The Path the Turtle Takes

by Isabella

Lillianna Chavez is living her best life as a scholarship student at university in Mexico City. Her dream to become a doctor is on track and going well when she gets an urgent message from her family in Oaxaca. Her father, having left his home country to find work in the United States to support the family, has all but disappeared, and Lily is charged with going to California’s Central Valley to find him.

Ava Markely is digging a carefree life in Salinas and would much rather just be hanging out with her friends and having fun. However, when her father gives her the ultimatum that to remain living under his roof she either has to enroll in college or join the family produce business, she has a decision to make. While she understands his push for her to grow up and get serious about her future, she wants to put off responsible adulthood as long as possible, focusing more on her love of soccer than her academic pursuits.

When the two meet in a science class, the bond that forms is less about chemistry than it is about opposites attract.

While Lily worries about finding her father—and about being deported—and Ava wonders what this serious young woman is intent on hiding, the two navigate their vastly different worlds by trying to find any common ground that paves their divergent trails.

Both armed with their own convictions and life experiences, they strive to not rush to judgment about the other and instead choose to let their hearts lead them.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication March 1, 2026

About the author

Award winning, international best selling author, Isabella, lives in California with her wife and three sons. Isabella's first novel, Always Faithful, won a GCLS award in the Traditional Contemporary Romance category in 2010. She was also a finalist in the International Book Awards, and an Honorable Mention in the 2010 and 2012 Rainbow Awards.


She is a member of the Rainbow Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America and the Gold Crown Literary Society. She has written several short stories and just finished her next novel, Razor's Edge - American Yakuza III, set for an April 15th release. She is current working on Cigar Barons - A family dynasty where blood isn't thicker than water, it's war!