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A review by thenovelmaura
Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I wanted to love this book and I'm kind of surprised that I didn't! Can I say before starting out that I'm obsessed with this book cover? Setting aside my review, props to the designer because it is gorgeous.
There were a lot of well-done and lovely elements to this story: the complicated relationships between Rosa and her mother and her grandmother, her grandmother's mixed feelings about her homeland of Cuba, Rosa's need to live up to everyone's expectations while struggling with her identity, grief and how we honor the memories of our loved ones, and the power of a supportive community. Spanish is used throughout the book without a side-by-side English translation, and all the food described here sounded delicious.
My two biggest problems were the pacing and the way the "curse" is never addressed. The Santos women constantly alluded to the curse but no one ever laid out what it is and what it meant to them. My understanding was that any men they fell in love with would end up drowning? But that didn't explain why Rosa herself hadn't gone to the beach in her 17 years of life, despite growing up in a port city in Florida. What's more, she just randomly decided to start going to the boardwalk (even before she falls for Alex) and everyone in town was shocked, but no one explained why it would be an issue. The pacing was all over the place; at first, too many characters were introduced too quickly, Rosa agreed to plan an entire wedding for two people she didn't seem to know that well, and the story dragged in the middle and end.
Maybe another reader could overlook these issues and enjoy this lighthearted story, but I found them too distracting! I do own another book by Moreno so I plan to give her another try at some point.
There were a lot of well-done and lovely elements to this story: the complicated relationships between Rosa and her mother and her grandmother, her grandmother's mixed feelings about her homeland of Cuba, Rosa's need to live up to everyone's expectations while struggling with her identity, grief and how we honor the memories of our loved ones, and the power of a supportive community. Spanish is used throughout the book without a side-by-side English translation, and all the food described here sounded delicious.
My two biggest problems were the pacing and the way the "curse" is never addressed. The Santos women constantly alluded to the curse but no one ever laid out what it is and what it meant to them. My understanding was that any men they fell in love with would end up drowning? But that didn't explain why Rosa herself hadn't gone to the beach in her 17 years of life, despite growing up in a port city in Florida. What's more, she just randomly decided to start going to the boardwalk (even before she falls for Alex) and everyone in town was shocked, but no one explained why it would be an issue. The pacing was all over the place; at first, too many characters were introduced too quickly, Rosa agreed to plan an entire wedding for two people she didn't seem to know that well, and the story dragged in the middle and end.
Maybe another reader could overlook these issues and enjoy this lighthearted story, but I found them too distracting! I do own another book by Moreno so I plan to give her another try at some point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Death