“There is no saccharine in Candyland, a poignant coming-of-age tale – a gritty snapshot in the life of a young woman who quotes Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and scrambles to survive in post-Katrina New Orleans. Lázara Soto, 17, is stranded in a land of no role models, no money and hard choices. She’s caught in a high-pressure system of a homicidal brother, phantom parents, an alcoholic attourney/employer, and a dwindling dream of college and escape. Next stop: shitstorm . . . swim or sink. Pristine prose and vivid characters abound. Highly recommended.”
–Thomas Davidson, Author of The Museum of Sudden Disappearances and Past is Present