I enjoyed reading this book even though it was not in the same category as "The Mambo Kings". The story is enjoyable and well-written; however, at the end the reader feels like they never really got to know Lydia's children very well. They are portrayed as stereotypical teenagers for the first 1/2 of the novel and then the daughter all but disappears from the rest of the story. I would have preferred a more in-depth description of those characters.