You Had Me at Hola

A sweet and sexy romance set in the world of telenovelas, You Had Me at Hola is an absolute delight! I loved that it felt like a romance between two full-fledged adults. Jasmine is fresh off a very public breakup and Ashton tends to keep people at arms length. They meet just as they’re about to start work on Carmen-in-Charge, a remake of a Venezuelan telenovela. On the show they play divorced exes, a tension that makes it even more delicious to watch them come together in IRL, sometimes against their own better judgment. I’m not usually a huge fan of fiction set in the entertainment industry, because they often over-glamorize celebrity, but You Had Me at Hola delves a bit into the dark side, including stalkers fans, antagonistic reporters, and the general downside of having every move you make splashed across social media. Both Jasmine and Ashton have strong relationships with their families and You Had Me at Hola is Latinx through and through. There’s plenty of Spanish and Spanglish peppered throughout the book, and Alexis Daria brings an interesting twist to the story in that while Jasmine is Puerto Rican and Filipina, she’s not a fluent Spanish speaker and has to work on it for the show. I should also mention the Spanish is NOT ITALICIZED (high five editors). Non-Spanish speakers can easily catch on through context clues and Googling. Between that fantastic cover and the romance at the heart of this book, it’s a must read for sure. I received a free ARC from the publisher and also bought my own copy.

Two soap/telenovela stars come together to film a series on a streaming service (modeled after Netflix). There\’s instant and believable chemistry, but they both have fears. She\’s famous for bad judgment with men and doesn\’t trust herself, and he has near-PTSD from a stalker attack that endangered his little boy. How they navigate their barriers to get to the happy-ever-after is a pretty good read, but there were a couple of things about this book that stop me from giving it a higher rating. First, the good: both main characters were really likeable, and it was nice to see a workplace depicted with so much camaraderie and friendship. The descriptions of working on a set were interesting. The sexual encounters were hot. The karaoke scene was awesome. The ending was satisfying. However, there were some negatives. For one thing, the constant soapboxing over diversity was too much. Next, it\’s hard to believe Ashton would want superstardom while thinking he can keep his family a secret. Lastly, their first sexual encounter had a weird, unromantic twist. But in spite of the negatives, this was an entertaining story.

I really wanted to like this book. I loved the title and I enjoy Latinx stories. To me, the writing, the story, the dialogue – all very cliche and predictable. Not much originality whatsoever. It wasn\’t bad enough that I quit reading it, but it wasn\’t good enough that I cared about the characters at all. They had no depth. I thought most of the dialogue was juvenile. I won\’t even pass this book on to friends, I will donate or sell it to Half Price Books.

Too much hype. • Well, I’ve reached a new achievement level: hosted a buddy read for a book I didn’t love. I was so excited to read and chat about this book in #fairylandbuddyreads after hearing all the raving reviews and seeing the gorgeous cover. Unfortunately, this book fell a little flat for me. I was expecting spicy banter, some hate to love sexual tension, and a fun life in the public eye setting. While I was reading I had a hard time connecting to the characters, didn’t understand some character motivation, and actually loved reading the scenes from the tv show more than the real life chapters. • Some things I did love about this book were the great representation of Latinix culture and characters and the use of an intimacy coordinator on set, something that theater and film are now using to create a safe and comfortable space when performing sexually physical scenes. I’m hoping both of these aspects are seen more in books in the future. • What is a hyped book that just felt meh to you? • Clean rating: ?? the book jumps from a hint of physical attraction to the characters tearing each other’s clothes off on the same page. Also, for those of you who can’t hear the term “penetrative sex” enough in a steamy scene, get ready for your new favorite book. •

The book had everything, emotions, hard work, angst, love and hope. Both cultures were celebrated without it becoming cliché. I could totally hear the conversation between Ashton and Jasmine. I was also in the room with the primas and with both sets of families. The author accomplished a great feat, give us a glimpse of how tv is made but using these scenes to actually advance the story telling. At times I was frustrated with Ashton but then I could completely understand why he behaved like he did. I could feel his pain and kept wondering why he wasn’t seeking therapy. I’m glad he did in the end. I also appreciate how the author touched on important topics, the lack of privacy actors have to accept, stalking issues, insecurities stemming from childhood, the importance of family but also how limiting some family beliefs can be. Lastly, the author managed to make Jasmine human. A flawed, wonderful person doing an unusual job. Special mentions to Yadiel and Ashton’s family. They were amazing and so supportive, basically raising his son so he can follow his dreams. I felt like the book ended too soon. I wanted them to win that Golden Globe and would love to read about how they made it work in the business.

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