Deck The Malls with Purple Peacocks (Alice Chronicles #2)By Amy GettingerGenre: Chick-lit/ Women’s Fiction/ Sweet Romance Age category: Adult Release Date: November 18, 2017
Blurb: It’s Christmas in Orange County, California, and the mall is full of purple peacock decorations, large and small. Department store employee Aracely Martinez has a goofy Cuban friend, Quito (who’s awfully cute in his mall Santa suit), distracting her from her night-shift restocking job. But Aracely has a long-held secret, which her supervisor at the store, Jacob Thinnes, is holding over her head to make her do his bidding. Which is too much bidding. Enter Aracely’s oldest friends: Alice Chalmers, Georgette Jones and Julie Bowers. The group’s “Venus Warrior” bond from the 2003 production of The Venus Monologues at Garden Beach Community College is still very strong, and these women are ready, willing, and able to kick some butt to help Aracely out of her difficult bind. Join Aracely’s “Three Wise Women” plus her ever-present trickster hunk, Quito, in one adventure after another as they work against the odds to give Aracely a fabulous, nearly impossible Christmas gift: the life of her dreams.
You can find Deck The Malls with Purple Peacocks on Goodreads You can buy Deck The Malls with Purple Peacocks here on Amazon
About the Author: Amy Gettinger, once a community college ESL instructor, now writes novels and reader’s theater plays and coaches Reader’s Theater for Seniors. She’s a member of the Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective. She lives in Orange County, California underneath a eucalyptus windrow full of parrots and crows. For fun, she walks the local beach cliff path with her husband and dogs–and thinks up perfectly ridiculous characters and crimes to write about. You can find and contact Amy Gettinger here: – Blog – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon 
Excerpt
Astonished, Aracely ran to the other side of the table. “What’s this?”
“Just what it says, Hun. Get Aracely a Green Card.” Georgette ran her magenta-nailed finger down the list under that promising heading. “I emailed my friend Buddy, the immigration lawyer, and he says there are over 11,000,000 people in your boat—living here without documents, but paying taxes and wanting to be legal. So here are your options.”
Aracely’s heart swelled. “You did this for me?” she asked as Alice chimed in, “Yeah. Easiest: Have a business sponsor you. What do you think? Maybe Richandowe’s will take pity on you and provide a sponsorship. Huh?”
Aracely shook her head. “No. I’ve only worked for them a few weeks. But I worked for Shiny Zone for eleven years.”
“Okay. We’ll ask Shiny Zone.” Georgette made a notation on the poster.
Julie pointed at the poster. “Second possibility: start a business that employs Americans, but that’s for entrepreneurs. Oh, wow. That costs a lot of money.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Aracely’s gotten rich cleaning houses.” Alice mused, “Hmm. Third one here is an amnesty—I guess like a personal one. Oh, crap. You have to apply for that in your first year here.”
Julie stood and swung her arms in a big arc, whacking Alice with one, making Alice yelp.
Aracely bit her lip trying not to laugh.
Julie went on, enthusiastically, “Look here. A related U.S. citizen could petition for you. Do you have any relatives who are citizens?”
Aracely shook her head. “My uncle and cousin died. My cousin Veronica got a green card, but I don’t know where she is. She took off a long time ago to get away from Jorge Lopez.” She cringed, just saying the man’s name.
The Three Wise Women nodded sagely. They knew Veronica’s abusive husband—too well.
“I don’t blame her. What a scumbag,” Georgette said. “Anyway, that route to citizenship takes many years. Not the best for you, Hun.”
Julie said, “Right. But look here. Under the provisional unlawful presence waiver, any U.S. citizen can claim they can’t live without you and get you a green card.”
From the kitchen, Alice yelled, “That would be me! I need her badly!”
A burst of warmth flooded Aracely, who had to blink to hold the tears back. Good old Alice had saved her once before, and was willing to do it again. Why had she lost touch with Alice for all these years?
Georgette looked glum. “Unfortunately, this one seems to many like an immigration trap. You’d have to return to Mexico, first, and maybe have to stay for good.”
Aracely shook her head. “Oh, no. I have to go back? I spent my whole adult life here. I don’t even know how life is there now.”
Alice nodded and patted her hand. “Sorry.”
Georgette said, “Jeez. This next one. I’m really not sure I can sanction you getting abused, battered, sexually violated or harassed just for a green card.”
Everyone said, “What?”
Georgette huffed. “It says right here if an illegal alien is a victim of trauma and can afford to sue the perpetrator, the government hands out automatic green cards. Jeez Louise.”
“Ugh.” Alice sat down with her coffee. “So for a normal, healthy, untraumatized Mexican person, getting a green card …”
“… requires help from the angels.” Georgette stood and started undoing Aracely’s slept-on braids.
“Or Three Wise Women like you,” Aracely said, making six wise eyes roll.
Alice asked, “Georgette, could what Jacob did to Aracely qualify under this one? He did harass her, and it made her sick.”
“Maybe. I’ll talk to the lawyer.” Georgette shook her head. “Man, look. This is harsh. You can’t even get legal by marrying an American anymore.”
Julie shrugged. “Too bad. I had some cute, single babes in my classes this fall.”
Aracely cocked her head in consternation. “You have babies in your college class?”
“Not babies, Aracely. Babes. Dudes. Handsome guys.” Alice laughed at Aracely’s fearful face. “Don’t worry. We won’t marry you off. No one deplores a bad marriage to a handsome idiot as much as me.”
When I agreed to read this book, I found that the title made me grin. It was obvious that there would be some humor in this story. And, I was happy to be proven correct. This is a very funny read!
It took me just a few pages to get my mind into the setting of the story. A lovely California town with Mexican-named characters is something I’m not very familiar with. Unfortunately, I never learned any Spanish language, and wish that I had.
I’ve lived on the East Coast and have never been to California (although it’s on my bucket list of places to visit). I love reading about other locales, because I learn about culture in ways I wouldn’t otherwise know.
As I continued to read, the book became so enjoyable, comical, and interesting! I fell in love with the characters and all their dilemmas. The plot of this book is perfect for our times and I love when books teach really awesome lessons, while still being entertaining.
The author captivated me with all the crazy antics and adventures. I cheered for the good guys and was eager for the villain to be found out and punished. I feel like everyone would enjoy reading this book.
I recommend this book as a feel-good story and a very funny one, too.
@2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman