You Had Me at Hola: A Novel: 1 (Primas of Power, 1)

Product Information

This book is a hug to the Latinx community and its culture. The times I said "oh my god I do this," "my grandma totally tells me this when I visit" etc. is unreal. I identified so hard with the characters and the story in this novel and I think every Latinx reader will too. The food, the Spanish!!! So much Spanish and it's not italicized!!! Jasmine doesn't really know how to speak Spanish fluently while Ashton does and speaks it with his family. This book was a wonderful experience that completely filled me with joy and happiness. I grew up watching telenovelas. In a Hispanic household, they were a huge staple of weeknights in my younger days, and gathering around the TV to partake in the entertainment was just the thing to do. I remember bits and pieces of titles such as Maria La Del Barrio, Esmeralda, Pasión de Gavilanes, and La Mentira. These stories were often over the top, but also rather entertaining. To this day, I'm fond of Portuguese telenovelas—such as O Clone—even though it has been years since I've dedicated the time to watching them. But as soon as I caught a peek of the synopsis in You Had Me at Hola, I knew that reading it would be my chance to enjoy a little bit of that history. The second half of the book was definitely better than the first but overall the book was a big disappointment for me unfortunately. I never see Ashton’s son as a big obstacle for their relationship and the angst part between them were a little unrealistic. They may talk with each other like normal adults.

The first thing I struggled with was the writing. The writing felt very clunky to me and I feel like the author spent a lot of time telling us things instead of showing, which really took me out of the story. Some of the dialogue was clunky and unnatural, too, and I really couldn't get connected with either of the characters. Then, the storyline would switch between Jasmine and Ashton's romance and scenes of the show they were filming together. I really didn't care about the romance in the show and didn't like getting a bunch of chapters of those scenes. These more took me out of the story and made it even harder for me to care about Jasmine and Ashton's relationship. Ok. Just as an example (not an actual quote!) instead of saying, "She left the room, went outside, and put on a sweater.", she would say, "She left the room (stop) went outside (stop) and put on a swea-ter." As smooth and easy as the reading was, I also really appreciated the Spanish words that not only added a nice touch to the story itself but let the readers connect with the characters’ roots. And seen more exposure when it came to Ashton as a father and both these characters dealing with their mental health.He pulled the bedsheet over her legs, then bent and kissed her lips, long and sweet. "Jasmine. Me voy." When she nodded, he cupped her face and kissed her again. "Dulces sueños, querida" RITA ® Award Winning author Alexis Daria brings readers an unforgettable, hilarious rom-com set in the drama-filled world of telenovelas—perfect for fans of Jane the Virgin and The Kiss Quotient.

I wish we had more. I think that’s very minor complaint. I wish we had moments with Jasmine and her parents who didn’t really understand her and got to explore how she couldn’t really be herself around them. I think that arc would’ve been exciting to read about - for me, that is.

Bottom line: Hard to know which was more upsetting - reading this, or the conditions of my life while I was doing so! And the weird thing is that the narrator has a beautiful voice. When she spoke for the characters each voice was distinct and lovely. Literally everything you could hope for in a voice actor! You Had Me at Hola was such a treat to read and was the perfect story to break me out of this reading funk that I’ve been since the beginning of 2020. I really struggled through the first half. The writing was choppy and disjointed and the dialogue felt unnatural and awkward. I felt completely detached from the story and characters and just didn't really care about them. I didn't find their romance believable nor their chemistry, they went from barely interacting in the first half of the book to having sex every day??? In the entire story they probably had 3 meaningful conversations if that.

It's a great start in the trilogy for Alexis Daria and I can't wait to read the stories of Michelle - my homonymous, lol - and Ava! I really liked the tv show chapters, they were really funny and I truly felt that I was watching a telenovela. I felt like I was 10 years again and me and my mom were watching telenovelas in our living room while I was trying to do my homework.I thought the actual story was cute. There were problems with it but nothing when compared with the terrible reading of this book. I will now add if books has small moments between the main couple. So this one does have many of them. Before they even kiss or sleep together, these two can't stop touching either an elbow, her arm, her shirt, his pants. A natural touch, like they have been doing those forever. He puts a strand of her hair behind her ear. and one last thing. this book did have the miscommunication trope, but this is the first time it hasn't bothered me one bit, and i daresay i enjoyed it. the whole book is driven by the conflict of Ángel being a single dad (love him sm) so this conflict should be expected. the conflict also did not last very long and i think it was solved perfectly. I liked the story, but I didn't love it. Contemporary romance is hard for me, folks, but I'd read another Alexis Daria book in a heartbeat.

I enjoyed the plot of the story, even if it felt a bit slow with some pacing issues. I was genuinely interested in each of the MCs and their own journeys through their careers. I liked that they had wildly different paths and experiences in the entertainment industry, and even though I know next to nothing about that world, I was interested in what they were going through. It's through Daria's deep and nuanced exploration of these ideas that You Had Me at Hola says hello to new risks. It's a sensual choreography of romance, feminism, and identity that harmonizes the characters' relationships on and offscreen — while making all the jefa moves. Soap opera actress Jasmine Lin Rodriguez has just landed the lead role on a Latinx romantic comedy show, to be streamed on a Netflix lookalike, so you know it’s a big deal. She’s paired up with a famous telenovela star in his own right, Ashton Suárez. They get off on a bumpy start after he accidentally spills coffee on her during their first meeting, and try as they might to create some chemistry between them while filming, something seems to be missing. So they agree to work on their lines behind the scenes, and that’s when things really heat up. These two don't get on the best start. Ashton is awkward and shy around a new crew, new actors he isn't familiar with. So he comes off as being distant and like he doesn't want to share time with his costars. Yet he can't help be instantly attracted to Jasmine, his romantic interest in the show. But attraction is one thing, he can deal with that. He cannot even think about a relationship with her. Ashton has secrets, big secrets, and the media spotlight surrounding Jasmine which follows her everywhere is not for him. Her self-proclaimed moniker reinforces Hola's themes of diversity, consent, and agency because it reimagines who a Leading Lady can be, and in turn, rebels against our cultural restrictions. Jasmine fights for herself but she also has the space to take risks and push the boundaries of her identity.Welcome to the glamorous world of telenovelas! As a great fan of adapted telenovelas “Jane the Virgin”, “Ugly Betty”, I was so excited to get my hands on this book. And on a scale of one to steamy, this book is approaching "I think my head might've detached from my body and transcended dimensions only to explode" levels. There was steam, and lots of attraction and chemistry between the couple. BUT the beginning between them was bit awkward and slow. The love story between Jasmine and Ashton wasn’t sure what it wanted to be and that prevented me from really enjoying it. And it was very sweet and cute – not necessarily my kind of romance. But the passion and chemistry between them are strengths of the story. I also enjoyed girl power parts between cousins and Ashton’s family, even his 8 year old son acted more mature to his relationship than him. I loved those genuine, lovely characters. Since Ashton and Jasmine first meet, and work together, because they're both actors in the remake of a Venezuelan telenovela, it stands to reason that parts of this story would take place on set while they film. What I did not expect—but was delighted by—was to actually be able to follow along with the script. It was very immersive to feel like I was behind the camera while Victor and Carmen—the two characters that Ashton and Jasmine portray—flourish in their own stories. And through them, our own novel's protagonists start to grow closer to each other. It was a great addition to the book, and made it that much more unique.