A sweet and sexy romance set in the world of telenovelas, You Had Me at Hola is an absolute delight!
I loved that You Had Me at Hola felt like a romance between two full-fledged adults. Jasmine is fresh off a very public breakup and Ashton tends to keep people at arms length. They meet just as they’re about to start work on Carmen-in-Charge, a remake of a Venezuelan telenovela. They play divorced exes, a tension that makes it even more delicious to watch them come together in IRL, sometimes against their own better judgment.
I’m not usually a huge fan of fiction set in the entertainment industry, because they often over-glamorize celebrity. But You Had Me at Hola delves into the dark side, including stalkery fans, antagonistic reporters, and having every move you make splashed across social media.
Both Jasmine and Ashton have strong relationships with their families, and You Had Me at Hola is Latinx through and through. Spanish and Spanglish peppers the book, and Alexis Daria brings an interesting twist to the story. While Jasmine is Puerto Rican and Filipina, she’s not a fluent Spanish speaker and works on it for the show. I should also mention the Spanish is NOT ITALICIZED (high five, editors). Non-Spanish speakers can easily catch on through context clues and Googling.
Between that fantastic cover (art by @bofenglin on IG) and the sexy romance at the heart of this book, it’s a must read for sure.
4 stars
CW: MCs parent died from cancer
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