I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Uptown Thief (Justice Hustlers) by Aya de León
Published by Dafina on 7/26/2016
Pages: 352 pages
In this sexy, heart-stopping tale, one smart, sizzling mami robs the rich and protects the exploited--until one heist too many puts everything at stake. . .
Marisol Rivera barely survived being abused with nowhere to turn. So there's nothing she won't do to keep her Lower East Side women's health clinic open and give disadvantaged women new lives. Running an exclusive escort service for New York City's rich and powerful 1 percent is the perfect way to bankroll her business--not to mention the perfect cover for robbing corrupt CEOs. And when times get even tougher, pulling a heist on a mega-billionaire will secure the clinic's future--and her gorgeous crews for good. . .
There's just one problem: Marisol didn't anticipate bad news even more dangerous than her curves. A seductive ex-cop who's too close for comfort, and a powerful thug with a score to settle, are turning Marisol's precise planning and seductive fail-safes into insidious traps. Now this beautiful modern-day Robin Hood will have to play some lethal wild cards without rules or limits to save those she loves--and live to steal another day. . .
Marisol Rivera is one of those strong female characters that I love to read about, and the author doesn’t disappoint in this offering about a woman who is the owner of a health clinic located in Manhattan.
As the executive director of the Maria del la Vega Health Clinic, Marisol and her co-director Dr. Eva Feldman are on a mission to make sure women who work in the sex trade, have health care they may not otherwise have access to.
The thing that for me kept the book interesting was how Marisol gets the money that keeps the clinic doors open. When we meet Marisol and a couple of her girls, there was a heart-stopping chase as they run from an incident and it is on from that moment to the end of the book.
Marisol also grapples with some personal issues of trust and life complications that made this a page turner I read in one sitting. One of those complications if you will is when she runs into someone from her past. When Raul the blast from the past, sees her at a fundraiser for the clinic, the heat is on and what will she do about it? Some great twists and turns made this a fascinating read for me.
One thing I liked was the fact she raised safe sex issues and advocated for safe and healthy working conditions for the sex workers and tackled the topic of violence of those who work in that industry in a manner that had you rooting for the girls.
I enjoyed the book overall and would recommend you buy, and I would read other work by this author.
Reviewed by: Linda C
About Aya de León
Aya de Leon teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley. Kensington Books publishes her Justice Hustlers feminist heist novels, UPTOWN THIEF (2016), THE BOSS (2017), THE ACCIDENTAL MISTRESS (2018), and in 2019 SIDE CHICK NATION the first novel to be published about the hurricane in Puerto Rico. She has received acclaim in the Washington Post, Village Voice, SF Chronicle, and The Establishment. A graduate of Harvard College, with an MFA from Antioch University, Aya has been an artist in residence at Stanford University, a Cave Canem poetry fellow, and a slam poetry champion. She publicly married herself in the 90s, and from 1995 to 2012 hosted an annual Valentine’s Day show that focused on self-love. Her work has also appeared in Ebony, Essence, Guernica, Writers Digest, Huffington Post, Catapult, The Root, The Toast, VICE, Ploughshares, Bitch Magazine, on Def Poetry, and she’s an advice columnist for Mutha Magazine.
In 2020, Kensington will publish her first spy novel about FBI infiltration of an African American political organization. She is currently at work on a YA spy girl series featuring African American and Latina teens called GOING DARK, as well as a picture book to help talk to children about racism. She blogs and tweets about race, gender, and culture at @AyadeLeon and ayadeleon.com.
