I can’t wait to share more with you about The Family She Never Met, my upcoming February release from Casablanca Sourcebooks. As I’ve mentioned before, this book is especially close to my heart because I’ve weaved many of my family’s real-life stories into this novel about three generations of women whose lives are separated by the past and who must find a way to come together for the future. The matriarch in the book, Carmen, is named after my mom (and my sis). So are a number of other characters in the book and I’ll be sharing more about those characters and their real histories soon! For now, here’s a teaser and excerpt for you!

Teaser

Between two worlds, between love and loss, she finally finds her way home.

Jessica Russo knows nothing about her mother’s family or her Cuban culture. Every time she’s asked about it, her mother has shut down. But when the Cuban grandmother she’s never met sends her right-hand man, Luis, to offer Jessica the chance to come to Miami and meet her estranged family, she can’t help but say yes, even as she knows it will pain her mother.

The woman that Jessica meets is nothing like what she expected. Her grandmother is successful, intelligent, determined, and all too willing to take blame for what has happened to cause the estrangement, and, more importantly, to try and set things right. As Jessica spends time with her grandmother in her beautiful island home, she learns about her family’s history and what caused the schism between her mother and grandmother.

As days with her grandmother turn to weeks, Jessica is determined to find a way to heal her fractured family. And in the end, Jessica might just learn something about herself and what it means to embrace the many facets of her identity.

Excerpt

Chapter One

“I know you think I’m crazy to ask this of you, Mi’jo.”

Luis Torres examined the features of the elegant woman seated across from him in the shade of the large market umbrella. While outwardly calm, he couldn’t fail to see the slight lines of tension on skin that was surprisingly smooth for an eighty-three-year-old. He also knew that she was anything but crazy. Stubborn, intelligent, determined, and loving: But never ever crazy.

“I appreciate how important this is for you, Carmen,” he began, but she cut him off with an imperious slash of a bejeweled hand. Gold bangles danced musically on her thin wrist with the movement.

“I don’t think you do, Luis,” she said with a determined tilt of her head, her green-eyed gaze pure steel as it locked with his.

In the years that he had known the older woman, he had carried out many assignments for her, but he sensed none were as important as this one. Sadly, he also recognized that whether he succeeded or failed, there was the possibility that Carmen would pay for it with incredible pain. He loved her too much to allow that to occur.

“Viejita,” he began with affection and covered her hand with his as it rested on the wrought iron table before him. “Have you thought about what will happen if she comes and it turns into–”

“A hot mess? Is that what you would call it?” she said with an indulgent smile and playfully smacked his hand to try and alleviate his concern. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” she added in a tone which brooked no disagreement.

But am I willing to take that risk? Luis thought. He remained silent as Carmen’s majordomo approached the patio table, wheeling a tray with covered dishes, crystal wine glasses, and a pitcher of white sangria swimming with slices of citrus and berries.

“I hope you don’t mind that I asked Manny to prepare lunch for us. Gracias, Manny,” Carmen said and peered at Luis, almost daring him to refuse with a pointed lift of a perfectly shaped brow. He was beyond tempted to refuse. Lunch was just a ploy for Carmen to continue pressing him to undertake what he thought was a fool’s errand.

He wasn’t wrong. As soon as Manny had finished serving them a delicately prepared lobster salad and filled their glasses to the brim with sangria, Carmen resumed their earlier discussion.

“I’m asking you to do this as a personal favor. I have my reasons,” she began as she speared some of the lobster.

“You’re okay, verdad?” he asked, worried she was keeping something important from him, like a health scare.

“I’m fine. No te preocupes,” she said and met his gaze directly, relieving some of his worry.

Luis stared past her and the carefully manicured lawn to the waters beyond Star Island and the skyline of South Beach in the distance. Sun shimmered on the calm waters of Biscayne Bay while a soft breeze teased the fronds of the palm trees along the edges of the multi-million-dollar property, a testament to Carmen’s fortitude and her belief in the American Dream. A dream she had selflessly shared with others like him and his family. It was what made it so hard for him to reject her request.

Peering back in her direction, he couldn’t deny that as vibrant and dynamic as she still was, Carmen was no longer the woman he remembered meeting as a young boy. Her luscious thick black hair was now a shock of carefully coiffed white. What had once been voluptuous Cuban curves had thinned with age, and that indomitable energy that had so captured his attention had ebbed somewhat. It was part of the reason why over the years she had turned over more and more of her duties to her daughters, grandchildren, and him, of course. As president of Guerreiro Enterprises, she had come to rely on him for so much, but this request….

“What if I go and she says no?” It was a very real possibility considering that they’d had no contact with that part of the family in over thirty years.

Carmen chided him with a shake of her head and chuckled softly. “Mi’jo, por favor. I know how persuasive you can be.”

He couldn’t refute that. But his logical side told him to rebuff Carmen’s request. If it did become an epic fail it could only bring her a world of hurt. His emotional side, however, understood only too well what it was like to be missing a piece of yourself. Since the day his family had fled Cuba during the Mariel boatlift, they’d longed for the island they’d left behind. Like so many exiled Cubans, they’d passed that yearning onto their children, but it was a hopeless dream, unlike Carmen’s very real wish. A wish that he could help fulfill for a woman who’d given so many so much.

Picking up his glass of white sangria, he raised it in a toast and said, “Here’s to being persuasive.”

Carmen smiled, raised her glass, and clinked it against his. “I knew you would do it.”

A sharp laugh burst from him, and he dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Of course you did, Viejita. You were the one who taught me, after all.”

Order

Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/3tPQ7Xx
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3bonSZN
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-family-she-never-met/id1568775092
BN Nook: http://bit.ly/BarnesandNobleFamily
BN Paperback: http://bit.ly/BarnesandNovelPaperback
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-family-she-never-met
Additional Retailers: https://books2read.com/FamilySheNeverMet