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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
It would seem that the trick to me liking a contemporary is to give me an unfamiliar culture to dive into. Especially one that distracts from the romance I'm rarely ever invested in.
Rosa Santos is SPUNKY. She's bright and chipper and eager. Eager to live life and explore the world, starting with the country of her heritage, Cuba. Now that relations between the US and Cuba have been renegotiated, she's excited to be accepted into a college with a study abroad program in Havana. Now she just has to tell her grandmother.
Another thing Rosa is? Cursed. Like her mother and grandmother before her. Cursed to love men with boats, who disappear while sailing, never to come home again. So for her entire life, Rosa has lived in a coastal city and never voyaged to the marina. The whole community knows she's cursed, so there's no use rocking the boat*.
Then word comes down that the marina is going to be shut down. The property is being sold, and jobs are going to disappear. So, Rosa comes up with a plan to save the town. With the help of a very pretty boy.
A boy with a boat.
There's a LOT going on with this story. Curses and magic and heritage and friendship and romance and IT'S A LOT. But the one thing flowing throughout is the story of a family. A trio of women who only have each other. Two of them running from their history, while the third, and youngest, runs towards it at full speed.
Rosa's Cuban heritage is so important to her, and it becomes important to us as we read. We want her to get to Havana, we want her to get the boy, we want Rosa and Mimi and...Rosa's mom whose name I can't remember because she is so very absent throughout, we want them all to get the things they need most in the world.
It lost me towards the very end, unfortunately. We got our big climactic scene and I feel like it lost its way and carried on far too long. But that doesn't take away from this adorable story.
* Sorry.
Rosa Santos is SPUNKY. She's bright and chipper and eager. Eager to live life and explore the world, starting with the country of her heritage, Cuba. Now that relations between the US and Cuba have been renegotiated, she's excited to be accepted into a college with a study abroad program in Havana. Now she just has to tell her grandmother.
Another thing Rosa is? Cursed. Like her mother and grandmother before her. Cursed to love men with boats, who disappear while sailing, never to come home again. So for her entire life, Rosa has lived in a coastal city and never voyaged to the marina. The whole community knows she's cursed, so there's no use rocking the boat*.
Then word comes down that the marina is going to be shut down. The property is being sold, and jobs are going to disappear. So, Rosa comes up with a plan to save the town. With the help of a very pretty boy.
A boy with a boat.
There's a LOT going on with this story. Curses and magic and heritage and friendship and romance and IT'S A LOT. But the one thing flowing throughout is the story of a family. A trio of women who only have each other. Two of them running from their history, while the third, and youngest, runs towards it at full speed.
Rosa's Cuban heritage is so important to her, and it becomes important to us as we read. We want her to get to Havana, we want her to get the boy, we want Rosa and Mimi and...Rosa's mom whose name I can't remember because she is so very absent throughout, we want them all to get the things they need most in the world.
It lost me towards the very end, unfortunately. We got our big climactic scene and I feel like it lost its way and carried on far too long. But that doesn't take away from this adorable story.
* Sorry.
Video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vThbXNlflKg
I loved Don't Date Rosa Santos!
From the very beginning, and all throughout the novel, we are thrown into a world where things don't make sense and that's okay. Rosa feels lost and torn between two different cultures and worlds. She longs for the old all while embracing the new, trying to desperately grab at the small pieces of the past that will connect her to her family.
The whole concept of family and striving for a future that will connect her with the past is so interesting and intertwined all throughout the different adventures Rosa gets up to in the novel. However, I think because of this, some of the other characters surrounding Rosa get lost in the shuffle and I would have liked to see a little bit more of them. Even Alex is kind of lost and we don't really seem to get his full story.
Honestly a short and sweet novel that made me yearn for the ocean and tropical weather with heavenly descriptions of food and cute little side-quests throughout to keep the plot moving, this was a fantastic debut novel.
I loved Don't Date Rosa Santos!
From the very beginning, and all throughout the novel, we are thrown into a world where things don't make sense and that's okay. Rosa feels lost and torn between two different cultures and worlds. She longs for the old all while embracing the new, trying to desperately grab at the small pieces of the past that will connect her to her family.
The whole concept of family and striving for a future that will connect her with the past is so interesting and intertwined all throughout the different adventures Rosa gets up to in the novel. However, I think because of this, some of the other characters surrounding Rosa get lost in the shuffle and I would have liked to see a little bit more of them. Even Alex is kind of lost and we don't really seem to get his full story.
