Coming this winter, my second romantic comedy, HASTA LA VISTA, BABY. It's the story of Sonya Barton, a hardworking, 40-something year-old teacher and muralist, who's married to Earl, a Brad Pitt-handsome man with few scruples. When he announces at a family barbecue that he needs a divorce so he can marry his pregnant girlfriend, Sonya goes berserk and chases him with a BBQ fork. To save their precious golden-boy, his family restrains her and whisks him away. While the soggy hamburgers and hot dogs (that have ended up in the pool) are drying out, Sonya's sister-in-law gives her a sleeping pill to calm her down. Although Earl's younger brother, her only good friend in the Barton family, tries to comfort her, Sonya is too much in denial to realize her marriage had long been dead. It'd just never gotten a proper burial. So how does the worst day of Sonya's life become the best thing that has ever happened to her? What Sonya learns about herself and her choice of men is like a Ph.D in Self-Awareness. She ultimately learns what every woman should ask herself before she says, I do!
I’m excited to announce the debut of my first novel, Operation Familia, a woman’s fiction story with an irrepressible Latina heroine, Dina Salazar. Along the way toward finding her true identity, she confronts her feelings toward THE HATED ONE, an ex-fiance who dumped her to marry another woman but who is now trying to win her back. To complicate things, she struggles against her blue-collar family’s wacky ways and refuses to conform. Always the family rebel, Dina has forged her own unique path, despite her disapproving mother and grandmother. So when Grandma Gomez reveals her long-hidden secrets to Dina and asks for her help, she is tempted to say no. But her Mexican cousins are in danger, on the run and hiding from a drug cartel, and Dina’s grandmother insists that only Dina, the smart one, can rescue them.
Do you have a bookclub? OPERATION FAMILIA is a perfect choice to round out your next selection of books. I'll be speaking to a Rocklin bookclub soon and will share that experience with you! Please contact me if you're interested in OPERATION FAMILIA for your next book.
Reviews & Comments
"Dina is a character that many Latinos can identify with - a woman trying to weave her own place between cultures. Around Dina, Donna Del Oro has done her own weaving: a heady plot...of crime, romance, family conflict and intrigue."
~ Carlos Alcala, Sacramento Bee Columnist
"A delightful, endearing story! You can't help but root for Dina in her journey of self-discovery."
~ Brenda Novak, Nationally bestselling author
"Wonderfully entertaining."
~
Barnes and Noble book reviewer
