Click Here To Purchase The First Sandcastle

Author: M.E.  DELGADO

ISBN: 978-0-9801410-0-9 

M. E. Delgado’s recent novel, The First Sandcastle, is narrated from the point of view of a teenage gifted artist, Marlo Clemente who lives in Miami.  Since a young age, Marlo and his little sister Tamara are subjected to their parents feuding. Their father is a macho construction worker and their pretty mom works part-time in a hair salon frequented by men and women. To say the least, the fact that she also cuts men’s hair does not sit too well with his father.  Deeply distressed by their fighting, Marlo flees bitter reality in his art, while a neglected Tamara weeps in her room.

According to Marlo’s father, women are evil and not to be trusted, including his mom.

He warns Marlo not to let sweetness and love lure him into their tentacles. He fills his innocent head with these twisted concepts while bonding with him at the beach as they build a sandcastle.  

As a result, Marlo grows farther and farther away from his mom, while at the same time longing for her closeness and love.  

He spends a good deal of time with his two best friends, Danny and Ivan, building sandcastles on the beach. When Desirée happens to pass by his sandcastle, Marlo is struck with infatuation, despite his father’s warnings. While his friend Danny is lured into an affair with a cute girl who dumps him.  

Delgado depicts Danny’s descent into the love abyss with great sensitivity. This story only reinforces Marlo’s father’s mantra that girls are evil, and Marlo is hesitant in his approach to Desirée.

Meanwhile, we follow Marlo and his friends in a very believable description of life at elementary and high school, with its teaming classrooms, friendships, back stabbings, and parties under the sultry weather of Miami beach.

With Art as his beacon, he conquers his fears and befriends Desirée. But there is one more shadow to conquer, Divina, Desirée’s mean cousin.

Will their love blossom or will they fall prey to deceit? Will Marlo reconquer his mother’s love as well?  

Despite The First Sandcastle being a charming yarn of coming of age, elaborate preambles, colloquialisms and the numerous uses of “as” make it heavy reading. An editor with a keen eye would have spotted the many grammatical errors or overuse of the word “as”.  Otherwise, The First Sandcastle is a page- turner with a great deal of twists and turns and ample drama.

 The above review was contributed by:  Lily Azerad-Goldman, B.F.A, Artist: Click Here to view Lily’s Reviews and Here to view her art work.