Honestly a short and sweet novel that made me yearn for the ocean and tropical weather with heavenly descriptions of food and cute little side-quests throughout to keep the plot moving, this was a fantastic debut novel.
for the most part i definitely did enjoy this story but i did not care for the romance whatsover. I liked pretty much all the characters but I felt that when Rosa was around the Love Interest she was so bland and boring and I couldnt understand what they saw in each other. Either we were expected to believe in some sort of natural chemistry that didn't exist or I just wasn't seeing what I was supposed to.
A little magic. A lot of family. A beautiful story.
If you don’t fall in love with every character, I’d be surprised.
Preorder it now or you’ll regret it.
If you don’t fall in love with every character, I’d be surprised.
Preorder it now or you’ll regret it.
This book deserves everything.
It’s been awhile since I finished a book that would made me feel this happy, and sad, and full of hope and thoughts about the character, since I need at least a short story about every single character. Something I’ve been missing because I didn’t read enough Latinx Stories, the sense of home, the story wasn’t mine but it felt close to home... GOD I loved this book so much. I’ll memorize this book I swear.
It’s been awhile since I finished a book that would made me feel this happy, and sad, and full of hope and thoughts about the character, since I need at least a short story about every single character. Something I’ve been missing because I didn’t read enough Latinx Stories, the sense of home, the story wasn’t mine but it felt close to home... GOD I loved this book so much. I’ll memorize this book I swear.
3.5 stars. The story of a girl struggling with the Cuban diaspora within her family and what that meant for their past and means for their future. The Santos women are known to be cursed to lose the people they love to the sea, and what does Rosa do in response? Well, she falls for a boy with a boat who makes incredible pastries. With her strong, small town community of Port Coral, she might actually get through this. Rosa is a dedicated student, trying to figure out her future and dreaming of Cuba, but when her community needs her when the marina threatens to be sold, she rallies the community to work to fundraise enough money with Spring Fest to protect the home she loves.
After meeting the author (twice, going on three times) I really wanted to love this book and be its greatest advocate, but it didn't make a lasting impression on me. The book was strongly written, with certain phrases and chapter endings I thought were brilliant. I really enjoyed reading about the nuances of Port Coral and the different characters within it. It seems like a tangible place, rooted in reality, though it is fictional. I enjoyed reading about the Santos women, whom, despite their curse, show incredible strength in the face of loss. I also really enjoyed the romance between Alex and Rosa. The scenes in the orange grove and their first date with Alex's entire family showing up for dinner were the most memorable in the book.
I'm not entirely sure what the disconnect was for me. I do think some significant moments were only shown 'off-screen' like the monetary results of Spring Fest or the death of a character, both of which should have had a lot of heightened emotion, but were dulled by it being told rather than shown. Some of the scene transitions weren't clear, like how a character got from one place to the next, and it took me out of the story. Ultimately, I just didn't connect in an impactful way with any of the characters in the story, and for me, that's key to taking a book from good to great in my mind, but that's also a highly subjective process.
I think this book does great things in speaking to the diaspora, politics in Cuba, and a girl searching for identity and direction and clarity on her family's past. I thought the magical realism and brujeria was a strong component of the story. I also loved hearing from the author about her personal journey in writing the book and how reflecting on Cuba was both incredibly difficult and fulfilling as she lived out her fantasy through Rosa. I love that the strong Latinx community has rallied around this book and amplified Rosa's voice and story and I hope this book finds many new readers.
After meeting the author (twice, going on three times) I really wanted to love this book and be its greatest advocate, but it didn't make a lasting impression on me. The book was strongly written, with certain phrases and chapter endings I thought were brilliant. I really enjoyed reading about the nuances of Port Coral and the different characters within it. It seems like a tangible place, rooted in reality, though it is fictional. I enjoyed reading about the Santos women, whom, despite their curse, show incredible strength in the face of loss. I also really enjoyed the romance between Alex and Rosa. The scenes in the orange grove and their first date with Alex's entire family showing up for dinner were the most memorable in the book.
I'm not entirely sure what the disconnect was for me. I do think some significant moments were only shown 'off-screen' like the monetary results of Spring Fest or the death of a character, both of which should have had a lot of heightened emotion, but were dulled by it being told rather than shown. Some of the scene transitions weren't clear, like how a character got from one place to the next, and it took me out of the story. Ultimately, I just didn't connect in an impactful way with any of the characters in the story, and for me, that's key to taking a book from good to great in my mind, but that's also a highly subjective process.
