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A review by nic55
American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera
5.0
4.5 stars
While parts of this book didn’t hold up as well as I remember, I still love this romance.
The things I loved the first time didn’t change at all. Nesto and Jude were still perfection. Their relationship just felt very grounded in real life shit. Loved the way they showed up for each other throughout this book The steam was lowkey hotter than I remember, their chemistry is...whew. Also on a personal note. As an immigrant who puts a lot of pressure on myself and is known to isolate when a goal is in mind…yeah Nesto’s character hit a little close to home. The way he had to grovel and realign his priorities really spoke to me. Also made the “3rd act conflict” feel necessary rather than something tacked on.
The cultural elements were just as great too, I could really feel the love Adriana has for her Afro-Dominican culture all through this book. Even the way Spanish was incorporated or how non-cringy Jude’s knowledge of Spanish/Latin culture was…idk it just felt so natural, which is what I always love about ownvoices stories.
Misty didn’t actually bother me as much as I thought, mostly bc she wasn’t the annoying trope of “women in MM romance flirting/trying to break them up”. And there were other badass women included in the story as side characters. She was definitely a bitter racist white woman tho, and while I wish I could say it was too heavy handed…I’ve had too many real life experiences to think that. HOWEVER. I feel like if you’re gonna go hard on that kind of character, you gotta go hard on her downfall yknow? Maybe I’m just petty but she got off too easy, especially with how prevalent she was in both Nesto and Jude’s life.
Also, the writing wasn’t the strongest. Still good but the flow was choppier than I remember. Lots of moments setting up Nesto’s friends book through info-dumping. A bit of a lull pacing wise through the middle. Idk it just wasn’t hitting the same.
Though I wish I’d loved it as much as the first time, it was good to see how my taste has changed. Also this is still an excellent book and the fact that this was her debut is WILD to me. I’m so excited to finally get into the other books in this series with the rest of Nesto’s friend group!
While parts of this book didn’t hold up as well as I remember, I still love this romance.
The things I loved the first time didn’t change at all. Nesto and Jude were still perfection. Their relationship just felt very grounded in real life shit. Loved the way they showed up for each other throughout this book The steam was lowkey hotter than I remember, their chemistry is...whew. Also on a personal note. As an immigrant who puts a lot of pressure on myself and is known to isolate when a goal is in mind…yeah Nesto’s character hit a little close to home. The way he had to grovel and realign his priorities really spoke to me. Also made the “3rd act conflict” feel necessary rather than something tacked on.
The cultural elements were just as great too, I could really feel the love Adriana has for her Afro-Dominican culture all through this book. Even the way Spanish was incorporated or how non-cringy Jude’s knowledge of Spanish/Latin culture was…idk it just felt so natural, which is what I always love about ownvoices stories.
Misty didn’t actually bother me as much as I thought, mostly bc she wasn’t the annoying trope of “women in MM romance flirting/trying to break them up”. And there were other badass women included in the story as side characters. She was definitely a bitter racist white woman tho, and while I wish I could say it was too heavy handed…I’ve had too many real life experiences to think that. HOWEVER. I feel like if you’re gonna go hard on that kind of character, you gotta go hard on her downfall yknow? Maybe I’m just petty but she got off too easy, especially with how prevalent she was in both Nesto and Jude’s life.
Also, the writing wasn’t the strongest. Still good but the flow was choppier than I remember. Lots of moments setting up Nesto’s friends book through info-dumping. A bit of a lull pacing wise through the middle. Idk it just wasn’t hitting the same.
Though I wish I’d loved it as much as the first time, it was good to see how my taste has changed. Also this is still an excellent book and the fact that this was her debut is WILD to me. I’m so excited to finally get into the other books in this series with the rest of Nesto’s friend group!