I received this ARC from Bookish First. It’s being published today, April 28, 2020. This is a romance— the setup is that Sara ( black sheep of her family) has arrived in the Florida Keys for a family vacation and at the last minute her boyfriend calls and says he’s not coming. Enter Luis. Luis is a Cuban American firefighter who grew up in the Keys and was just given a week of compulsory leave after responding to a particularly tragic accident scene. They meet in the parking lot of his fire station after Sara gets off her plane. In no time at all, he agrees to act as Sara’s boyfriend so that she doesn’t have to disappoint her family yet again.
Sara is beautiful but troubled. Luis is HOT (there is a lot of exposition regarding the exact nature and amount of his hotness) but also tortured by an event many years in the past. So you know what happens. They have instant chemistry but both are reluctant to open up about their problems.
There is good and there is bad in this novel. The good first: they talk. This is not one of those romances where the main characters refuse to have a conversation about basic stuff. They are both basically good people doing their best but dealing with some shit in their lives. I really enjoyed Luis’s relationship with his family— his mom in particular. I also liked that Sara and Luis had the opportunity to work on relationships that needed work. The bad: definitely formulaic. By the end of less than 300 pages and less than a week together they are both declaring their love for one another. Really? You’ve spent a tropical vacation together where everyone is on their best behavior. Love declarations should really come after you’ve both had a bad day and are short and snappish and still have to pretend not to be super annoyed by another person’s presence.
This was an enjoyable romance, but not a great one.
Sara is beautiful but troubled. Luis is HOT (there is a lot of exposition regarding the exact nature and amount of his hotness) but also tortured by an event many years in the past. So you know what happens. They have instant chemistry but both are reluctant to open up about their problems.
There is good and there is bad in this novel. The good first: they talk. This is not one of those romances where the main characters refuse to have a conversation about basic stuff. They are both basically good people doing their best but dealing with some shit in their lives. I really enjoyed Luis’s relationship with his family— his mom in particular. I also liked that Sara and Luis had the opportunity to work on relationships that needed work. The bad: definitely formulaic. By the end of less than 300 pages and less than a week together they are both declaring their love for one another. Really? You’ve spent a tropical vacation together where everyone is on their best behavior. Love declarations should really come after you’ve both had a bad day and are short and snappish and still have to pretend not to be super annoyed by another person’s presence.
This was an enjoyable romance, but not a great one.