Set in Miami Beach, One Hot Summer follows the life of Margarita Maria Santos Silva, a woman bent on making her own decisions in a family that seems to have the future, as well as the rules, neatly laid out for her. After the birth of her son, Margarita is at the end of taking a year off from the stressful legal career she worked so hard to earn. Margarita suddenly faces the daunting task of deciding whether she should go back to work or stay home and dutifully raise her two-year-old son -- the latter being the choice both her overachieving husband, Ariel, and old-fashioned family desperately want her to make.

But when her old law school boyfriend the ultrasuave and handsome Luther Simmonds, shows up out of nowhere, all hell breaks loose. Along with her newly awakened passion, Margarita again understands the empowering warmth of having Luther listen to her needs and desires. She now has twice as many critical decisions to make and only one hot summer in which to make them.

In a laugh-out-loud scenes that make Garcia-Aguilera a master of the comedic narrative, we watch Margartia as she transforms her loss of identity into the shape of her new, powerful self. Watching Margarita deal with her challenges is achingly funny. What's even more savory, and ultimately life-affirming, is how Margarita manages to navigate through career, family, and cultural conflicts while understanding that she can indeed live life on her own terms, and that compromise is the golden road that most people quite often ignore.

I picked up the book expecting a continuing saga of the Lupe Solano series (private investigator in Miami), but soon found that the main character was a different woman, a partner in a Miami law firm. Once I got over that initial disappointment, I was more than pleasantly surprised. The book is about a happily married woman whose former boyfriend arrives in town, and the consternation caused when he tries to get her to leave her husband. The main character is pulled into a quagmire. The BEST part is the ABSOLUTELY SATISFYING ENDING with how she gets herself OUT of this quagmire, in a way that leaves you REALLY admiring the heroine.

Suffice it to say that my turn in our bookclub is coming up, and this is the book I will be choosing ! After reading two books by this author, I plan to read every book of hers that I can get my hands on.


Not worth the hype   July 21, 2003
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I had "One Hot Summer" on my Books to Read list for so long, I bought it ready to enjoy a quick beach read while on vacation. I don't know what I was thinking when I included this book on my list because it wasn't a good beach read. It wasn't a good book for anything.

To summarize, Margarita Solana is a successful lawyer and loving mother that has to decide if she's going back to work after her year of absence ends or if she'll remain a stay-at-home mom to her 3-year-old son. First of all, this woman was rarely at home. She employed a woman that worled as maid, cook and nanny. Margarita drove around Miami in her too-big SUV dining with friends as shallow as her, exploring an affiar with her college boyfriend, and grappling with her overbearing mother and sexist husband. In short, she is a spoiled woman that uses her parents exile from Cuba and her family background as an excuse for every unlikeable quality she has.

The story is supposed to be about Margarita and her life during three months. Instead of sticking to that, the author gets preachy with Cuban American issues, reviews Miami's hot spots, and tries a subplot involving one of Margarita's friends that comes about suddenly, then ends with no explanation.

Summer can't end fast enough.

I didn't hate the book. I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it either. It took me until Vivian, Margarita's friend, broke her news to actually like the book and care how things turned out, but was dissappointed with how the author handled that story. I view it as "poor little rich girl" and had no empathy for anyone except Marti, Margarita's son. He's a little boy that's paid attention to only when his parents feel guilty. How wonderful (typed with great sarcasm).


Not Quite Hot, but nice and warm   July 15, 2003
I picked up this book so I would have somthing to read on the beach, and In that aspect I was not dissaopoinnted. Ms. Garcia is a talented and gifted writer and I enjoyed reading this book, and will continue to read her others. The only problem I found with this book were the constant refrenced to "Cuban Miami" and Miami in general, after the first 20refrences or so, it just got annoying. Also Ms. Garcia tended to talk give long descriptions and backgrounds that were irrelevant to the story and just held up the story line. Other than those issues this is a good read and i recommend it to book lovers everywhere.


One Hot Summer   June 3, 2003
This book is a great read and is very true to South Florida's Cuban culture. The Cuban culture is very rich and often misunderstood by the general American public. The author also lists several local areas that is very heart warming to one who loves Miami.


Not tooooo hot..................   January 5, 2003
I just finished reading this book. As classic fiction goes--it just doesnt measure up. However, this author does show great promise in her portrayal of the people she knows best...........Cuban-Americans. Her humorous depictions often made me laugh out loud, and her vivid depiction of the area and the ocean was actually intoxicating!

The book is a portrayal of a woman at a crossroads--career as a yuppie attorney vs cuban culture of her family, Cuban spouse vs. nor'eastern WASP college lover from her past, childhood friendships vs complex adult relationships.

In my opinion, the book and her characters merely lacked depth. The author knows how to weave a story. It lacked only the substance found in authors with more experience in this sort of novel.

This is an author to watch in the future.