Happy fall y’all! September was another brief reading month, a trend at this point, where I managed to read three great books back to back. I don’t think that’s ever happened – three 5 star books in a row – but I’m so glad it did. I loved all three of these books, and still think of the characters from time to time. Best of all, two of them are by Latine authors that feature Latine characters! Love reading books with characters that share the same culture as me.
Without further ado, Septemeber’s reading recap:
You, With A View by Jessica Joyce – I loved this one! I read The Ex Vows earlier this year and loved Jessica Joyce’s writing, so finally getting to read this one was a no brainer. Noelle and Theo were written well, both as individuals and as a couple where they were easily relatable. Jessica Joyce does a good job of writing her characters where they’re in their early thirties and still figuring themselves and life out, which adds to the relatability but also makes the story feel more plausible and realistic. I do think their enemies to lovers vibe could have been more solid but like, they were high school rivals and are now adults so some of that simmered. Their attraction and chemistry was hot though, I will give them that!
You, With A View is the story of Noelle Shepard, who is feeling very lost after losing her beloved grandmother. She’s unexpectedly back in her childhood bedroom turned Peloton room as she got laid off from her mundane office job. Still griping with grief from losing her gram, Noelle isn’t sure what to do – both with herself but also with her grief. In going through her grandmother’s things, she finds a letter from a past lover that she did not know about. Curious to understand her grandmother’s past, she posts the letter and old photos of the mystery lover on social media, in hopes to find them and get answers about her grandma. What she didn’t expect is that the mystery man is the grandfather of her high school rival, Theo Spencer. In connecting with Theo’s grandfather, Paul, she finds out they almost eloped and that her grandma had planned a road trip for their honeymoon – which Noelle had the bright idea to take the trip in hopes of connecting with her grandma again, through Paul and their ill fated love story. She invites Paul to take the trip with her, not expecting Theo to tag along.
There’s still some rival energy between Noelle and Theo, where she questions if they can manage to get through the trip without killing each other, though she certainly didn’t expect that energy to turn into mutual attraction.
Mamey by Anny Caba – Read my review for Mamey here!
When Javi Dumped Mari by Mia Sosa – Loved this one! I’ve read Mia Sosa’s other books, so I was excited to finally get a chance to read her latest release. When Javi Dumped Mari is the story of a pair of friends, Javier and Marisol, who became friends in college and stayed friends into adulthood. The story is told in dual POV and dual timelines where we get to see the foundation of their friendship being built and how certain points in their history is influencing the happenings today. In the present, Mari surprises Javier with the news that she’s engaged and she’d like for Javi to be her best man in the wedding. It’s not the news Javi wants to hear as he was about to confess his feelings for her, but more importantly because of the pact they made when they were in college.
Mari and Javi had been circling each other since they became friends in college where they both felt something other than platonic feelings for each other, but sacrificed those feelings to maintain their friendship. They’re also individually on completely different wavelengths, which brings both variety to their relationship but is also a pain point. I loved reading the nuance behind Mari and Javi and how they both interpreted the same events from their earlier years. They both had some growing up to do throughout the story that we get to see unfold to understand them as individuals. Also loved that this story had two Latine main characters; Javi is Puerto Rican and Mari is Brazilian. Both of their cultures are weaved into the story naturally to give both of them more dimension. Overall, this was a great story. The dual POV and timelines kept things interesting as the story in present time unfolded. Also the spicy scenes were spicy and Mari and Javier’s friend group brought it full circle for me. Can’t wait to read Mia Sosa’s next book!
