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rhodered 's review for:
American Fairytale
by Adriana Herrera
3.5 really. It’s nice to see cinnamonbun heroes - caring, kind, emotionally intelligent for their ages and nice. Both have strong relationships with family, as well as a posse of long term friends who circle the wagons to help them, celebrate with them and call them on their shit. Both are highly competent at their jobs without being competitive assholes.
I also enjoyed the themes of immigration, the hidden costs of being white-passing, and latinX culture, particularly DR.
Lastly, wealth is handled in an interesting way that I’d love to see in m/f novels as well. Whereby the rich hero is effectively banned from using his money to help the poorer hero in almost any way, ranging from fancy holiday gifts to financial assistance in situations of urgent need. In this book, lavishing money on the poorer one you love is seen as lazy, manipulative and creating an impossible power imbalance that will ultimately kill the relationship.
I didn’t like the height differences between the heroes. One is nearly half a foot taller than the other, as well as being far bulkier. It’s something I hate in m/f books and am not thrilled to see here, particularly as the larger man is also the whiter and wealthier and shown as topping and ‘manhandling’ the smaller man in bed. Plus, it’s rubbed in by the tall guy frequently dropping kisses on top of the shorter guy’s head. Not. For. Me.
And there’s a plot moppet who is a spoiled, willful 4 year old girl that the men are all nothing but crazy for. Nothing she does is not viewed through ‘so cute’ rose tinted glasses.
Finally I’ll quibble a bit on the author’s adoration of her wealthy character who by moving into a Harlem neighborhood, complete with rich besties who buy two other houses besides his own, is to some degree the epitome of gentrification. It doesn’t matter that he’s LatinX with immigrant friends of many nations, he’s spending big bucks on real estate and eating out consistently at restaurants that have sprung up to serve his kind with prices regular people in the area can’t afford. I do understand though, gentrification has a wide grey area between ok and not ok. He’s in the grey though.
Overall the book moves calmly along. It’s fairly low angst, high lovey-doveyness.
I also enjoyed the themes of immigration, the hidden costs of being white-passing, and latinX culture, particularly DR.
Lastly, wealth is handled in an interesting way that I’d love to see in m/f novels as well. Whereby the rich hero is effectively banned from using his money to help the poorer hero in almost any way, ranging from fancy holiday gifts to financial assistance in situations of urgent need. In this book, lavishing money on the poorer one you love is seen as lazy, manipulative and creating an impossible power imbalance that will ultimately kill the relationship.
I didn’t like the height differences between the heroes. One is nearly half a foot taller than the other, as well as being far bulkier. It’s something I hate in m/f books and am not thrilled to see here, particularly as the larger man is also the whiter and wealthier and shown as topping and ‘manhandling’ the smaller man in bed. Plus, it’s rubbed in by the tall guy frequently dropping kisses on top of the shorter guy’s head. Not. For. Me.
And there’s a plot moppet who is a spoiled, willful 4 year old girl that the men are all nothing but crazy for. Nothing she does is not viewed through ‘so cute’ rose tinted glasses.
Finally I’ll quibble a bit on the author’s adoration of her wealthy character who by moving into a Harlem neighborhood, complete with rich besties who buy two other houses besides his own, is to some degree the epitome of gentrification. It doesn’t matter that he’s LatinX with immigrant friends of many nations, he’s spending big bucks on real estate and eating out consistently at restaurants that have sprung up to serve his kind with prices regular people in the area can’t afford. I do understand though, gentrification has a wide grey area between ok and not ok. He’s in the grey though.
Overall the book moves calmly along. It’s fairly low angst, high lovey-doveyness.