A review by bigbookbaby
Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

4.0

Like Happiness was a quick, captivating read! Tatum, our MC, recounts her experience in a relationship with Mateo, an older man and renowned author whose book was monumental in her life.

After he replies to her fan letter, they begin to develop an increasingly unhealthy relationship. The power differentials between them are glaring, and your heart reels as you watch Tatum develop genuine emotions for a man who is certainly manipulating her. I appreciated the reflection on being a woman of color in a predominantly white institution, specifically calling out how certain authors are tokenized to represent entire communities and questioning whose voices are continuously left out. I also appreciate how the author portrays the insidious nature of manipulation, revealing the ways in which someone has multiple sides to them and how they can leverage things like money, culture, and more to target vulnerable people. Mateo’s manipulation is hard to read, but important for the story. On a lighter note, I loved the queer nun subplot. I also loved how Tatum was ultimately able to gain clarity and perspective on her relationship with Mateo, developing a sense of agency in defining her own narrative. I wish we had gotten to spend more time with this part of the story, particularly after Mateo published his novel. The story also circled a fair bit around the news article, so it felt weird to never actually read it. At one time, Tatum considered writing the story herself, and I wish this had actually happened.

This book was slow for me to get into, and the end felt a bit rushed, but I still quite enjoyed it overall.