You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

Welcome Back Booklovers,

I shifted gears for a moment and dove into romance after back to back fantasy stories. I needed a a light summer read to refresh me and this one did not disappoint. With such a pretty cover it would've been a damn shame if it wasn't a good story. This was the best romance I've read this year. It's been years since I've watched a telenovela (with English subtitles because I'm not fluent) or an American soap opera regularly but this brought the nostalgia. Alexis Daria is not a new author but she is new to me and she did not disappoint.

The story starts with Jasmine Lin fresh off a breakup from a good for nothing rockstar dealing with the blowout which is negative press and paparazzi hounding her.  But she's also starting a new role on an English language telenovela called Carmen in Charge on a popular streaming platform where she's playing the leading role. This is her potential breakout role and she can't let her complicated love life screw it up. But why did her new leading man have to be so irresistible?

Ashton Suarez is a veteran telenovela actor who is hoping that this show will be his big break into Hollywood. He's not getting any younger and has a lot riding on this show. He also has his son back in Puerto Rico with the his father and grandparents who are depending on him. Ashton is very closed off because of an incident years back so he doesn't easily take the cast.

Jasmine helps Ashton open up more on set as they film alongside each other and he helps her with her Spanish speaking skills which need a little bit of work.

I love how we actually get immersed into the show they're filming. Coming off two recent reads where the characters were chefs participating in a cooking show but we never really saw them get involved in the cooking show aspect this was very refreshing. It was like getting two different stories in one as we also follow along with Carmen and Victor's adventures. 

I also liked how this book touched on the importance of Latinx representation on screen of all different backgrounds and even mentioned colorism in the community without taking too much away from the romance.  I don't mind when contemporary romance discusses heavier issues I only have a problem when the romance takes a back seat to those issues. Jasmine and Ashton both have their issues which require therapy to overcome but this didn't become a story about their trauma which I was truly grateful for. And they have an intimacy coordinator on set for the more romantic scenes who stresses the point of consent and working with each other to make sure each person is comfortable.

I received an arc from Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review.