A Little Love

Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction

Medina was called "the Latina Terry McMillan" by one of our reviewers. This "excellent," "wonderful, witty, and poignant" tale of four Latina women living and loving in Miami was generally considered a "good" read. "Perfect for beach or poolside." "Full of fascinating characters - all missing one thing - love." "Medina knows the hearts and souls of these women, and by the end of the book, so will you." Some reviewers warned it "may be a bit daunting for those without much knowledge of Spanish."

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Equipped with more twists and turns than a telenovela, and generously salted with Spanish and Spanglish phrases, this lighthearted debut novel resembles a Hispanic Joy Luck Club crossed with Laverne and Shirley. Four Latina women--Isabel, Julia, Mercy and Lucinda--are close friends. They all live in Miami, and they're all rich and powerful, but not one of them is lucky in love. Since her divorce from a "gringo," Isabel, a Cuban and a perfectionist, has been devoting all her time to her successful engineering career. Julia, a well-known Mexican-American author, is engaged to a dreamboat, but she begins to question her love for him when she meets a lovely female flamenco dancer. Lucinda, a Dominican, has a perfect existence--wealth, beautiful children, and a handsome husband--until she discovers her husband is seeing another woman. Mercy is an ambitious real estate agent who flits from man to man in search of her knight in shining armor. All attractive and intelligent, the women drive expensive cars and wear designer clothing. Except when it comes to love, they're well aware of what they want in their lives and how to get it. On the surface, this is a story about their quests for romance, but the deeper theme concerns roots and power. An awareness of the burgeoning economic power of Latinos, particularly Latinas; the crisscrossing of different Latino cultures in the U.S. without loss of identity; and the unity of Latino families across generational divides--all anchor this buoyant fiction. There are clich d moments but, overall, this is a tart, mischievously funny narrative, clever, warmhearted and true to its richly textured protagonists. (July) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

A Latina Waiting To Exhale with the added richness of cultural and linguistic diversity, this zesty first novel is a winner. Four accomplished Latina women in Miami rely on family and close friendships to work through life's problems. Though one's son is critically injured and another's mother is arrested, the basic problems here come down to men. Cuban American engineer Isabel has been without a man in the four years since her 15-year marriage to an Anglo ended. Her cousin, high-powered realtor Mercy (who adds sizzle to the story), is dumped by voice mail by her latest squeeze. Dominican painter Lucinda, who has always lived a life of privilege, finds her 17-year marriage threatened by her husband's betrayal, while Mexican American Julia can't commit to her longtime lover. Each, of course, will find a little love, if in unlikely quarters. Medina is a skilled storyteller whose prose is brisk and characters well drawn, and though some of the heterosexual love scenes are cloying, the relationship between Julia and Beatriz is remarkably sensuous. Recommended for all public libraries.--Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Internet Book Watch

The four Miami women are close friends, always supporting one another through crisis with men. Each one of them is wealthy, but share in common bad relationships with males. When one of the four Hispanic women is in the dumps, her buddies come to the rescue. Isabel Landon divorced the "gringo" David four years ago. She raises her two teens by herself, buries herself in her engineering job, and still wants to rip out the heart of her former husband except she believes he has none. Real estate agent Mercy Virtudes seemingly loves men and parties. However, all she really wants is one hombre to truly love her forever, a seemingly impossible goal because she never gives anyone, including her fiance enough time to really know her. Lucinda de Colon feels her life is over because she believes her banker husband cheated on her. The elite she once traveled with seems vapid as she looks for a fresh start. Her Mexico diplomat boyfriend wants professor and published author Julia Velasquez to marry him. However, that means giving up a lifestyle she relishes for a love she might want to spend a lifetime with, but then again, might not. A Little Love is a great relationship drama that brings alive the thriving South Florida Hispanic culture. The four women are remarkable charcaters who show the diversity within the community. The story line is entertaining as the clash between assimilation and heritage surfaces through the actions of C.C. Medina's four superb female charcaters.
—Internet Book Watch

Luis Santeiro

C.C. Medina vibrantly captures the juicy paella that is today's Miami.
—(Luis Santeiro, playwright and head writer for Que Pasa, U.S.A.)

Kirkus Reviews

A treatise on love and culture, set against the backdrop of the new, hip Miami, explores the lives of four Latinas. Alternating chapters reveal the four friends, mostly in English and occasionally in Spanish, constantly struggling for happiness in a world of conflicting demands. Isabel, marking four years of celibacy since divorcing her Anglo husband, has retreated into work and raising her two teenaged boys. Her younger cousin Mercy, on the other hand, seems bent on exhausting the Miami market for eligible Cuban men. Meanwhile, their elegant friend Lucinda finds herself suffocating in the mansion and the rigid social life purchased by her husband's Dominican family; and Julia, a successful writer and academic, wavers as to whether she should continue a relationship with her near-perfect boyfriend. Slowly the individual stories proceed, the friends talk about each other and occasionally get together for heart-to-heart conversations regarding the latest development, or just life in general. Fate deals Lucinda the hardest blow when she finds her once loving husband has become an adulterer. She leaves him, but the ties of la familia are harder to break; Lucinda discovers that neither she nor her husband actually owns anything. At the same time, her three friends find love in the making: Isabel is being wooed against all odds (though she resists her unexpected good fortune); Mercy, after finally giving up the husband-hunt to build herself a real-estate empire, then meets her Romeo; and Julia falls in love with a woman—and passion, and life. Though there's plenty of plot, first-novelist Medina focuses on examining relationships as she offers a homey study of four womensimultaneouslybattling and embracing their culture. Solid, well-honed entertainment.