But the passion and chemistry between them are strengths of the story. I also enjoyed girl power parts between cousins and Ashton’s family, even his 8 year old son acted more mature to his relationship than him. I loved those genuine, lovely characters. I liked the story, but I didn't love it. Contemporary romance is hard for me, folks, but I'd read another Alexis Daria book in a heartbeat. The first thing I struggled with was the writing. The writing felt very clunky to me and I feel like the author spent a lot of time telling us things instead of showing, which really took me out of the story. Some of the dialogue was clunky and unnatural, too, and I really couldn't get connected with either of the characters. Then, the storyline would switch between Jasmine and Ashton's romance and scenes of the show they were filming together. I really didn't care about the romance in the show and didn't like getting a bunch of chapters of those scenes. These more took me out of the story and made it even harder for me to care about Jasmine and Ashton's relationship. The 'Carmen in Charge' chapters were just boring and used as filler without adding anything substantial to the story- even though characters seemed to interact more on their show than they did off set. 🙃 The secret that came out had me rolling my eyes and I felt the big drama was just boring. 🙈

While I generally enjoyed these two—and the heat between them was absolutely undeniable—I will say that when things got a little rough near the end between them and secrets were revealed, what could have been solved with a calm conversation was tossed out the window and replaced with misunderstandings and misplaced blame. Granted, considering the indulgently diverting dramatics of telenovelas, it fit. And Ashton's show of trust toward Jasmine at the end came into effect smoothly because of this. But there was still a nagging little feeling that they didn't need to suffer quite as much as they did to reach that ending. And seen more exposure when it came to Ashton as a father and both these characters dealing with their mental health.I wish we had more. I think that’s very minor complaint. I wish we had moments with Jasmine and her parents who didn’t really understand her and got to explore how she couldn’t really be herself around them. I think that arc would’ve been exciting to read about - for me, that is. Well, you know what’s going to happen if you’ve read a rom-com or two, but You Had Me at Hola is really enjoyable. It was refreshing to read a book with Latinx characters, and a soap opera-esque show is the perfect setting for a story like this. It was also great to have the female protagonist really have the control in the story. And oh gods, don't get me started on the Spanish. Me, someone who's first language is Spanish... Amazing. I really enjoyed the Spanish dialogues and above all, the insults. Ashton calling himself "pendejo" and "cabrón" was something funny and I was like "yeah, you are, but I love you". Amigoooo, las veces que quise golpearte, abrazarte y besarte son incontables.

The story splits its time between the real lives of telenovela and soap opera stars Ashton Suárez and Jasmine Lin. Jasmine is a rising star in soap operas with a rather messy recent breakup splashed all over the tabloids. And Ashton has made acting in telenovelas his bread and butter for years, while he supports his family in Puerto Rico—which he prefers and struggles to keep very private from his public image—and tries to make his current new project alongside Jasmine successful enough that it will hopefully give him the boost he needs to get to Hollywood. I adored the scenes we got when they were filming the episodes and how that almost reflected the characters. Not directly, but there were emotional parallels there for sure and I just couldn’t get enough. Bottom line: Hard to know which was more upsetting - reading this, or the conditions of my life while I was doing so! I really liked the tv show chapters, they were really funny and I truly felt that I was watching a telenovela. I felt like I was 10 years again and me and my mom were watching telenovelas in our living room while I was trying to do my homework.But this story is the perfect example of how love is not made of big gestures and great gifts, but by simplicity and being there for the other person. Meaning, you should always feel free to freak out in front of your loved ones, no matter how scared you are to expose that part of yourself. Welcome to the glamorous world of telenovelas! As a great fan of adapted telenovelas “Jane the Virgin”, “Ugly Betty”, I was so excited to get my hands on this book. It's a great start in the trilogy for Alexis Daria and I can't wait to read the stories of Michelle - my homonymous, lol - and Ava! I sometimes struggle with contemporary M/F romance, but I was excited to finally dig into an Alexis Daria book. I mean, a Latinx romance with a telenovela feel? I had to try it. However, though the book was a good read overall, I had mixed emotions about the story and it took me *forever* to finish.

I saw so much of myself in Jasmine, in her language, her family dynamics, and the way she seeks out validation through others’ love. Jasmine is both a powerful protagonist and a vulnerable one, and I’m forever grateful to dive into her world because it made me feel less alone as a Latina. And the weird thing is that the narrator has a beautiful voice. When she spoke for the characters each voice was distinct and lovely. Literally everything you could hope for in a voice actor! Two rising stars of LatinX community are excited to work on brand new show: Carmen in Charge. It will help both of them for polishing their careers and finding better places for them in the movie industry. When I read this, I had just spilled a glass of water on my laptop, my child, the love of my life, and been informed it would have cost NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS to fix. I spent the day in a malaise of TikTok and reflecting on my own suffering. Eventually I read my library ebook copy of this on my phone, instead of on my then dead computer, as nature intended. We got to know the characters really well. I instantly fell for them. And the more we got to know them, the harder I fell.There were odd pauses in the middle of sentences as though each comma was a full-stop period. The last words in those sentences had weird breaks in them, too. I don't even know if I can explain it right...

All I can think now that I’ve read this is that I want to read more books that explore Latinx stories, especially within the romance genre. It was rich in culture, boisterous, loud. I mean, you’ve seen that cover.

Need Help?

Ok. Just as an example (not an actual quote!) instead of saying, "She left the room, went outside, and put on a sweater.", she would say, "She left the room (stop) went outside (stop) and put on a swea-ter."