Revisiting las Sucias!

I just finished reading Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez' book Dirty Girls On Top last night for The Random Reading Challenge. A sequel to The Dirty Girls Social Club, this book is filled with familiar characters and continued story lines. However, what the first book did (crown Valdes-Rodriguez the creator of chica lit and provide readers with a glimpse into the lives of young Latina women) this second book did not do. In my opinion, Valdes-Rodriguez should have left the sucias behind in her debut novel instead of bringing them out again. In Dirty Girls, the storylines are cliched, the sucias are caricatures of stereotypical Latina women and the writing is simply bad. There is just too much happening in the book: adultery, difficult pregnancies, may-december romance, bulimia, alcoholism, domestic abuse, and death. I would be okay with all of these issues being dealt with, if the writing was good and if the characters were not neglected from time to time ( I think Valdes-Rodriguez forgets about certain sucias when she is focusing on specific issues, which is fine, except that by the time she brings them back you have already lost interest in their storyline- ugh!) All in all, a disappointing read. In fact all I can write about this book is that I am happy I finished reading it, because that means that I can cross off one more book from my list of books to be read for challenges. Oh well, on to the next book! Happy Reading!!