Los Morenos

Los Morenos
Shelley Halima

(4.5/5)

I had this book on my amazon.com wish list for soo long so I finally broke down and bought it. This book is a sequel to Azucar Moreno, in my opinion the second book sounded more interesting to me at the time (and with a limited budget) I decided to read them out of order.

I didn’t feel lost at all by skipping the first part and enjoyed the book. Rosie and Nikki are cousins who grew up together and are more likes sisters than just cousins. Nikki married and living in L.A. invites her cousin Rosie out to pursue her dreams and leave behind her stripping job. Rosie comes to L.A. and soaks up her new environment and the Hollywood lifestyle and both cousins began and roller coaster ride that takes them through the highs and lows of success. The book alternates between Rosie and Nikki, so you get to know and love them both. I honestly didn’t even have a favorite character- the felt like they were both my girls.

I liked how there a little Latina/Afro-Latina flavor in this book. There aren’t too many books that incorporate the afro-Latino heritage, especially as well as Ms. Halima does. The message in this book was pretty good too- about being you and she dealt with some pretty real and important issues, and she doesn’t handle them too lightly or too heavily. One note- there are parts of this book that are a little –“wild” & “erotic”. So be warned, if you are “conservative”, you might one to skip over a few pages (this doesn’t take away from the book and it’s not about sex or anything like Zane, however when Shelley gets down- she gets down).

Verdict: Great Coming of Age Novel- recommended. I am looking forward to more books by Ms. Halima