Mariposa

Welcome to Candis C. Coffee Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour.

Mariposa is the first novel by Candis C. Coffee. It is a story about self discovery. A woman in search of her spirit.

One day Annarose is out in the Texas countryside when she feels a spirit or presence. After her grandma finds out that she was out late with one her male Mexican friend, Ismael. Annarose is sent to California with her sister and brother in law. Annarose is devastated that she has to move and the presence has left her. While in California she meets Estella, who becomes her best friend and encourages her to write and take chances. After reading a letter from Estella, Annarose decides to move to Mexico. Estella has befriended Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera. Estella had gotten the address of Frida and Diego and they want Annarose to visit. Annarose goes to Mexico were she meets Frida and Diego and another artist Crisanto. Crisanto becomes her lover. In Mexico, she continues to grow. But circumstances develop and she feels that she needs to go home, back to Texas.

The story is told through a series of flashbacks and letters between the characters.

The time period for this story is 1920s and 1930s. The historical context of this time is incorporated very well into this story. Especially the items related to Frida and Diego.

My favorite part of the book was when she was alone in California. California was a dark time for Annarose, but also it was the beginning of finding herself. She begins studying cosmology and she is introduced to meditation. She realizes that she needs to live the ideals that she was taught. She also starts to feel the presence but not enough to make her feel alive.

I enjoyed Annarose's quest to find the presence that she felt in her early years in Texas. She has many ups and downs but in the end she found what she was looking for, which made this book a good read.

About the Author:

Candis C. Coffee grew up in West Texas where her family has lived since 1848 when they immigrated from Ireland. The house in Mariposa is based on the 150-year-old home of her grandparents on the banks of the Concho River in San Angelo.

Candis spent nearly fifteen years in Santa Monica, California, where she was employed as a writer for various organizations. She later moved to New Orleans where she helped Chef Paul Prudhomme write the cookbook of his dreams and titled it Fork in the Road. Candis longed for the desert, however, which inspired a move to Santa Fe and graduate school at the University of New Mexico. She has since returned to her birthplace in West Texas where she currently resides.

After receiving a BA in Literature from the University of Texas, she pursued graduate studies in Creative Writing, Literature, and Spanish. She is presently at work on a children’s book and is pursuing a doctoral degree in alternative health care and the healing arts.

You can visit her website at http://www.candiscoffee.com/.

Mariposa is available at Amazon.com