Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras

Welcome Back, Booklovers!

It's been a stressful week working from home and I'm ready to enjoy a relaxing 3 day Easter Weekend.  This week I read Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras which I won courtesy of a Bookish First giveaway. Bookish First is a great site that allows you to read a few chapters of a book prior to it's release, write a first impression, and enter a raffle to win an arc of said book. You also rack up points which can be used towards giveaway books without entering the raffle. You can sign up (https://www.bookishfirst.com/) and use my code (f2f0690dd0768f611) to gain an additional 100 pts during sign up.

The cover is gorgeous and the reviews were good so I took a chance with the raffle.

This story is about social media influencer Sarah Vance and firefighter Luis Navarro falling in love against the backdrop of sunny Key West. Sarah's mother recently recovered from cancer and to celebrate she, her siblings, and her parents have planned the family vacation they've been missing out on for year. Sarah was excited to prove to everyone she is not the failure they all think she is by showing up with her fiance Ric. However Ric  decides to stand her up after her plane is already landed which leaves her scrambling. Cue hunky Cuban firefighter Luis ready to swoop in and save the day.

It started out really fast paced with the character's having their meet cute and immediately jumping into the fake fiance ruse. It was actually done a little too fast for me.  Luis is a fire fighter who is eager to lend a helping hand but even so it was a bit of a stretch that he agreed to pretend to be this stranger's fake fiance. And Sarah must be super trusting to just ask a stranger she met at the airport to fill in for her beau after one encounter.

I really liked the descriptions of Key West. It almost felt like being on the island myself as I read about them visiting beaches, aquariums and restaurants serving savory Cuban food.  I thought the author did a great job incorporating Latinx cultures. The devout Catholicism via Luis's family was very familiar to me having attended Catholic church for years with a large Spanish speaking congregation. Sarah was fluent in Spanish which was one of her defining traits but it just didn't feel natural. It felt like a way to add a little Mexican culture via this long gone mother figure who raised her however they should've just had her character be Mexican. Her blond hair and blue eyes might not be what many people think of when they think of a Mexican person but it could've opened a nice dialogue.

The blurb said this book is perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory and though she rated this book very highly herself I'm not sure if  I agree with that. Jasmine Guillory books are usually fast paced while this one was very much a slow burn. Such a slow burn that I barely made it through the middle of the story which was full of filler. It felt like there was a lot of telling me how perfect the couple was for each other but not so much showing. They both had great chemistry together but that could only carry this book but so far. They each have their own issues their struggling through but at times it felt tedious.

The scenes with the families were well done but I couldn't quite buy into this love story over the course of the week especially with each little conflict being resolved a little too easily.