e-Audio, 12:42:45
Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
Release Date: July 26, 2022
Published by: Harlequin Audio
Read from: August 5-9, 2022
Stand-Alone (BUT Author Mentioned this might be a series/companion)
Source: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Gentrification, Racism, Racial Slurs, Misogyny, Classism, Addiction, Bullying, Violence
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Multicultural Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Cover Whore, AdultGuapo pobrecito her grandmother calls him. The “poor handsome man.”
Professor Jeremiah Post, the poor handsome man, is in fact standing in the way of Alejandra “Alex” Torres turning Loretta’s, her grandmother’s bar, into a viable business. The hot brainiac who sleeps in one of the upstairs tenant rooms already has all of her Mexican American family’s admiration; she won’t let him have the bar and building she needs to resurrect her career, too.
Alex blowing into town has rocked Jeremiah to his mild-mannered core, but the large, boisterous Torres clan is everything he never had. He doesn’t believe Alex has the best interest of her family, their community or the bar’s legacy in mind. To protect all three, he’ll stand up to the tough and tattooed bartender with whom he now shares a bedroom wall—and resist the insta-lust they both feel.
But when an old enemy threatens Loretta’s and the surrounding neighborhood, Alex and Jeremiah must combine forces. It will take her might and his mind to save the home they both desperately need.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Sooooo my homegirl Carla started talking about this on her Booktok and I pulled it to the top of my TBR immediately. I HAD to know what the rest of the book was like when there was spice at 3% in the book. (Yes I really mean 3%) And I am happy to say the rest of the book was up to par!
So let me get the parts I didn’t care for out of the way. Don’t worry, it’s not too many things lol It’s just the freaking enemies to lovers. LOL I know I say this with EVERY one I read, but man, it’s like all the good stuff happens in these books. But I end up not feeling the chemistry. It normally feels forced to me. This one didn’t, but she seemed so mean. And he was a cinnamon roll, so it didn’t make it better. It was like she was running all over him. It was just her attitude, but man I felt so sorry she kept lashing out at him.
This in turn made the romance bits a little weird to me lol I don’t know man, them saying they hate each other and then turning around and falling into beds has always been a thing for me. And in this one it’s like hate sex. And man, I don’t know how to say that it bothers me. But only me as a Scorpio. It always feels so elementary because I always think immediately of “I was mean because I liked you.” But LORDT even with all that, the spice was A+++++++!
Now for the spice. This is definitely more on the side of the sweat side of the Sweet/Sweat scale. And if I’m being honest, it’s like a 4 on my romance scale. My only complaint was that there wasn’t enough of it. Ok, that’s just for me lol But whatever. I wanted them to have more time happy and sweaty than arguing like they did if that makes sense lol
But I think that would have ruled out the plot. And the plot in this is hella important. This book tells the story of an abuela’s bar and how the family is trying to save it form the town and gentrification. I don’t know the last story of gentrification that I actually liked. Normally they get like repetitive and don’t read well to me. But in this one Lopez made it like a National Treasure/Scavenger Hunt thing, and I LOVED it. I even wrote the clues down in my notes for when I wrote this review. And I loved where the last thing was found and what they said. And ugh I just loved everything about it. Really I loved everything about the plot to this. Really I loved everything about Loretta’s and I was really glad with the way things turned out. (Also, if Lopez ever decides to like make swag of like koozies or shot glasses for the bar, I NEED IT. I collect both, so I’m throwing my hat in the ring lmao)
I don’t know why I’m like this. I know that I’m not a fan of enemies to lovers, but I AM a fan of everything else about this, so I had to give it a shot. And it did not disappoint. If this IS a series or companion novel, I’m hoping she goes through all her sisters, her mom, AND her one male cousin that was with the hero. So basically, every side character in this book, I need a book for it. Because this book? It really was THAT GOOD.
Overall, I give this
