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chboyer19's review against another edition
5.0
Do yourself a favor and read this love story to family past and present, near and far.
marieintheraw's review against another edition
4.0
the "let's save our town" story-type didn't always 100% click with me, but overall it was cute and really enjoyable
laura_cs's review against another edition
5.0
I received an ARC of this title through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you are a boy with a boat, a piece of advice: don't date Rosa Santos.
Rosa Santos' family history is one of tragedy. When her grandparents fled Cuba, her grandfather died in the voyage, leaving her grandmother alone in a new country with a newborn baby. The day before her mother's eighteenth birthday, the sea took Rosa's father, leaving Rosa's mother to scream and curse the sea. Now Rosa is about to graduate high school and leave her beloved hometown to attend college--particularly one with a study abroad program that goes to Cuba. But things start to go wrong really fast: the annual Spring Fest is to be canceled, the marina is about to be bought and replaced with condos, the study abroad program is cancelled, and her mother is back, causing friction in the Santos household. With her lists and help from her friends and neighbors, Rosa is determined to fight back for the Spring Fest and to save the marina. However, her lists do not help her make her college decision any easier, and no planning can prevent Rosa from continuing to bump into the tall, dark handsome young man who has recently returned to town. The only problem? You guessed it.
He's a boy with a boat.
A beautifully written masterpiece, "Don't Date Rosa Santos" is the story of loss, love, finding your happiness, finding who you are, where you belong, and what it means to be a family. Full of a cast of fantastic characters--ranging from Rosa's witchcraft practicing Mimi, to the viejitos who spread gossip through Instagram, to every last one of Rosa's friends and neighbors--and set in a delightful, vivid small Florida town bursting with life, "Don't Date Rosa Santos" is a treat from beginning to end.
If you are a boy with a boat, a piece of advice: don't date Rosa Santos.
Rosa Santos' family history is one of tragedy. When her grandparents fled Cuba, her grandfather died in the voyage, leaving her grandmother alone in a new country with a newborn baby. The day before her mother's eighteenth birthday, the sea took Rosa's father, leaving Rosa's mother to scream and curse the sea. Now Rosa is about to graduate high school and leave her beloved hometown to attend college--particularly one with a study abroad program that goes to Cuba. But things start to go wrong really fast: the annual Spring Fest is to be canceled, the marina is about to be bought and replaced with condos, the study abroad program is cancelled, and her mother is back, causing friction in the Santos household. With her lists and help from her friends and neighbors, Rosa is determined to fight back for the Spring Fest and to save the marina. However, her lists do not help her make her college decision any easier, and no planning can prevent Rosa from continuing to bump into the tall, dark handsome young man who has recently returned to town. The only problem? You guessed it.
He's a boy with a boat.
A beautifully written masterpiece, "Don't Date Rosa Santos" is the story of loss, love, finding your happiness, finding who you are, where you belong, and what it means to be a family. Full of a cast of fantastic characters--ranging from Rosa's witchcraft practicing Mimi, to the viejitos who spread gossip through Instagram, to every last one of Rosa's friends and neighbors--and set in a delightful, vivid small Florida town bursting with life, "Don't Date Rosa Santos" is a treat from beginning to end.
labunnywtf's review against another edition
4.0
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.
thepaige_turner's review against another edition
4.0
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.
indigoivee's review against another edition
3.0
This beautifully written coming-of-age book centred around family, culture and love made me so happy I swear I was ready to read it again the second it finished.
Our main character, struggling with her Latinx identity and trying to figure out who she is with a family curse hanging over her head, drove her to a future decision she soon realises was far from what she wanted. Ah, Rosa had my heart and she will remain there with her strong-mind, courage and pure joy that she brings. And then the spicy Alex who she soon falls far, just makes the story that much sweeter. But her abuela is what really kept me hooked, their relationship and the pillar she was to the community really fit right at home with me.
It was wholesome and sweet.
Favourite quote: “We try with all we have. We fight hands we can’t see. We stomp against the earth and whisper all the right prayers, but sometimes it isn’t meant to be.“
Our main character, struggling with her Latinx identity and trying to figure out who she is with a family curse hanging over her head, drove her to a future decision she soon realises was far from what she wanted. Ah, Rosa had my heart and she will remain there with her strong-mind, courage and pure joy that she brings. And then the spicy Alex who she soon falls far, just makes the story that much sweeter. But her abuela is what really kept me hooked, their relationship and the pillar she was to the community really fit right at home with me.
It was wholesome and sweet.
Favourite quote: “We try with all we have. We fight hands we can’t see. We stomp against the earth and whisper all the right prayers, but sometimes it isn’t meant to be.“
caenerys's review against another edition
3.0
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.
readmoreyall's review against another edition
5.0
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.
aldarakamey's review against another edition
5.0
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.
gggina13's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this one. It was so atmospheric and I loved the feeling of being emerged in another culture. Rosa is such a headstrong main character and Alex is the sweetest love interest.