Here's the thing. I thought I would enjoy this book because of the Carribbean characters in it. That somehow I would recognise some things from my childhood.

It didn't. In fact the story felt very American. I tried to formulate a coherent and short way to say why I did not enjoy that aspect. But I can't. It would take too long. I never liked the American Dream aspect of American culture. The believe that America is the land of opportunities. That with hard work everyone can succeed! Etcetera etcetera.

I recognize that I'm too European/Dutch to ever get that aspect of American culture. It feels too alien. Almost false in a way.

But the story is about that aspect. It reinforces that in every chapter. It's what drives the characters.
It hindered my reading experience.

But other people will and should enjoy this story because of those things! It's hopeful and doesn't dum things down which I appreciated. ( )

I may have some 'splainin to do with God since I spent my Yom Kippur finishing a romance.

This was a real joy to read. I do not read a lot of m/m romance. I am a cis-het woman: to some extent romance is fantasy, and the sexual parts of m/m romance are not the stuff of my personal fantasies, but the rest of this romance was a giant yes for me! (For those who are interested, the sex in this is graphic. This is a well-crafted story about people who do many things and the majority of their time is not spent having sex, but when the guys hit the sheets it gets very steamy and sticky. Let's just say that I assume the guys were doing a lot of laundry. Also, there is some dirty talk that is very good and very dirty.)

Nesto is a smart, well educated, driven Dominican immigrant raised in New York and his heart rests equally in his beloved New York and his beloved DR. After college Nesto realized his passion was cooking, the thing that united his afro-Caribbean community. Nesto's food truck is doing well, but not well enough to live on in NYC and he misses his mother who has moved to Ithaca. He decides to make a go of things in Ithaca for a summer (after which he will decide if he is staying.) Its a good thing he picked summer -- winter in Ithaca has less to recommend it. Anyway... he gets his business going with the unending loving support of his delightful mother and a group of supportive (NYC based) friends. There he meets Jude, a librarian who has in recent years separated himself from his fundamentalist Christian family who consider him an abomination. He has friends and a great job, but his once close family is mostly lost to him simply because he is gay. Jude is a bit nervous and finicky (totally understandable given his backstory) for me to swoon over him, but if anyone knows a Nesto clone who likes the ladies please let me know. Also, this is pretty loving portrait of Ithaca and New York, and since my own life revolves around NYC and Ithaca it was fun to read a book that saw the wonders of both.

The story explores what it is to be a Caribbean immigrant in America, both the beautiful and the ugly. It also looks at the complexities of doing it all when building ones personal and professional life at the same time. At all times the story conveys the importance and joys of friendships and family ties.

My one issue with this book was the ridiculous xenophobic villain. There are some terrible nasty racist assholes, but this was not a remotely nuanced depiction of that type. Also, I don't think there are a lot of destructive rich and powerful xenophobes in the world of grant-writing. It was irritating and said character - Misty is her name - shows up a lot. It cost the book a point - other than that I have no major quibbles.

Side note: By complete coincidence I was reading this at the same time I was reading Razorblade Tears, which also focuses on families who rejected children for being LGBTQ+. FWIW, this book, I thought, handled the discussion much better.

All in all, I kinda loved this. I will definitely read more Adriana Herrera though I might next go for one of her m/f books. Highly recommended. ( )

I’m thrilled that I discovered this series that follows 4 Latinx besties, all guys of Afro-Caribbean heritage. Nesto Vasquez, the hero of this one, instantly hooked me. Warm, authentic characters, beautiful storytelling and a fiery and sweet M/M romance. Bonus: Nesto owns a food truck and his creations sound amazingggg. I’m realizing that I need to sample Dominican cuisine stat!

My first but my no means my last. I loved it and now I'm hungry. ( )

I feel like I've been issuing this warning a lot lately, but don't read this book while hungry or you might end up eating your e-reader.

Seeing Jude's house, I got an image of myself walking up the pathway and opening the door to find him there waiting for me...

There's a lot to like in this book. And sometimes, it's a bit irritating. For one thing, this was a lot of 'tell' almost like a recipe. Nesto told us how he was, Jude told us how he was, there was a one-dimensional bigot loser creating trouble...and a good cast of secondary characters, one of whom definitely stole the show and is one of protagonists in Herrera's next novel. And truly, Nesto's mother and group of friends (particularly Milo, the one stealing the show) added lovely dimension to this-as well as Carmen, Jude's best friend.

So, if you can't tell from the title, this book is all in on immigrants--and culturally, it did a great job reflecting the group from the Bronx supporting their friend moving to Ithaca to make his way with a food truck. While singularly focused, of course Nesto meets the Jude, who was closeted most of his life due to his conservative Christian family. And then cut off by said family. This is a pretty decent set up--but unfortunately that 'telling' got in the way of what had the makings of a complex social commentary of the clash of two worlds. (Nesto has a supportive out and proud group of friends and family) I felt a little pummeled by the immigration and other social issues--and in this case, less is more. What might have worked in an NA / YA does not always work here. I've had interaction with immigrants since birth, and this comes off too preachy and not nuanced enough-- as if Americans not growing embedded in places thought to be multicultural would have no clue how integral immigrants are to the fabric of American culture. I'm all about socio-political commentary in my romance--hell, most great romances excel at it, I just felt a little...nagged. What did shine, for this level of detail, was the specificity of detail on Dominican culture. So it was a mixed bag from that perspective. And of course, with a relationship between a white man and immigrant from the DR, there's some good humor:

"Don't give me too much credit on my Latinx music prowess though; I discovered them in the whitest way possible."

At this, all three of them turned to me with different versions of a look that said "Oh I can't wait to hear this."

I paused for effect, then quickly muttered, "NPR."

All in all, this was a solid debut, with characters I would've liked to go deeper on, and a style that speaks of some promise. I'll be looking forward to reading the politically engaged Milo's novel, hoping it has a bit lighter touch on commentary than the spoonfed, generic, & repetitive rhetoric that accompany this--credit the reader with understanding why Nesto's getting harassed, for example-I really thought that was a great touch until the characters told me why it was happening. The conversations just didn't ring true, a bit elementary and I would've liked to see more about the 'feeling' of it, whether anger, exhaustion (though there was that) or the expectation that these types of encounters are met with. Instead I got the type of conversation that occurs in fairly unsophisticated settings, which is a disappointment.

All in all, I appreciate the cultural center of this book and the beginning. Unfortunately, it got a little long, the sex scenes and dirty talk just weren't for me--but YMMV. The group of friends and family bring it up, as well as what I felt was real-life conflict. Looking forward to more after this promising start. ( )