dvags squad

After the critical success of her first book, the short story collection “Vida,” writer Patricia Engel takes her characters on a longer trip.

While Vida’s stories take place mainly in Miami and New York, Engel’s recently-released first novel, “It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris,” follows Lita — an earnest but inexperienced 20-year old New Yorker — on a trip to Paris.

There, she falls in love while trying to break free from her strong family ties.

“I love love stories, and I always felt there was a shortage of modern, intelligent love stories,” says Engel, a professor of creative writing at the University of Miami.

“So my first goal was to try to write that love story — a love story that I would like to read, and a love story that I would believe

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