seriously romantic: american dreamer by adriana herrera

there is so much i love about american dreamer. 1) it's got some serious latinx cred. the author is of dominican descent and so is the main character, but all the islands of the greater antilles are represented. haiti, cuba, and puerto rico, with a hint of jamaica. listen, it's all good. 2) there's lots of food. food i grew up with. food that represents my culture and had my stomach growling. 3) it also takes place in the southern tier. (the southern what? you ask. yeah i live and work in the southern tier of new york. the tompkins county public library is a weekly stop for my family as that is where we take some community spanish lessons. there's something just fun about reading a book set in a place where you live.)

i also just love nesto and jude. their story is so sweet. i love how their relationship builds and while yes it starts out from a place of intense attraction, they also develop this really beautiful friendship and it makes everything so meaningful and deep. 

my only nitpick was about the spanish in the arc, and whoever put those accents in, it was so wrong. like so wrong. and okay, that's a copyediting issue i really hope is fixed in the final copy, but it really drove me crazy. spanish is my second language, but i'm fully fluent and bilingual. and writing was one of those pieces that came last, so i remember the rules really well. and i work really hard to maintain my fluency, especially living among gringos and in a world where autocorrect means you don't have to think so hard about what you are writing. so those misplaced or missing accents did really mess with me because it literally changes how you would say the word and its meaning at times. 

but besides that, there's so much to love about this book.

**american dreamer will publish on march 4, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/carina press in exchange for my honest review.