Books I've Read: with Love Echo Park

 

I've always liked books that full immerse you in a specific time or place, and the blurb on this one made me think this was going to be one of those books.

It wasn't.

It's set in Echo Park,  a neighborhood in LA that was once home to the Cuban community.  Now, many of the Cuban families have moved out, taking their businesses with them, or allowing them to be bought by larger companies.

Clary is the granddaughter of one of the original business owners, and one of the few that remains open and thriving in the community.  Having grown up helping in the shop, she's become a talented florist and is being given more and more responsibility for coming up with creative ideas for weddings and other events.

Next door is a bike shop, one of the other neighborhood businesses that's still running.  As long as she can remember, Clary and the bike store owner's son, Emilio, have been at each others' throats.  Emilio is supposed to take over the bike shop once he finishes with school, but in a weak moment, he admits to Clary that he's desperate to escape Echo Park and travel.

With summer vacation ahead of her, Clary expects to spend her time working in the shop, hanging out with her friends and enjoying time with her large extended family.  But just how extended that might become is a bombshell she did not expect to have dropped in her lap.

Clary's summer ends up being spent discovering all she can about the history of Echo Park and its beautiful murals, negotiating a relationship with a sister she never knew she had, and discovering more about Emilio, the boy who's always been next door, but she's never really seen.

I enjoyed all the cultural references in this book and the things that make Clary's Cuban heritage something she's proud of.  Yet, I never really felt like I knew a lot about Echo Park as a neighborhood or what made it special.  I wanted to feel more present in the place and be able to see it through Clary's eyes.  

I think maybe the book tried to cram too much in.  Between the newfound sibling, the shop failing and Clary's attempts to save it, the romance and the very important friendship between Clary and her best friend, there was a lot going on and I feel like the thing the author really wanted to showcase - Echo Park - got a little lost in the mix.

But it was still an enjoyable enough read.  Just not exactly what I'd hoped for.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, this novel follows two Cuban teens in LA’s Echo Park neighborhood who clash over their visions for the future, the secrets between their families…and the sparks flying between them.

Seventeen-year-old Clary is set to inherit her family’s florist shop, La Rosa Blanca—one of the last remnants of the Cuban business district that once thrived in Los Angeles’s Echo Park neighborhood. Clary knows Echo Park is where she’ll leave a legacy, and nothing is more important to her than keeping the area’s unique history alive. Besides Clary’s florist shop, there’s only one other business left founded by Cuban immigrants fleeing Castro’s regime in the sixties and seventies. And Emilio, who’s supposed to take over Avalos Bicycle Works one day, is more flight risk than dependable successor. While others might find Emilio appealing, Clary can see him itching to leave now that he’s graduated, and she’ll never be charmed by a guy who doesn’t care if one more Echo Park business fades away. But then Clary is caught off guard when an unexpected visitor delivers a shocking message from someone she thought she’d left behind. Meanwhile, Emilio realizes leaving home won’t be so easy—and Clary, who has always been next door, is who he confides in. As the summer days unfold, they find there’s something stronger than local history tying them together.