I think this book does great things in speaking to the diaspora, politics in Cuba, and a girl searching for identity and direction and clarity on her family's past. I thought the magical realism and brujeria was a strong component of the story. I also loved hearing from the author about her personal journey in writing the book and how reflecting on Cuba was both incredibly difficult and fulfilling as she lived out her fantasy through Rosa. I love that the strong Latinx community has rallied around this book and amplified Rosa's voice and story and I hope this book finds many new readers.
happy release day to this own voices excellence!
2019 is the year of good ass latinx contemporaries
this was a lot of fun! to be honest, i requested it because of the buzz i was hearing from some of my lovely latinx friends but i didn't know much about the story going in. i think had i known what the premise was i probably wouldn't have requested it. "save our town" kind of stories usually aren't for me. but i'm glad i listened to my friends because this was great!
it's a story about a cuban american girl named rosa who's in her senior year of high school. she's trying to figure out where she fits in both in terms of her heritage and in what she wants to do. she wants to go to cuba, she wants to feel a deeper connection to her family and she wants to understand where she comes from. all of this struggle is happening internally as she tries to help her town raise enough money to keep their marina from being bought by developers. and of course there's a love story.
i really enjoyed the cuban rep in this and i really enjoyed the family relationships in this. it was messy and real and even though i'm just a whitey, i could relate to the family dynamics. i also loved the town of Port Coral where this was set. everyone knew everyone and it felt like a cuban Stars Hollow.
the only thing that i didn't absolutely love about the story was the romance. it was kind of swoony at points but it didn't grip me. i think YA contemporaries are VERY hit or miss with the romance for me so this isn't too surprising. but alex was a super sweet guy and i didn't actively root against their relationship so i'll take that as a win in my book.
overall, i loved this story and getting to know rosa and port coral. would highly recommend to everyone, it would make a good ass summer read
2019 is the year of good ass latinx contemporaries
this was a lot of fun! to be honest, i requested it because of the buzz i was hearing from some of my lovely latinx friends but i didn't know much about the story going in. i think had i known what the premise was i probably wouldn't have requested it. "save our town" kind of stories usually aren't for me. but i'm glad i listened to my friends because this was great!
it's a story about a cuban american girl named rosa who's in her senior year of high school. she's trying to figure out where she fits in both in terms of her heritage and in what she wants to do. she wants to go to cuba, she wants to feel a deeper connection to her family and she wants to understand where she comes from. all of this struggle is happening internally as she tries to help her town raise enough money to keep their marina from being bought by developers. and of course there's a love story.
i really enjoyed the cuban rep in this and i really enjoyed the family relationships in this. it was messy and real and even though i'm just a whitey, i could relate to the family dynamics. i also loved the town of Port Coral where this was set. everyone knew everyone and it felt like a cuban Stars Hollow.
the only thing that i didn't absolutely love about the story was the romance. it was kind of swoony at points but it didn't grip me. i think YA contemporaries are VERY hit or miss with the romance for me so this isn't too surprising. but alex was a super sweet guy and i didn't actively root against their relationship so i'll take that as a win in my book.
overall, i loved this story and getting to know rosa and port coral. would highly recommend to everyone, it would make a good ass summer read
This is a cute rom-com with a side of family drama and a sprinkling of magical realism. The best part about it is the Cuban-American community Moreno created. It's warm, vibrant, quirky, and fun. I could feel the love between its members, even if I couldn't always keep the different townsfolk straight. The characters are fun, although Rosa gets annoying at times. Plotwise, DON'T DATE ROSA SANTOS is kind of disjointed, even frenetic at times. The whole curse thing seemed silly to me and I just wasn't convinced that it could possibly be that important to one person, let alone a whole family and community. I like that the romance between Rosa and Alex stays sweet, even if it seems a little insta-lovey. Considering all this, I can't say I loved DON'T DATE ROSA SANTOS. I liked it well enough to finish the book, but there was definitely something lacking in it for me. I'd give it somewhere between a B- and a C+.
*4.5 stars
literally one of the best contemporaries i've read this year. 😔💛
literally one of the best contemporaries i've read this year. 😔💛
I thoroughly enjoyed this. This has the appearance (and description) of being a simple YA contemporary YA romance, but it is actually a story about immigration and family. The heart of the book is Rosa's relationships with her mother and grandmother, the expectations on her to succeed, and the questions she carries about her life's history. The idea of the sea and the curse keeping her from the boy she wants are all wrapped up in that. It is an engaging read and Rosa is a fun, empathetic character. She is a lot like I imagine Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec would have been like in high school.