African Passions and Other Stories, Beatriz Rivera's first collection of stories, is peopled by Hispanic women obsessed by love of varying sorts, but always of overwhelming intensity. Passion, obsession, raucous humor and satire are in store for the reader of this tour-de-force examination of Hispanic womanhood. Brava!.

A series of strong-minded women relentlessly pursue love and at times material success as they move in and out of the reality of the New Jersey Hispanic barrio that bonds them. There is the frustrated professional woman who unsuccessfully strives for a wedding ring from her mommy's-boy lover. Then there's the recent college grad applying for dead-end jobs while pursuing a traditional macho lover. An Italian-Puerto Rican princess is caught up in a vicious cycle of destroying relationships.

A young Cuban matron destroys husband, children and her own well-being as she seeks the nirvana of material wealth and status.