"If I Bring You Roses is more than a love story powerfully and insightfully told. It is also a story about how class and ethnic discrimination impact relationships between men and women. The message is important; the writing is masterful...I highly recommend this book to readers interested in romance grounded in reality, in Latina culture, in civil and human rights for all people regardless of gender, race or ethnicity and to readers who are just interested in reading a really good, engrossing book."--Midwest Book Review
"If I Bring You Roses has everything you want in a novel-- flawed complicated characters, lush descriptions, breathtaking plot, and a fierce beating heart. With this brillant novel she at once excavates history, while weaving a story that is entirely new. With this amazing debut, Marisel Vera has burst onto the literary scene. I am eager to see what she writes next."--Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
"A sensual and well-crafted story about courage and passion that brims with vivid descriptions and characters."--The Network Journal
"Marisel Vera is a gifted storyteller with an eye for the subtle motions of the human heart as it struggles with the disturbances of desire. This is a deeply felt and satisfying tale that brings attention to the courage required to sustain hope, love, and passion as a stranger in a new land. Vera understands her characters and brings them to us with lyric intensity, humor, and perfect pitch so that they live in us long after the last page is closed."--Award-winning author Jonis Agee