A Lot Like Adios by Alexia Daria

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I was in a romance reading mood after my latest fantasy read. So I was happy to dive into A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria.  I enjoyed last year's You Had Me at Hola. I thought it was a fun read and I liked the primas relationship enough to follow Michelle's journey. I received an arc from Avon Books in exchange for an honest review.

This book is friends to lovers but also second chance romance in a way. Michelle and Gabe grew up as best friends. Right after high school graduation they have a moment where they finally acknowledge that there's something there between them but before they can fully explore Michelle discovers Gabe is moving away for college. Years later Gabe is estranged from his family and living on the West Coast as the owner of a very popular gym. He's working with an investor to expand and open up an East Coast location in NYC. Michelle is doing freelance work when she receives and email from Gabe's partner Fabian  asking for her help with marketing the new location. Since Fabian has babies on the way any day now, Gabe must be the one to go to New York and work on the future gym. Michelle finds out Gabe is now her client and she agrees to still take him on but gives him the condition that he must come stay with her. To add in some extra tension, her apartment is currently under renovations so she's staying at her parent's house which is right next door to his parents. 

I really loved how the families were written in this. Michelle is Puerto Rican and Italian and she has a lot of family and we get to experience some of her family events in this. It felt like felt like every Puerto Rican family gathering I've been to with every tia and tio making a dish to pass around, and the music, and the loudness. The way they openly embraced Gabe too just felt very real.  And then her best friends are her cousins which was also something I could identify with.

On the side of Gabe's family the expectations of growing up in a strict household, being a child of an immigrant parent, and toxic masculinity is all explored. Gabe was able to reflect on his upbringing with adult eyes and realize some of what he thought was absolutely unforgiveable wasn't as bad as he thought at the time. He was able to see how his parents were well intentioned even though the execution wasn't what was best.  And outside of that he realizes he also has an extended family in his friend Fabian and his growing family. 

The sex scenes were also very well done. Michelle was free to explore her likes and fantasies with no shame as Gabe was a willing participant. Both characters are bi and it's not made a big deal.

There are these interstitials where teen Michelle and Gabe are working on a fanfic for their favorite series. I wanted to love those sections as a former fanfic writer myself but I just couldn't I don't care about the planning process, especially since we knew very little about the show it was based off of. Latinos in spaaace told me nothing. By the time actual passages of the fanfic started being included it was the end of the book. I wasn't invested so I skimmed those parts. 

With so much going on some authors might deviate from the main couple to focus more on the issues with the family or at the gym but this story stays focused on Michelle and Gabe. So I truly feel like I got to know them and their insecurities and follow their growth.