Count on Me: Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships - BLOG TOUR/BOOK REVIEW/GIVEAWAY - US/CAN thru 12/25/2012

Title:  Count on Me:  Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships
Edited by:  Adriana V. Lopez
Publisher:   Atria Books
Release Date:  September 4, 2012
Paperback, 272 pages
ISBN 10:    1451642016
ISBN 13:  9781451642018
The Book Depository / Amazon

Goodreads description:

Beloved bestselling Latino authors, including Esmeralda Santiago, Carolina De Robertis, and Luis Alberto Urrea share moving personal stories of the many ways that sisterly bonds have powerfully impacted their lives.

What would you do, where would you be, without your comadre?      In Spanish, comadre is a powerful term. It encompasses many of the most complex and important relationships that exist between women: best friends, confidants, advisors, neighbors, and godmothers to each other’s children. For over a decade, Nora Comstock, President and CEO of the international organization Las Comadres Para Las Americas has been bringing Latina women together to support each other in the U.S. and overseas. Here, they collaborate with acclaimed author and editor Adriana Lopez to bring you the very best of today’s Latino writers as they illuminate the power of sisterly bonds.     In twelve creative nonfiction narratives, mostly by women, the authors reflect on the importance of comadres in their lives. Writers like Fabiola Santiago, Luis Alberto Urrea, Reyna Grande, and Teresa RodrÍguez tell their stories of survival in the United States and in Latin America, where success would have been impossible without their friendships. Favorites like Esmeralda Santiago, Lorraine Lopez, Carolina De Robertis, Daisy Martinez, and Ana Nogales explore what it means to have a comadre help you through years of struggle and self-discovery. And authors Sofia Quintero, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, and Michelle Herrera Mulligan look at the powerful impact of the humor and humanity that their comadres brought to each one’s life, even in the darkest moments.
  
This post is an official stop during the Count On Me: Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships Condor Book Tour

My Take: 

Well, this was a refreshing look at women, friendship, mentoring, and sisterhood.  In my women's group, we just finished studying a book on the friendships of women, and here is yet another.

We need each other, we women.  Women's friendships are about more than simple companionship - having great friends or even one great friend makes us healthier and happier.

In this collection of essays, we read about women and their differing friendships, whether a third-party friendship (mothers and their friends), to mentor/mentee-type friendships, to plain and simple "Oh my gosh, I MUST call my bff to tell her about THIS!" type of friendship.

There's the girl from an abusive home whose teacher invites her to come live with her and points her on the right path, guiding her through to college.

There's the young girl who, in 2nd grade, went from shy to almost mute after her parent's divorce.  HER tough-cookie friend helped her open up and kept her out of the counselor's office.

There is the screenwriter who almost lost a friend due to unspoken trivialities, but she gives us a lesson in salvaging an important friendship.

Every woman can read one or more of these essays and totally relate.  For me, it was an affirmation of the fact that I've let my friendships languish on the vine, and I really need to step up.  Your girlfriends and comadres can make you laugh, they can be your shoulder, they can prop you up.

I really enjoyed this collection and will be passing it on to my daughters.  It's important for all of us to stop and realize how very valuable and life-affirming a good friend is.

QUOTES

She sounded so sure.  She looked so ill.  And yet, if she had told me, in that tone, that purple dragons were going to fly down from the moon that every evening, I would have joyously believed her.

I didn't know that other friends wouldn't tell you exactly what was on their minds, all the time.  I didn't know that women didn't just naturally forgive everything of each other, that not everyone felt that no offense merited the silent treatment. That I would never feel another connection that I could depend upon so fully, one that needed no explanation.

BOOK RATING:  4 out of 5 stars

BLOGGERS:  Have you reviewed this book? If so, please feel free to leave a link to your review in the comments section; I will also add your link to the body of my review.

Count on Me website
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WIN IT:   If you want a copy for yourself, you can win one!  Right here!  To enter, simply leave a comment describing the most valuable friendship you have experienced.  For me, it was the girlfriend who took me and three girls into her house from an abusive relationship, even though she had her own husband and daughter to look after.  She insisted that I come live with her, and she gave me the time and space to get it together both emotionally and financially.  She is still my BFF to this day, and that was over 20 years ago.

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Disclosure:  I  received a  complimentary copy of this title through Condor Book Tours to facilitate my review.  No other compensation was received and I was not required to post a positive review.