Review at a Glance
- Here To Stay
- My Rating: 4.5
- Genre: Contemporary Romance
- Format: eARC*
- Publication Date: April 14, 2020
- Author: J’nell Ciesielski
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Book Blurb
Julia del Mar Ortiz is not having the best year.
She moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, who ended up ditching her and running back to New York after only a few weeks. Left with a massive—by NYC standards, anyway—apartment and a car lease in the scorching Texas heat, Julia is struggling…except that’s not completely true. Running the charitable foundation of one of the most iconic high fashion department stores in the world is serious #lifegoals.
It’s more than enough to make her want to stick it out down South.
The only monkey wrench in Julia’s plans is the blue-eyed, smart-mouthed consultant the store hired to take them public. Fellow New Yorker Rocco Quinn’s first order of business? Putting Julia’s job on the chopping block.
When Julia is tasked with making sure Rocco sees how valuable the programs she runs are, she’s caught between a rock and a very hard set of abs. Because Rocco Quinn is almost impossible to hate—and even harder to resist.
My Thoughts
As a quick reminder, here is my rating structure:
- 1 star: Did not finish
- 2 Stars: Finished but do not recommend
- 3 Stars: Liked but could use some improvements
- 4 Stars: Loved this book!
- 5 Stars: Rare. The unput-down-able, binge read obsession.
I have to tell you that I really loved this steamy, contemporary romance.
There was a grittiness and real world feel to Adriana Herrera’s writing, making Here to Stay feel so far grounded in reality that it never strayed into the fantastical as some romance novels can.
The cultural references made me so happy. With so many ethinicities, cultures, and sexual orientations represented, this book feels true to life in the most basic ways. Relationships are not one size fits all, yet a lot of romance novels have a very narrow view of what their characters should be. Here to Stay tells it like it is in so many ways.
I also want to take a moment to talk about the food. Reading this book made me so hungry, because Adriana Herrera really gave us a great glimpse of the variety of Domincan food. I need to try some chimmichurri, pescado frito, and sancocho immediately. Looking these dishes up had my mouth watering.
Everything about Here to Stay just felt right, like the story fell into a pocket from the very beginning and didn’t let me go.
So good that any romance lover should snap this one up.
*Special thanks to Adriana Herrera and Carina Press for providing a copy of Here to Stay in exchange for an honest review.
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