The Dirty Girls Social Club

Alisa Valdés-Rodríguez's vibrant, can't-put-it-down novel of six friends--each one an unforgettable Latina woman in her late '20s--and the complications and triumphs in their lives Inseparable since their days at Boston University almost ten years before, six friends form the Dirty Girls Social Club, a mutual support and (mostly) admiration society that no matter what happens to each of them (and a lot does), meets regularly to dish, dine and compare notes on the bumpy course of life and love. Las sucias are: --Lauren, the resident "caliente" columnist for the local paper, which advertises her work with the line "her casa is su casa, Boston," but whose own home life has recently involved hiding in her boyfriend's closet to catch him in the act --Sara, the perfect wife and mother who always knew exactly the life she wanted and got it, right down to the McMansion in the suburbs and two boisterious boys, but who is paying a hefty price --Amber, the most idealistic and artistic member of the club, who was raised a valley girl without a word of Spanish and whose increasing attachment to her Mexica roots coincides with a major record label's interest in her rock 'n' roll --Elizabeth, the stunning black Latina whose high profile job as a morning television anchor conflicts with her intensely private personal life, which would explain why the dates the other dirty girls set her up on never work out --Rebecca, intense and highly controlled, who flawlessly runs Ella, the magazine she created for Latinas, but who can't explain why she didn't understand the man she married and now doesn't even share a room with; and --Usnavys, irrepressible and larger than life, whose agenda to land the kind of man who can keep her in Manolo Blahniks and platanos almost prevents her seeing true love when it lands in her lap. There's a lot of catching up to do.

Rich with sex, fun, and friendship, "Dirty Girls on Top" returns to the winning territory of Valdes-Rodriguez's first and most popular novel, "The Dirty Girls Social Club."

The bestselling author of The Dirty Girls Social Club returns with an engrossing memoir about how falling in love with a sexy cowboy turned her feminist beliefs upside down. Feminism was a religion in Alisa Valdes’s childhood home. Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem took the place of Barbies and left Valdes impressed with a feminist ideology that guided a prolific writing career—at twenty-two Valdes was named one of the top feminist writers under thirty by the editor of Ms Magazine. Yet despite her professional success, Valdes hit forty-two a single mom and a serial dater of inadequate men in tweed jackets—until she met the Cowboy. A conservative rancher, the Cowboy held the traditional views on gender roles that Valdes was raised to reject. Yet as she falls head-over-spurs for him and their relationship finds harmony, she finds the strength, peace, and happiness that comes from embracing her femininity. From their first date the Cowboy makes her pulse race, and she discovers that “when men… act like men rather than like emasculated boys, you as a woman will find not only great pleasure in submitting to them but also great growth as a person.” Told with plenty of humor and candor, The Feminist and the Cowboy will delight the many readers who made The Pioneer Woman a bestseller—not to mention every woman who dreams of being swept away by a rugged cowboy.

From the first day at her new Southern California high school, Pasquala Rumalda Quintana de Archuleta ("Paski") learns that the popular students may be diverse in ethnicity but are alike in their cruelty. While Paski tries to concentrate on mountain biking and not thinking too much about ultra-hot Chris Cabrera, she is troubled by the beautiful and wicked Jessica Nguyen. Jessica is the queen of the haters and she's got her eye on Paski.

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling series The Clique comes Lisi Harrison's debut adult novel about four modern-day strangers who inherit a dirty book club that was started in the 1960s. M.J. Stark's life is picture-perfect—she has a dream job as a magazine editor, a sexy doctor boyfriend, and a glamorous life in Manhattan. But behind her success, she can't shake a deep sense of loneliness, so when her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she decides to give it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to fend for herself in a small California beach town, with only the company of her elderly neighbor, Gloria. One day M.J. receives a mysterious invitation and a copy of Prim: A Modern Woman's Guide to Manners. She recognizes the book as an outdated classic, but when she opens it, she discovers that it's actually a copy of Fear of Flying by Erica Jong and the invitation is to join Gloria's secret book club—one that only reads erotic books. Out of curiosity, M.J. goes to the meeting at a local bookstore, and discovers three other women who have also been selected by the club's original members—who have suddenly left the country to honor a fifty-year-old pact. As these unlikely friends bond over naughty bestsellers, each woman shares not only the intimate details of her own sex life, but all areas of her life. Inspired by the characters in the novels they read—and the notes passed down by the club's original members—the new members of The Dirty Book Club help each other find the courage to rewrite their own stories and risk it all for a happy ending.

Why does Vanessa keep falling for married men? Not that she knows she does. At least not at first. But every man who seems like he might be the one turns out to be someone else's. So maybe the right thing to do is take a vow to stay single, to keep away from all men, until she can figure things out. At least work is a bright spot: It's an anchor to be so good at something, to lose yourself in your job, and Vanessa is a whiz of a chef, so good she makes her grandstanding boss, Hawk—of Albuquerque's chic Nuevo American restaurant hawk—look good. After all, it's his name on the awning above the door. If only her friends and family would get on board with Vanessa's plan and stop trying to fix her up. If she can't fix her life, nobody else is going to get the chance to try—not her parents, not her friends, and certainly not her ultra-well-meaning but just-not-getting-it sister, Larissa. And nothing could be more with the plan than helping out at her parents' house—gardening, keeping them fed, getting them organized with her loyal pet Red Dog by her side. Red Dog is all the companionship she needs. Until Vanessa meets Paul, her parents' neighbor—he's all wrong on paper, but he's got great manners and certainly seems safe. Not bad in the kissing department, either. But just when Vanessa's guard goes down, the red flag goes up: Could Paul be yet another married man? Bursting with Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's trademark wit and originality, The Husband Habit introduces a rich and complex heroine in chef Vanessa. You're not going to want to leave her world when the novel comes to an end.

The "him" in Make Him Look Good is Ricky Biscayne, sexy Latin singing sensation who has taken the pop world by storm. But it takes more than swiveling hips and dreamy eyes to get to the top of the charts. The women who orbit Ricky are: -- Milan, Ricky's new publicist, and her sister Geneva whose Club G promises to have Miami's hottest opening ever -- Jill Sanchez, a media-manic Latina star who has crossed over from CDs to perfume, clothes and movies -- Jasminka, Ricky's gorgeous Croatian model wife -- Irene, a firefighter whose high school romance with Ricky was the last love in her life, eking out an existence for herself and her daughter Sophia, who is beginning to suspect that she and Ricky Biscayne look a little too much alike With several satisfying romances set against Miami's music, club and modeling scenes, Make Him Look Goodis irresistible fiction from one of America's most original voices.

Every woman who joined the book club expected to expand their literary horizons. But when they stop reading the classics and start exploring the steamy side of fiction, they discover just how much fun reading can be… When the book club makes their first erotic selection The Sexual Education of Lady Emma Whitehead, marketing executive Georgia Malone is surprised to find herself identifying with the main character. Like Emma, Georgia is a widow who has never truly experienced the joys of sex. But when she meets the spokesman for her newest campaign, Georgia’s long-buried libido is awakened. Hockey star Woody Hanrahan is charming and cocky—the sort of man Georgia usually avoids. But while her mind is saying stay away, Georgia’s body is telling her to give in every time Woody comes near. Now as her book club explores the tantalizing extremes of fiction, Georgia is experiencing first hand, and for the first time, the real pleasures of the flesh, and fulfilling the desires that—chapter by chapter—are getting delightfully dirty. Woody is hers to command in a hundred deliciously wicked ways, but when it comes to writing her own happy ending, this dirty girl doesn’t just need his body—she wants his heart.