Reviews with content warning for Bullying - After Hours on Milagro Street

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez

10 reviews

wanderlust_romance's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

SO GOOD! This book busted my romance slump. Everything was on point! The story, the characters, the steam, the small town, the mystery…it all just came together so well. And on top of all of that, there was just enough hint of mysticism/magical realism to make everything shine. I loved Alex and Jeremiah’s love story.

AHOMS was doing a whole heck of a lot. It examines Latinx (more specifically Mexican American erasure) in a small town, thereby challenging the romance standard of white characters being centered in that setting. It looks at gentrification and political interests in terms of historical preservation. It taps into the ways racial & ethnic stereotypes can feed into our sense of self for POC. It reflects on how homecoming can be wrought with emotion and conflict, and how so much can change in the time one has been away. It subtly and consciously uses the town name (Freedom, Kansas) alongside narrative concepts and character arcs focused on homecoming, liberation, independence, and unburdening. AND IT DOES IT ALL SO WELL!

And the chemistry between Alex and Jeremiah? Hoooooooo boy. The Profe is a cinna-dom and knows how to be a boss when he needs to

Content Warnings

kylieqrada's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was sooooo good. I loved learning about the history of traquederos in Kansas, and the setting was so fleshed out and real. The only part I didn't like were the sex scenes. Not for me.

Content Warnings

bookishmillennial's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

I was so surprised by this one! Alex started this book off HOT! She did not hold back! I was howling at her first interaction with Jeremiah hahaha. Their chemistry and tension was off the charts. I was sweating reading this book -- also because we are having a wild ass heat wave (climate change is real) but still!! Angelina knew was she was doing writing this damn steamy book!

I actually had no idea about the 5th or 6th generation Mexican American families in the central states, but I wasn't surprised at these stories being suppressed and erased by our American history books. I deeply enjoyed the mystery that Alex and Jeremiah unraveled when it came to the ownership deeds of Loretta's bar. It was reminiscent of National Treasure but within a small town in Kansas with a bit more longing and banter hehe.

I also really enjoyed the introduction to Alex's two sisters Gillian & Sissy, and I look forward to their love stories next!

Steam: 3/5

Quotations that stood out to me:

Freedom, Kansas had been the home of her sprawling Mexican-American family for five generations, starting with her great-great León grandparents who’d arrived near the beginning of the 1900s. It was a story she’d gotten tired of explaining to people. No one expected a woman that looked like her—brown skin, ball of a nose with a wide bridge, black hair, and deep brown eyes—to be from the heartland. No one anticipated that her family sometimes had deeper and longer roots in the country than their white families had.

Apparently, she and her sisters could only get along long-distance. That didn’t change what she was here to do. She would double Gillian’s investment and make sure Sissy’s recipes shined on the menu. They didn’t have to like her. They just had to stay out of her way.

She seemed half his height, but the sense of her filled the room.

This was such an important story to be told, not only about who Americans were but about who Americans are.

“We’ll showcase the full story of Freedom’s evolution but, most excitingly, we’ll be able to tell the little sung story of the Midwestern colonias from Milagro Street, which was home to one of the first. This neighborhood, like other colonias throughout the Midwest, provided services, support, and a sense of home for Mexican immigrants arriving to work on the railroad. Even though few colonias still survive today, they are a large part of why you have pockets of fourth-and fifth-generation Mexican-American social groups in towns throughout the central states.”

“But please believe that the idea of me playing white savior to your community is anathema to everything I believe in and everything I’ve built my career on. I want who’s perceived as the winners to change. I want people to know that there’s a truer, richer story to our past than what they’ve been told. All I want here, all I care about, is that your family’s important story is heard.”

His passion, academic and nerdy, was like a flame between her legs.

How did he focus on her and not on the heavy weight of ineffectiveness he felt? How did he apologize for the centuries of entrenched other-ism based on the melanin in an American’s skin?

The big, goofy, hot, brainy, kinda sweet puppy.

You didn’t look like her, as Latina as her, without dealing with racism in all its glorious forms. Although most people would assume she’d jump straight to mad, she’d actually greeted it with every color of the rainbow—shock, a snappy comeback, a punch, a blank look and a hollow ache, ignoring it, losing her fricking mind.

He could do this. He could take care of this woman who took care of everyone else.

She claimed the title “bitch.” But she was the heart that felt too much. She was the angel who was enraged that she couldn’t avenge them all.

Everyone kept calling Alex strong. But what took more strength: Gripping on to a sword? Or putting it down and risking getting stabbed?

Small-town stories have sometimes bugged me for seeming to imply that an ideal, pastoral vision of America didn’t include people of color. Small towns are a representation of America, and that America includes my family: part of a community since 1908, tortillas at every meal, huge fifty-person family gatherings for lunch every Sunday after mass, a Mexican food stand at our town’s annual Halloween celebration, and piñatas at every birthday party.

Content Warnings

dolores_madil's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

lexa's review

Go to review page

5.0

Opposites attract / instant lust, but also kinda slow burn?? / a ghostly side character / small town with lots of history… and family / only. one. bed.

Content Warnings

amberinpieces's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

this_momma_is_booked's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was such a cute and steamy read! I loved the audiobook, so I definitely recommend listening to it. I enjoyed the paranormal elements that were mixed into the story and they were such a great tool to discover things the characters themselves wouldn't know and move the story forward. I appreciated the family dynamics and how true they were to so many Latinx families, particularly those who are living in the U.S. and straddling that line between assimilation and keeping their culture and customs alive.

Plus, that masturbation scene through the wall is one of the hottest things I've ever read. PHEW.

Content Warnings

sdupont's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Please do not sleep on this book! It has everything- ghosts, mystery, hidden inheritance, family drama, and a spicy love story. I enjoyed this book so much, I will say the ending is a little rushed. This book would’ve benefitted from an epilogue to help tie things together. I really liked Alex, she was so full of passion for the people she cared about. Also, it needs to be repeated that this book is hot-

the scene where they masturbate with each other through a wall while in their own adjacent bedrooms is so steamy and will continue to live rent free in my mind

. Highly recommend this read!

Content Warnings

kimalah's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I originally DNF’d After Hours on Milagro Street in August 2022. However, several writers and readers I respect held the book in high regard. Over time, I felt like perhaps I was too hasty. I knew Alex began as a very unlikable character but that she grew and changed. So, I tried it again.

The initial encounter between Alex and Jeremiah still is disturbing to me. It creeps closely to the line of non-consensual. And Alex really can be quite horrible. But I continued and found a story that is full of emotion and need and vulnerability. Jeremiah and Alex have both been hurt by family and being othered. But Alex has to face that daily in society by the virtue of being of Mexican descent. Jeremiah recognizes his advantage in life and centers her experience, even when he wants to rage against the abusers and racists.

There is a lot of meat to the underlying factors in the story, a lot to absorb and think about, but it makes for a full and rich experience. The sex scenes are scorching. There is a paranormal element in the form of a ghost but I wouldn’t call it a paranormal romance. I learned about a community I had not heard of before this book and appreciate the history shared. It really ended up being a marvelous book. That first sex scene still bothers me. If it weren’t for that, this would be a five star read for me.

—————————————————————————————

DNF at 19%. Alex turned me completely off from this book. I tried to give time for her story to develop as per other reviewers, but after the dub con encounter she pushed on Jeremiah and her awful behavior with everyone, I couldn’t go any further. I was really interested in the story of the Mexican American communities in the mid-west, but I had to stop.

Content Warnings

bookwormbullet's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

More...