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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that lived up to its comp titles so perfectly. I first saw Don’t Date Rosa Santos pitched as Jane the Virgin meets Gilmore Girls, and that’s strikingly accurate.
Sometimes OwnVoices and diverse books get comped to the nearest popular work with characters with similar identities to simplify marketing, which is why my eyebrows went up at the comparison to Jane, one of my favorite shows of all time and by no means representative for every single story featuring Latina characters.)
But Rosa Santos completely fit the bill. We’ve got the multi-generational Latina household (with characters that echo some traits of Jane, Xiomara, and Alba) in a Stars Hollow-meets-Miami tiny coastal town, complete with town meetings, resident gossips, and deliveries by bicycle. It’s sweet and clever and buoyantly youthful. One part romance, one part coming-of-age, and one part heartwrenching portrait of a child of diaspora.
My full review is here, but you should be able to tell from the cover and the… everything that this is a textbook-perfect summer read. Expect gorgeous prose, clever dialogue, mouth-watering food descriptions, a diverse cast, and a healthy dose of magical realism.
Sometimes OwnVoices and diverse books get comped to the nearest popular work with characters with similar identities to simplify marketing, which is why my eyebrows went up at the comparison to Jane, one of my favorite shows of all time and by no means representative for every single story featuring Latina characters.)
But Rosa Santos completely fit the bill. We’ve got the multi-generational Latina household (with characters that echo some traits of Jane, Xiomara, and Alba) in a Stars Hollow-meets-Miami tiny coastal town, complete with town meetings, resident gossips, and deliveries by bicycle. It’s sweet and clever and buoyantly youthful. One part romance, one part coming-of-age, and one part heartwrenching portrait of a child of diaspora.
My full review is here, but you should be able to tell from the cover and the… everything that this is a textbook-perfect summer read. Expect gorgeous prose, clever dialogue, mouth-watering food descriptions, a diverse cast, and a healthy dose of magical realism.
I adored this book. I wish I had read more than 3 pages at the outset, because then I would have been hooked and it wouldn't have taken me so dang long to finish it. This book gave me a tiny taste of a family and a community and a culture, and it left me happy and wistful at the same time. I loved Rosa's voice, authentically young and melodramatic and earnest and driven all at once. I loved the relationships in this book and the descriptions of food, and the sweet romance that lifted Rosa up without asking her to change herself. This was a lovely book, and I can't wait to recommend it to the teens at my library.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley to read in exchange for an honest review.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley to read in exchange for an honest review.
This is magical book about a young woman. She lives in fictional Port Coral, Florida, where the sea meets the land. Family and local lore surround Rosa; her grandparents escaped Cuba by boat, and her grandmother Milagros gave birth to her mother in the ocean, while losing her husband to the sea. Rosa's own mother lost her beloved to the sea, and Rosa was raised knowing she should never set foot on the wharf or step onto the beach.
When she was young, Rosa wandered America with her mother, traveling from one town to the next, until one day she decided she would rather live with her grandmother in Florida. Her mother came and went throughout the years. Rosa is responsible, follows the rules of the family curse, yet she covets a desire to visit Cuba and major in Latin American studies at college. Until the day she meets her own sailor, and the whirlwind begins.
Magic and realistic fantasy make up this love story; the love of three women tied to the sea, their love for their adopted hometown, and love all of the people that surround them. Rosa and her Mimi are beloved and admired, but the townspeople are wary of Rosa's mom. Spanish phrases, descriptions of food, herbs, flowers and simple magic embellish the story. Tragedy follows great triumph, and Rosa is left wondering what is real and what is imagined. It's a beautiful story, and the writing is poetic. Descriptions of life in this small Florida seaside town, and of Cuba itself are rich in detail and color. This is a good story to escape the real world for a short time.
When she was young, Rosa wandered America with her mother, traveling from one town to the next, until one day she decided she would rather live with her grandmother in Florida. Her mother came and went throughout the years. Rosa is responsible, follows the rules of the family curse, yet she covets a desire to visit Cuba and major in Latin American studies at college. Until the day she meets her own sailor, and the whirlwind begins.
Magic and realistic fantasy make up this love story; the love of three women tied to the sea, their love for their adopted hometown, and love all of the people that surround them. Rosa and her Mimi are beloved and admired, but the townspeople are wary of Rosa's mom. Spanish phrases, descriptions of food, herbs, flowers and simple magic embellish the story. Tragedy follows great triumph, and Rosa is left wondering what is real and what is imagined. It's a beautiful story, and the writing is poetic. Descriptions of life in this small Florida seaside town, and of Cuba itself are rich in detail and color. This is a good story to escape the real world for a short time.
emotional
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A lovely blend of realism and modernity with believable magic and superstition. It leaves you with a wholesome feeling, optimistic despite it all.
See the full review and more at mybookjoy.com!
Recommended: sure
For a blend of modern concerns and cultural influences, for a style of magic that might make you question your own beliefs, for perfectly timed jokes and references wound with community ties that go deep
Thoughts:
It took me a while to get through this. It also took me a while to like Rosa. The "saving the town" premise felt far too easy towards the start, and even by the end it felt like more of a footnote, a carry objective to learn about the characters. The writing kept me reading though, as the language is absolutely gorgeous, with startlingly powerful imagery and lines that you have to re-read a few times to savor.
