Leila Cobo

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would -- it was passed on to me by someone who has a higher tolerance for "chick lit" than I do! This book is more compelling than that.

It tells the story of a young woman whose mother died years ago. Gabriella lives with her father in California, but makes an annual trip to Colombia to spend time with her maternal grandmother. The story takes place in Colombia, where Gabriella finds her mother's diary, which starts out with "Dear Gabriella". Through show more the diary, Gabriella learns about her mother's life. The story alternates between Gabriella's story and that of her mother, Helene. There are some interesting parallels between them and we can see how the three generations of women deal with similar issues. Well written, interesting story. show less

Gabriella lives in two worlds, with her dad in California most of the time, and a few precious weeks with her grandmother in Colombia. Her next trip to visit will become memorable in many ways, beginning with finding her mother's diary, a book the shows a whole new side to Helena, Gabriella's mother that passed away when she was young. Gabriella is trying to decide what to do with her life and who she really is. Her trip to Colombia introduces her to a new side of life, a dangerous and show more secretive side.

The story is told through the eyes of both mother and daughter, their stories beginning to run parrallel as Helena discovers a new life, and Gabriella discovers the beginning of hers. Both women are fascinating and fun, a joy to read about.

4/5 show less

This book was very close to my heart, as I have two adopted children from Colombia. I enjoyed the tour of Colombia and felt she had the emotions correct especially regarding the adoptive parents. Asher seemed very much like my son with his looks and love for soccer. Unlike Asher, my son didn't get a second chance. He suffered with depression and took his own life at age 20. So this story was even harder for me to read.

What I hoped for didn't happen. I felt the ending, the meeting with Rita, show more was rather anticlimatic. Rita even thinks so in the novel. I would like to think and I will continue to think that my children's birth mother did love them. She gave them life and then gave them to me both major sacrifices that I will cherish and honor.

My daughter has spoken about searching for her biological mother and after reading The Second Time We Met I truly hope she never does. show less

When Gabriella was four years old her mother, Helena, died in a plane crash. Her American father wanted her to know her Colombian heritage and family, so he took her to Cali to visit her maternal grandmother every year. As Gabriella got older, she would go for the visits by herself, staying with her grandmother for a month at a time.

When Gabriella is twenty-one, she goes for her month long visit. On her first night there, her cousin drags her to a party and she meets, and is attracted to, a show more dangerous young man. At first she tries to keep her relationship with him secret, but eventually decides she doesn’t care who knows.

When her grandmother tells Gabriella that her old family home will be torn down to build luxury condos, Gabriella returns for one last visit. While she’s there, she discovers her mother’s old diary, which her mother wrote to her. What she reads in that diary changes Gabriella’s life forever and causes her to make some decisions she might not have made otherwise.

TELL ME SOMETHING TRUE by Leila Cobo grabbed me from the start and never let go. This book is about relationships and the damage lies can do to them. The story alternates between Gabriella’s viewpoint in the present day and her mother’s viewpoint from the past via her diary, with one short chapter from Gabriella’s grandmother’s viewpoint. I thought Gabriella was a great character and I could really relate to her, even though our lives are nothing alike. I couldn’t put the book down because I had to know what was in the diary and how it was going to affect Gabriella. Gabriella did some things that I didn’t agree with, but I could understand why she made the choices she did. I think anyone who enjoys stories about relationships will enjoy this book. show less