Free Style is Empowering Latinas While Making Them Laugh Out Loud

In Linda Nieves-Powell's smart, riotous, and relevant debut novel, two thirty-something moms decide to drop their to-do lists and revisit their dance club past -- with unexpected results. Available at bookstores nationwide and on Amazon.com.

(PRWEB) April 20, 2008 -- In Linda Nieves-Powell's smart, riotous, and relevant debut novel, two thirty-something moms decide to drop their to-do lists and revisit their dance club past -- with unexpected results!

Have you ever dreamed of escaping your hectic life and going back to a time in your youth when everything seemed so simple? Do you remember the days when your biggest worry was where you were going that night, and what you were going to wear?

This is just one of the themes award-winning writer/director/producer Linda Nieves-Powell delves into in her edgy, fresh, and laugh-out-loud funny, debut novel, Free Style (Atria Books; $14.00; March 2008).

Inspired by an adult exchange Nieves-Powell had with a childhood friend, Free Style is a book about the past, and how to let it go. Using her trademark fresh dialogue and dynamic characters, Nieves-Powell plumbs the depths of serious issues, while wrapping them up in a brash and bold, utterly refreshing, tale.

Idalis Rivera is tired. She's tired of fighting with her estranged husband and being a good mother to her six-year-old son. She's tired of using her first-grade art skills instead of her brain at the New York City advertising agency where she works, and she's tired of not knowing what she wants to do with her life. She longs for the simple days when her biggest worry was deciding what she was going to wear to CLUB 90, the bastion of early 90s pop culture. And if she was stressed from fighting with her mother or boyfriend, she'd just chase away her troubles by dancing the night away.

Idalis' childhood friend, Selenis, is in the same boat. The mother of three -- with a husband who seems to be addicted to computer porn -- she feels burdened by caring for everybody else. All day long she looks after her children, cleans the house, and makes meals. She also eats Oreos and ice cream to chase away her sadness.

Idalis and Selenis just want to enjoy the fun moments in life, like they did back in the day. But more than having fun, they long to be fun. They need to find "them" again. So they plan an escape. In an impetuous move, they decide to revisit CLUB 90 and forget their everyday lives -- if only for a little while. Idalis and Selenis leave suburbia behind, and begin a series of adventures that takes them back to their youth, and teaches them both some valuable lessons.

Among the things they learn is the value of friendship, the fragility of life, that it's important to make your own choices, and to follow your dreams. But most importantly, sometimes it's best to leave the past where it is...

Entertaining, irreverent, and absolutely pertinent in today's world, Free Style launches what is sure to become a long successful literary career for Linda Nieves-Powell.

Linda Nieves-Powell is the writer/director/producer of the off-Broadway hit YO SOY LATINA! as well as the "New Soul Latina Show" and "Jose Can Speak." She was named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine, one of the Groundbreaking Latinas of 2006 by Catalina magazine, and one of the Top 100 Latinas by El Diario. Her nonfiction has appeared in national periodicals, including Latina magazine, Estylo magazine, and Latino Impact Entertainment News. She's also appeared on a myriad of television programs, including Today, PBS City Arts, Good Day New York, Urban Latino TV, and Telemundo News.

To learn more about Linda Nieves-Powell, her work, and her production company Latino Flavored Productions, Inc., visit:

www.latinoflavored.com

www.lindanievespowell.blogspot.com

www.myspace.com/freestylechicas

Free Style A Novel

By Linda Nieves-Powell

Published by:        

Atria Books

ISBN:             

1-4165-4281-7

Pages:            

224

Price:            

$14.00

Pub Date:        

March 2008

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