TO SELENA, WITH LOVE by Chris Perez

So most of you do not know that I LOVED SELENA!! SELENA was the Tejano music artist who took the Latino music world and made it hers. All the little girls, including me, wanted to be just like her. As a fan, I loved her spirit and energy that she always showed her fans on stage and off. I went to every concert here in Houston, including the Rodeo one where she performed in the famous beautiful purple outfit. I received a copy of this book to read and I am so glad Chris wrote it. As a true fan, we always said we were robbed. SELENA had so much for us and she was taken too early. Before her death, she had just mainstreamed into English music. Her voice was different from anyone, and up to this day no-one has replaced her or ever could. Every year I remember her on her birthday like if she was part of my family. Today is SELENA's birthday. April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995 WE LOVE YOU, SELENA!

Anyways, my thoughts about the book-It is great. Thank you Chris. I always knew their love was true. It is a must read for all SELENA fans. Get behind the scenes into their lives. Find out how they met, and their love progressed. I loved every minute of every word, and every page. Closure is hard, and think for some of us fans, as well as Chris, we never got that. But at least with this book, we can all start the healing together.

“Lots of people asked me to write our story after Selena passed. I always said no. My feelings were too private... I was too busy desperately trying to wall off that part of my life completely...I have begun to realize that, by burying everything, I've actually been living my life with blinders on, just putting one foot in front of the other without really moving forward at all...Selena loved as hard as she lived. We loved her in return – her family, her friends, her fans, and me, her husband, who felt like the luckiest man alive every time Selena said my name. This book is for her."
– Chris Perez, from “TO SELENA, WITH LOVE”

Vesper Public Relations: Los Angeles, February 28, 2012. In 1995, Selena was the most popular Tejano recording star in the world, and she was looking forward to a future that seemed like a dream. After years of traveling the country in a bus, struggling to make a name for her, Selena had finally found success: a number one single, a Grammy Award, an upcoming English language album and, most importantly, a husband that she loved and was looking forward to building a life, and a family, with. But in a flash, it was all taken away. After her shocking murder, husband Chris Pérez was left to pick up the pieces of his life and find a way to move forward. Now, for the first time, Pérez tells his story in the intimate and moving book.

TO SELENA, WITH LOVE by Chris Perez
Celebra Hardcover; On-sale: March 6, 2012 Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Target. $24.95; ISBN: 978-0-451-41404-5

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A SIMULTANEOUS SPANISH LANGUAGE TRADE PAPERBACK PARA SELENA, CON AMOR; $15.00; 978-0-451-41405-2

From joining Selena’s band and realizing he was falling in love with her, to hiding their relationship and finally confessing to her family, getting married and buying a house, and planning their future family, Pérez details their ups and downs truthfully, meaningfully, and movingly. And his honesty is never more devastating then in his description of the black hole of depression he fell into after Selena’s death. “TO SELENA, WITH LOVE” is the never-before-told story of the man who loved a superstar, his wife, and had to cope with losing her at the hands of a brutal murderer who was once considered a friend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Chris Perez is a Grammy-winning American guitarist and the widower of superstar recording artist Selena. He won a Latin Grammy for his 2000 solo album, Resurrection. Since 2006 he has been a guitarist for A.B. Quintanilla III y Los Kumbia All Starz. He lives in San Antonio, TX.

Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children’s trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Berkley Books, Dutton, Frederick Warne, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Grosset & Dunlap, New American Library, Penguin, Philomel, Riverhead Books and Viking, among others. The Penguin Group is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.

***Disclosure-I received a copy of this book to review. I am a true SELENA fan!! Always will be! These are my honest opinions. This book has been Independentmami read and Independentmami approved!!