noemí Taboada's life of parties and entertainment is interrupted when she receives a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin, who is begging to be rescued from a mysterious doom. Noemí immediately heads to High Place, an estate in the mountains of Mexico owned by the secluded Doyle family, determined to discover what is troubling her beloved cousin. The fortunes of the silver-mining Doyles have eroded and their house is a dilapidated relic. Even more worrisome are the inhabitants of High Place. There's the alluring yet menacing new husband, his foreboding father, and other taciturn relatives. Soon the house itself begins invading Noemi's dreams with visions of blood and doom. She must read carefully, for there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place, and Noemí may soon find it impossible to leave this enigmatic house behind...

Now We Will Be Happy is a prize-winning collection of stories about Afro-Puerto Ricans, U.S.-mainland-born Puerto Ricans, and displaced native Puerto Ricans who are living between spaces while attempting to navigate the unique culture that defines their identity. Amina Gautier's characters deal with the difficulties of bicultural identities in a world that wants them to choose only one. The characters in Now We Will Be Happy are as unpredictable as they are human. A teenage boy leaves home in search of the mother he hasn't seen since childhood; a granddaughter is sent across the ocean to broker peace between her relatives; a widow seeks to die by hurricane; a married woman takes a bathtub voyage with her lover; a proprietress who is the glue that binds her neighborhood cannot hold on to her own son; a displaced wife develops a strange addiction to candles. Crossing boundaries of comfort, culture, language, race, and tradition in unexpected ways, these characters struggle valiantly and doggedly to reconcile their fantasies of happiness with the realities of their existence.

Rolando's job was crushing his soul... and then it crushed his hand. Now he can barely get out of the house, marathoning TV and struggling to find meaning. Nera is a restless spirit who loves to taste everything life can offer, but sleeps in a broken-down food truck and can't see a way to make her dreams come true. When their paths cross at a raucous rock show, the magical night seems to last forever. Together they throw caution to the wind, fix up the truck, and hit the road for a wild adventure of biker gangs, secret herbs, mystical visions, and endless possibilities. But have they truly found the spice of life? Or has Rolando bitten off more than he can chew? Onion Skin became a sensation in its native land for its twisty narrative, captivating characters, thrilling action, and delicious artwork.

It's 1937. Naomi Vargas is Mexican American. Wash Fuller is Black. These teens know the town's divisive racism-- and the potential consequences of defying "the rules"--Better than anyone. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. Can their love survive both prejudice and tragedy? Race, romance, family-- and the real-life New London school explosion-- converge in this riveting novel that transplants Romeo and Juliet to a bitterly segregated Texas town. On March 18, 1937, a natural gas leak caused an explosion and destroyed the combined junior-senior high school in the small East Texas town of New London, killing approximately 294 students and teachers.

Mónica Campo is pregnant with her first child when, moments before being wheeled into emergency heart surgery, her mother confesses a long-held secret: Mónica’s father is not the man who raised her. But when her mother wakes up and begins having delusional episodes, Mónica doesn’t know what to believe—whether the confession was real or just a channeling of the telenovela her mother watches nightly. In her despair, Mónica wants to speak with only one person: her ex-boyfriend of five years, Manny. She can’t help but worry, though, what this says about her relationship with her fiancé and father of her unborn child. Mónica’s search for the truth leads her to a new understanding of the past—the early ’80s, when her parents arrived from Cuba on the famous Mariel boatlift, and the tumultuous ’70s, a decade after Castro’s takeover, when some people were still secretly fighting his regime—people like her mother and the man she claims is Mónica’s real father." -- Provided by publisher
"A Cuban American family is sent into a tailspin when the ailing matriarch confesses the first of several shocking secrets to her daughter before undergoing heart surgery in this tender and twisty debut novel.

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They're going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they're both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There's an app for that. It's called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure--to live a lifetime in a single day.

Javier Perez is a hustler from a family of hustlers. He learns from an early age how to play the game to his own advantage, how his background—murdered drug dealer dad, single cash-strapped mom, best friend serving time for gang activity—can be a key to doors he didn’t even know existed. This kind of story, molded in the right way, is just what college admissions committees are looking for, and a full academic scholarship to a prestigious university brings Javi one step closer to his dream of becoming a famous writer. As a college student, Javi embellishes his life story until there’s not even a kernel of truth left. The only real connection to his past is the occasional letter he trades with his childhood best friend, Gio, who doesn’t seem to care about Javi’s newfound awareness of white privilege or the school-to-prison pipeline. Soon after Javi graduates, a viral essay transforms him from a writer on the rise to a journalist at a legendary magazine where the editors applaud his “unique perspective.” But Gio more than anyone knows who Javi really is, and sees through his game. Once Gio’s released from prison and Javi offers to cut him in on the deal, will he play along with Javi’s charade, or will it all come crumbling down?

1890: When Desiderya Lopez, The Sleepy Prophet, finds an abandoned infant on the banks of an arroyo, she recognizes something in his spirit and brings him home. Pidre will go on to become a famous showman in the Anglo West whose main act, Simodecea, is Pidre's fearless, sharpshooting wife, who wrangles bears as part of his show. 1935: Luz "Little Light" Lopez and her brother Diego work the carnival circuit in downtown Denver. Luz, is a tea leaf reader, and Diego is a snake charmer. One day, a pale-faced woman in white fur asks Luz for a reading, calling her by a name that only her brother knows. Later that night at a party downtown, Luz sees Diego dancing with this pale-faced woman, which results in a brawl with the local white supremacist group. Diego leaves town for cover and Luz is left trying to get justice for her brother and family. Merging two multi-generational storylines in Colorado, this is a novel of family love, secrets, and survival. With Fajardo-Anstine's immense capacity to render characters and paint vivid life, set against the Sange de Cristo mountians, Woman of Light is full of the weight, richness, and complexities of mixed blood and mica clay. It delights like an Old Western, and inspires the hope embedded in histories yet-told.