e-Audio, 07:50:43
Narrated by: Jesus E. Martinez & Esme Ramos
Release Date: April 29, 2025
Published by: Harlequin Audio
Read from: May 2, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a free e-ALC from Netgalley and the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Sexual Content, Chronic Illness, Mental Illness, Homophobia, Death of a Parent
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, AdultTrinidad Velasquez plays by the rules. Now she has one chance—one sizzlin’ Carnival weekend—to leave it all behind.
Go on, get spicy…
For the last sixteen years, Trinidad Velasquez has done everything right. Raised her twin sons on her own, worked her butt off and created a stable life. But Trinidad is done waiting for a happy ending to show up at her door, and when her current boyfriend proposes, she can’t help but wonder if, at her age, love should be practical, not butterflies and heart-racing chemistry.
But then her teenage sons trick her into a Caribbean Carnival vacation. And she finds herself staying with the one guy who’s always revved her engine…even if he’s a decade south of her dating range.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I was ready for this as soon as I saw the cover lol Idk who designed it, but Lordt I love it so much. And it was everything that I thought it might be. Short, spicy, and fun!
The thing that stood out most to me with this book was the romance. It’s been a long time since I’ve read an age group. And in this one, the FMC is the older one and I loved it. And the way their culture is mixed all throughout the romance. There’s Caribbean and Afro Latine rep throughout the entire thing. And of course, being honest, this book is definitely spicy. It was more spicy than I was expecting actually. So if you add this to your TBR, please know that they don’t hold back on the spice.
I did think it was a bit insta-lovey? I’m not sure if it was that or if the pacing was off, but it seemed like it was moving SO FAST. In almost every chapter they were talking about each other lol And like normally that doesn’t bother me, but at the same time, it felt like I didn’t get much of the story? It didn’t feel like a real timeline. Like I knew time was passing, but the way it read it went so fast. And to make it worse I read it in one sitting and I had the audio speed on 2x’s. It made the timeline go by even faster. And I think that threw me off.
The plot of this was hilarious tho. I don’t think there is an actual time when this might happen, but Lordt it made me laugh. But I know one thing, she is definitely a Black mama because the way she yelled at them at that hotel was actually hilarious. But I will say, they weren’t scared enough for me tho lol But the revenge they got on them kids at the end was pretty hilarious. I would have paid to see their faces.
This was good, but I did see some things that I wish had been a little different. Definitely something that fit right in with the afterglow line! I love this imprint, I just wish I paid more attention to what’s coming out so that I’m not surprised by the spice in the first chapter lol
Overall, I give this
