Genre: YA romance
Overall rating: 4.25/5 stars
Song: "Afterglow" by Taylor Swift
Synopsis: Ana Maria Ybarra dreams of becoming a world-famous pastry chef, but dreams have a cost. Her family can barely keep the family business running, let alone pay for culinary school. Ana Maria helps out at the family bakery, Café Y Mas, whenever she can, but they are struggling while the rival Cuban bakery across the street, Morales Bakery, is doing better than ever with their Instagram famous desserts. Ana Maria's only hope is winning a recipe competition, which has a grand prize big enough to pay for culinary school. But then the ultimate distraction shows up in her small town: Miguel, a boy she spent one magical day with six months ago, and who she never thought she'd see again. Ana Maria thinks maybe fate has brought them together again for a reason-- until she learns the horrible truth that Miguel is a Morales.
A Ybarra cannot be associated with a Morales-let alone fall for one. But when Miguel offers to help Ana Maria with the competition, she is so desperate to win she can't turn him down. All she needs to do is keep Miguel at arm's length and keep their deal a secret from their families. After all, teaming up with Miguel is just business, nothing more…right?
Review: What a delectable treat of a book – both figuratively and literally. Alexis Castellanos' debut novel was so fun to read! Ana Maria and Miguel's relationship is so sweet (unintentional pun, sorry) and Miguel is the epitome of "if he wanted to, he would." Never to hate on lovely FMC Ana Maria, but after all she put him through, a lot of men wouldn't have continued to come back (I chose "Afterglow" for a reason). And yet, Miguel sets the bar above the roof over and over again. I love how at first they're like "let's just be friends so Ana Maria can win her competition," then figure out "oh, we can't do this without getting involved because our respective crushes are too big" so they decide to switch to rivals to lovers halfway through. As an emphatic supporter of both team friends-to-lovers and team enemies-to-lovers, it was a delightful mix.
However, as cute as their romance is, my favorite part of this book was the mouthwatering descriptions of food, especially desserts. Ana Maria's recipes were so creative and sound delicious – speaking of which, thank you Alexis for including the recipe for her guava thumbprint cookies. I will most definitely be trying them. It's like the equivalent of Tashie Bhuiyan putting a (fire) playlist in Stay With My Heart, her latest contemporary novel centered around a band and music – God bless the authors that go the extra mile to make their story "interactive." I especially appreciated Ana Maria's flair for creating fusion dessert recipes that bring together American cuisine with her own culture, because I do the exact same thing with Italian sweets (tiramisù cookies, mocha espresso cupcakes, and cannoli cream cake are just a few examples)! Seeing yourself represented in books, even in such a small way as this, is such a heartwarming experience.
READ IF YOU LIKE: A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey, immigrant family trauma, small town romances, sweet moments (again – figurative and literal), Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, supportive besties, Romeo and Juliet but food, A Pho Love Story by Loan Le, family hijinks including a hilarious and realistic sister relationship, doughnuts, and teaming up with your sworn mortal enemy against a common bigger threat.
Finally, a huge thank you to Colored Pages Book Tours and Bloomsbury for sending me a bound ARC manuscript to review for the tour! This did not affect my review/rating in any way. Guava and Grudges comes out on September 3rd, and if you want to experience the magic of Cuban bakeries and wholesome romance for yourself, you can find all the preorder links from different retailers on Alexis's website here!
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