Welcome! Here’s where you learn about me, my professional & literary background, & my books, including my novel, TRY TO REMEMBER (Grand Central Publishing 2010) 
ISBN: 987-0-446-55619-4
Purchase from bookstores or Amazon
Culturally savvy Colombian teenager Gabriela de la Paz, newly arrived in Miami, is a devoted daughter who is trying to keep her volatile and mentally ill father from jeopardizing their family’s green card status and driving them all into exile in disgrace. But as her father slips deeper into darkness and her mother slips deeper into denial, it is Gabi alone who must face the impending family crisis and ultimately decide for herself whether love means more than loyalty.
Discuss with your book club, here’s the reading group guide
O, The Oprah Magazine calls this novel “captivating”: “Gabi is an irresistible narrator—observant, compassionate, and utterly genuine—trying to balance family loyalty and a yearning to discover ‘Who did I dare to be?’” (read the full review here)
One of Latina Magazine’s Top Ten Summer Reads
Selected by the Association of American Publishers for its Latino Books Month List of 2010
And here’s more praise from…
Publisher’s Weekly: “Enthralling fiction debut… Gomez charts Gabi’s challenges as she gains confidence, educates herself, and finds inspiration…in this intense and sensitive tale with crossover YA appeal.”
Booklist: “Scary and tender…The clash between traditional immigrant values and feminist independence is powerful…Gomez dramatizes the universal dilemma of a loving family serving as ‘both joy and prison.’”
The Florida Book Review: “This novel should sit on bookshelves alongside…Joan Didion’s reportage… Peter Matthiessen’s historical fiction… novels of immigration experience by Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, and others…Updates the old, simplistic White-Black-Cuban analysis of Miami, summoning the detailed and dazzling rainbow which we still see here today between storms.”
Multicultural Review: “Gomez’s love for her characters and attention to their complex relationships make this a good choice for book clubs and readers interested in the literature of Latino immigration.”
Lansing State Journal: “Memorable and innovative…”
Detroit Legal News: “Gomez, as a prose stylist, has discovered a new genre… the stealth legal novel…”
And from two best-selling novelists…
”Stunning debut… a fresh and vibrant coming of age novel full of universal truths and dazzling particulars… Gabriela is a character you’ll root for and grow to love… I adored every single page.” (Mameve Medwed, national bestselling author of HOW ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING SAVED MY LIFE & OF MEN AND THEIR MOTHERS.)
”Lyrical, poignant, and smart, as compassionate and hopeful as it is heartbreaking. TRY TO REMEMBER is a novel you will never forget.” (Jenna Blum, author of the New York Times bestseller THOSE WHO SAVE US & a new novel, THE STORMCHASERS.)