Sourcebooks Casablanca
February 2022
Teaser
Excerpt
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
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.
Reviews
“Piñeiro (What Happens in Summer) balances swoon-worthy romance with complex family drama in this heartfelt contemporary about love and forgiveness.” Publishers Weekly
“Readers drawn to good romance and family novels will enjoy reading about Jessica and her estranged grandmother from Cuba. For cultural insights as well as the healing of generational rifts, pick up a copy of THE FAMILY SHE NEVER MET. There’s something so refreshing about meeting a family member full of surprises. This is a story to savor.” – Linda Bond, @auntiesbooks
“The Family She Never Met is a story of love and family, and how pain and loss can linger and continue to wound. It is also a story of healing and forgiveness, written by someone who is able to describe the joy and sorrow experienced. Caridad Pinero’s story brings to life a family’s sacrifices and the impacts they have on the generations that follow. Her writing is layered and descriptive, and her characterizations captivating. A wholly fantastic read.” Fedora Chen, BookBub Reviewer
“I really enjoyed this terrific story…three generations of strong women have to find ways to mend the broken fences. And then there is Luis, smoking hot, sizzling, who I couldn’t get enough. It’s a great book, full of history and family drama.” JK, Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer
“Absorbing, romantic, and heartfelt! The Family She Never Met is an uplifting, engaging tale…The prose is vivid and rich. The characters are multi-layered, torn, and sympathetic. And the plot is a well-crafted, heartwarming tale full of mystique, heartbreak, familial drama, secrets, history, culture, hard work, courage, forgiveness, self-discovery, hope, romance, and the struggles faced by Cubans under Castro rule to endure oppression, rebellion, economic instability, and forced exilement.” Zoe CAGB, WBTBBookReviews
Why I wrote The Family She Never Met
I remember what it was like when we came here from Cuba. The “cousins” who would stay with us when they first arrived before going on their way. Parties with friends and the music that would pull me from my bedroom where I was supposed to be sleeping. I’d huddle at the top of the stairs, watching them dance and laugh. So graceful and beautiful. But then sadness and tears would creep in as they reminisced about the Cuba they had left behind and their dreams to one day return.
I remember my fear of being left behind. Because of their political activities, my parents had to escape to avoid imprisonment or worse. They left my sister and me in Cuba with my grandparents. For nearly two years we were separated, first by Castro as punishment and then because we wanted to enter the U.S. legally.
It wasn’t an easy time when we came here. It was such a different place, and we were sometimes not welcome, but we were free, and America truly is the land of opportunity. My parents and grandparents worked hard to secure the American Dream. My grandfather even lied about his age so he could get a job. At sixty-five he should have been thinking about retirement. Instead, he worked at an airport maintenance service to help put food on the table and a roof over our heads.
There were many other stories about our escape from Cuba and achieving our American Dream. For years I tried to find a way to write about those and to also explore the rediscovery of my Cubanidad after my daughter was born and I wondered what I would leave of myself to her.
Every time I started to write I found myself pulling back because it was oftentimes too emotional to explore that history and my feelings, especially about a mother who didn’t want to talk about Cuba because it was too painful for her.
In truth, although there were many memories and stories that came to me while she was alive, there were almost as many others that were gifted to me by family and friends after her death.
When the thought came to me about writing a story about a young woman who knew little about her family’s history, I asked myself, “Why not tell your family’s story through her? Why not leave your daughter these memories for her to share with her little ones?”
Before I knew it, the emotions and memories that had been trapped in my heart became freely flowing words through the fictional characters of Lara, Jessica, and Carmen (after my mother).
The Family She Never Met is mi familia. It is a story of a family that experienced the Cuban diaspora and a loss that remains with us to this day. It is a story of survival and family ties. Of hurt and separation, but more importantly, of setting aside the past and its ghosts to forge our future.
For me, it is also about honoring my mother and her courage in bringing her family to the United States and the sacrifices she made so that we could secure the American Dream. It is also about paying homage to my fellow Cubans, my husband’s Italian family, and so many other immigrants who have come to America for a better life.
Finally, it is about thanking America and its people for all that they have provided to so many for so long.
It is my hope that when you read The Family She Never Met you will see yourself and your family on the pages because the story it tells is a universal one, but more importantly, it is a story filled with hope and the power of love.
What Isn’t a Real Part of My Family’s Story
My father was not like Carlos, Carmen’s husband in the story. Military man Carlos is a fictional character used to help readers understand a little more about the Bay of Pigs and the survivors of that failed campaign.
While my family achieved its own version of the American Dream, Carmen becoming a multi-millionaire and how she accomplished it is a fictional part of the story.
My mother and I were not estranged. My mother was a very important part of my life and I lost her way too soon. But it is true that there are many things that my mother did not share about Cuba with me. I hope if she were alive to read this book, she would enjoy it and be proud of what I’ve accomplished.
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.”