Sweet Mary is a great first novel. The protagonist, Mary Guevara, has created a very successful life as a real estate agent, and has just closed a multi-million dollar sale when she is mistaken for a drug dealer also named Mary. She is jailed and her ex-husband takes the opportunity to try to take full custody of their young son. Mary decides to clear her name and get her life back, but along the way, she discovers that putting things back the way they were may not after all be her heart's desire. The characters are fun - there is Mary's pal Gina, who is skilled with guns and martial arts. And there is Bad Mary, who turns out to be more of a domestic abuse victim than a drug dealer, and has a child of her own and an addiction to crafting and scrapbooking. This is a quirky, wildly action-packed novel that will draw you in and keep you interested until the last page. -- TJS

It was bound to happen. The odds are high that I was going to eventually read books which did not move me. I've been on such a great reading streak lately that I knew it couldn't last. If I had any doubts, Sweet Mary definitely broke that streak.

This book just did not do anything for me. There was very little in the way of character development. The plot unfolded predictably and was rather lackluster in the suspense area. At no point in time did I feel concern for Mary. In fact, her vigilante role confused me while I was rolling my eyes at the improbability of it all. I felt that Ms. Balmaseda threw plot devices into the story as they were convenient and not because they were planned or helped improve the storyline.

In addition, each major section begins with stage directions. This bothered me to no end. I expect stage directions when reading a play, not a novel. They were distracting and kept me from being able to immerse myself into the story. I also struggled with the narrator's voice. Not only would the narrator give away future events in the midst of a tension-filled scene, I feel that the narrator never really found a voice. At times, she was omniscient, and at other times, she was as in the dark as the reader. Again, it was distracting and detracted from the overall story.

One last gripe I had is about the overall language. It was trite and overly simplistic. I could see where Ms. Balmaseda was trying for beautiful, vivid descriptions, and she just fell flat. Actually, that is a great word to describe the entire book - flat. It was completely devoid of any emotion, beauty, and believable story.



I wanted to like this book. I really did. The premise was definitely intriguing, which is why I requested it from Shelf Awareness. I like suspense, and I like wronged women taking matters into their own hands. I really like strong female characters. Unfortunately, the suspense was lacking, if nonexistent, the way the wronged woman took matters into her own hands had me rolling my eyes in disbelief, and the main female character was not as strong as I wanted her to be. I found myself reading the book just to finish it, not because I cared about what was happening. It's a disappointing end to something I was anticipating.

Thank you to Atria Books and Shelf Awareness for the review copy of this book! ( )

I'm not sure what book the people whose quotes are on the cover read, but I didn't find anything 'hot and steamy' about this one. It's a good concept, but it felt too easy - there wasn't really any suspense. Any time Mary goes looking for a clue, she finds it - it doesn't feel like there's ever any real danger.

As I read, I thought it should be filed in 'fantasy' because the main character being able to so easily track down a drug trafficker when the DEA couldn't just didn't feel right. I was surprised to find out in the acknowledgments that it is based on a true story. Maybe the truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.

It was easy to read...not terrible technique or anything, although at times you could tell Balmaseda was more reporter than novelist. Still, I wanted some intrigue and suspense and never found it. Even some deeper thought into the feelings of the main character, Mary. She goes through a big transition, but it's too often just stated as "I was a changed woman." Yeah, but how had she changed and how did it really feel? The basics are there through the story, but there's no real psychological aspect that really could have been developed more.

It might have done better as a movie, to be honest...too bad that didn't happen. Or, maybe as a non-fiction account of what really happened....it just wasn't that exciting the way Balmaseda wrote it. ( )

After Liz Balmaseda won two Pulitzer Prizes, she gives us a female centered detective novel in Sweet Mary. A single mother, the titled Dulce Maria, Mary for short, is arrested. The victim of an improbable case of mistaken identity, Mary is fingered as a drug queen. The false charges ruin her life, so Mary decides to do what the DEA couldn’t—take down the criminal herself. With a little help from her friends, one of which is a sexy past love interest, Mary embarks on a series of schemes to reclaim her good reputation.

It’s kind of a given that Balmaseda is a good writer, so it isn’t a surprise that the writing is good. The characters are also surprising layered for the genre. Even the bad guys are complex, and are given sufficient back story. Balmaseda also used restraint with the action sequences which keeps this story from entirely going over the top.

That said, the plot itself consists of coincidences and implausible leaps. Balmaseda also can’t resist the bumbling law enforcement clichés which adds the story’s stale feel. Each chapter opening up with a description of the scene is also irritating as if Balmaseda was already thinking movie. The pacing seems to fall flat in the second half of the novel where Mary bumps into leads cushioned by saccharine sweet interludes. I expected more. ( )

Dulce Maria (Sweet Mary) Guevara had a good life. Not a perfect life, not one without some problems. Sharing custody of her son with a less than cooperative ex-husband, having to deal with slightly goofy Cuban parents and her deadbeat brother caused some issues, but she was successful in her South Florida real estate career and had her best friend and co-worker Gina, watching her back. That is, until the morning when the worst week of her life began.

DEA agents break into her house, arrest her and lead her out in handcuffs as her son cries and her neighbors gather to watch the spectacle. She is accused of being a high ranked drug dealer, an accusation that takes her and her lawyer more than a week to prove is a case of mistaken identity. She is released but a cloud of suspicion remains in the minds of many. Her ex-husband has been awarded full custody of their son while she was in jail and it seemed her boss does not feel she should return to her old job right now...or maybe ever. In other words, her life as she knew it is falling apart and the only way she can see to getting it back to the way it was is to find the real fugitive and totally clear her name. And the only person she knows that may be able to help her on her quest is her bad boy ex-fiancé Joe Pratts. His ties to certain criminal elements was the reason he became her ex-fiancé but those same connections may now hold the key to helping her restore her life.

Sweet Mary is a very well written book, as one might expect from a two time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, with some very good characters and a setting that just comes alive. It's also a very visual book, betraying it's beginnings as a potential screenplay and you may find yourself wishing you had one of Mary's favorite Mango Sours to drink as you set off on this fast paced, entertaining romp with a lively cast. At times this debut novel is very funny, at times quite touching but always with emotions that ring true.

To a degree, “Sweet Mary” puts me in mind of the best stories in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Trade Italian-American Trenton, NJ for Cuban-American South Florida, take one sassy heroine, add a 'take no hostages' female sidekick, a family that will drive you crazy one minute and tear out your heart the next and top it all off with a handsome bad boy love interest and you have all the elements for a very entertaining read. I certainly hope this will not be the last we see of Gina and Joe, Lilia and Herminio Guevara and most of all Sweet Mary. ( )