There were definitely some laughs in here, as well. The reference to Pitbull from the veijos caught me off guard and totally cracked me up! The deeper exploration of identity builds towards the end, and that's what I found myself most interested in. Rosa's conflict over her family history and her unknown Cuban roots weave into every aspect of her life. Her attempted romance with a sailor is not the star of the story, but rather a well constructed foil to learn more about Rosa. I was surprised but impressed by that decision; romance typically gets shoved between the lines of a book, whether it's beneficial or not to the story overall.
The magic was such that I could accept it. It felt perfectly reasonable to imagine these charms and incantations working; that Rosa's mother truly did drag a storm with her wherever she went. This grows from a story about a girl trying to get a boyfriend and decide on a college, to a story of multiple generations and the way their shared grief affects each of them differently. The ending was absolutely perfect, and I'm grateful I got to taste it.
See the full review and more at mybookjoy.com!
Recommended: sure
For a blend of modern concerns and cultural influences, for a style of magic that might make you question your own beliefs, for perfectly timed jokes and references wound with community ties that go deep
Thoughts:
It took me a while to get through this. It also took me a while to like Rosa. The "saving the town" premise felt far too easy towards the start, and even by the end it felt like more of a footnote, a carry objective to learn about the characters. The writing kept me reading though, as the language is absolutely gorgeous, with startlingly powerful imagery and lines that you have to re-read a few times to savor.
There were definitely some laughs in here, as well. The reference to Pitbull from the veijos caught me off guard and totally cracked me up! The deeper exploration of identity builds towards the end, and that's what I found myself most interested in. Rosa's conflict over her family history and her unknown Cuban roots weave into every aspect of her life. Her attempted romance with a sailor is not the star of the story, but rather a well constructed foil to learn more about Rosa. I was surprised but impressed by that decision; romance typically gets shoved between the lines of a book, whether it's beneficial or not to the story overall.
The magic was such that I could accept it. It felt perfectly reasonable to imagine these charms and incantations working; that Rosa's mother truly did drag a storm with her wherever she went. This grows from a story about a girl trying to get a boyfriend and decide on a college, to a story of multiple generations and the way their shared grief affects each of them differently. The ending was absolutely perfect, and I'm grateful I got to taste it.
I found this to be a cute and quick read. The MC, Rosa, is a girl I can get behind. She has goals, works through what comes her way, and, yes, might be a bit neurotic at times too. I'm sure there will be a few naysayers about how some components of the plot are too convenient, etc., but this book does (and is clearly supposed to) have a bit of modern magic, for lack of a better term. If this might bother you, skip, but if you might be interested use it as an exercise to just let go and get swept in.
Where to BEGIN.
In this Latinx, specifically Cuban-American, YA contemporary, Rosa Santos is a bisexual firecracker facing important decisions and carries the grief of her mother and grandmother. While I had originally picked up the story thinking it was a romcom due to its curse plotline (don't get me wrong; it's definitely a romance with comedy), what I found was a complex story of discovering yourself, and your heritage due to the Latinx diaspora. Rosa deals with grief, sadness, joy, love, heartbreak, romance, and the worst fear of many high school seniors; the college decision. But the college decision for her holds so much more as she also longs to return/visit her (grandmother's) home of Cuba.
I give this love song 5 stars and I'll hold Rosa's story in my heart for years to come.
In this Latinx, specifically Cuban-American, YA contemporary, Rosa Santos is a bisexual firecracker facing important decisions and carries the grief of her mother and grandmother. While I had originally picked up the story thinking it was a romcom due to its curse plotline (don't get me wrong; it's definitely a romance with comedy), what I found was a complex story of discovering yourself, and your heritage due to the Latinx diaspora. Rosa deals with grief, sadness, joy, love, heartbreak, romance, and the worst fear of many high school seniors; the college decision. But the college decision for her holds so much more as she also longs to return/visit her (grandmother's) home of Cuba.
I give this love song 5 stars and I'll hold Rosa's story in my heart for years to come.
Don't Date Rosa Santos reminded me of Gilmore Girls, and who doesn't love Gilmore Girls? Rosa, her mother, and her abuela have a complicated relationship characterized by fierce love, but shadowed by grief. Rosa's dream is to study abroad in Havana, but her grandmother, Mimi, refuses to speak about the country she fled decades ago. Meanwhile, Rosa's mother flits from city to city, unable to call any place 'home'.
Port Coral, a small coastal town in Florida, has real sense of community - like Stars Hollow. It's the kind of place where everyone knows your business, whether you like it or not! I absolutely loved the viejitos - a group of old men who sit around playing dominoes and post the town gossip on their Instagram page.
Another reviewer described this book as a love letter to Cuba and that's exactly what it felt like. Moreno made me want to get on a plane right away to explore the sights, sounds, and smells she described in the book. The questions about identity, belonging, and pain passed from one generation to the next were what made this book so wonderful to read.
Port Coral, a small coastal town in Florida, has real sense of community - like Stars Hollow. It's the kind of place where everyone knows your business, whether you like it or not! I absolutely loved the viejitos - a group of old men who sit around playing dominoes and post the town gossip on their Instagram page.
Another reviewer described this book as a love letter to Cuba and that's exactly what it felt like. Moreno made me want to get on a plane right away to explore the sights, sounds, and smells she described in the book. The questions about identity, belonging, and pain passed from one generation to the next were what made this book so wonderful to read.