Wow, one of my favorite books I have read in 2023. This book, with a non-binary main character takes a deep look at the complexity of life while also touching on the topic of immigration. The text is well crafted and poetic at times. I hope there is another book about these characters!

sweet and heartwrenching. What especially stood out were the characters I loved them right from the first page. Ander's relationship with their friends was a delight; I love when friends are real people and not props.  
sweet and heartwrenching. 

I got a copy from Netgalley, opinions are my own.

The book was relatively enjoyable, but for an adult it is really hard to pass such a silliness of the protagonist and the language book is written in. Teens these days, I would say, but i know a lot of younger people who would relate to described "dramas", so don't want to be a monster. I'm curious where the carrier of this young author will go

This is a touching story about love amid immigration issues in the U.S. Ander has pushed back his move to Chicago for college to get more art done for his portfolio. As a result, he meets Santi, the waiter who replaced him at his family's restaurant. They fall in love despite all of the warnings of the pain this might cause them. It's a moving and touching story.

This incredibly beautiful story truly packed a punch. Reading novels like this just gives me further hope for our young queer youth. They get to see themselves and full-fledged romance without the coming-out trope.
Plus, being able to see non-white queer characters take the spotlight for once in a story is a breath of fresh air. Seeing our lead, Ander, be transparent about the micro aggressions and struggles as a Latino queer male within Texas shone through.

Ander & Santi We’re Here is a beautiful love story complicated by the cruelty of the US Immigration system. I enjoyed how the book explored being an artist and coming to terms with how the art world wants to categorize Ander narrowly while Ander must work through their voice as an artist. This theme fit nicely alongside the actions of ICE, terrorizing Latinx residents regardless of their citizenship status. At times, the pacing of this story moved a bit slowly, particularly at the start. This YA romance is a beautiful story of love, family and community.

San Antonio has always been home for Ander. It is the place they were born and raised, where they have spent days helping in their family’s taqueria, and the place that inspires their art. In the gap year Ander takes between high school and college, their family fires them to force them to focus on preparing for college. But that focus is broken as soon as Ander meets the new waiter, Santi. Santi and Ander fall for each other almost immediately and become inseparable. But when ICE comes looking for Santi, Ander begins to learn how fragile life, love, and home really can be. It begins to feel like Ander and Santi against the world.

I’m not sure I have the right words to accurately convey all of the feelings I have about this book. It is beautiful yet devastating, heart breaking yet full of hope. It is truly such a powerful story of young love. Jonny Garza Villa did a phenomenal job writing this story - the first part really brought you into their world. The taqueria, the murals, the characters - they all felt real and were so easy to imagine. In some ways this part of their story was monotonous and normal in the sense of it being a similar routine day after day, yet you could feel the connection growing as you felt a small undercurrent of tension begin to build.

But then he gets you in the second half of the book. That small spark ignites and it’s impossible to stop the drama from growing and spreading like wildfire. I had a sense of what was coming and wanted to stop it, but couldn’t, and when it did, it ripped my heart out. (Luckily by the end it was put back together again). There is so much power behind this book and the reality and messiness it depicts. Truly an incredible story.
Avi Roque did a phenomenal job with the narration of the audiobook.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advance copies.

4.5*

Phew, this book. It was heavy and sweet and timely and entertaining and heartbreaking. It's the first book I've read in awhile that truly brought out all the feels. I'm kind of tearing up again just thinking about it.
Ander and Santi, ugh, I love them. They were so sweet and I was completely charmed by them.
But goodness, I kept waiting for the next shoe to drop. As much as I loved this story it was tough going at times, just thinking how things could go wrong.
Ander's family was so wonderful. I loved how they were there for both Ander and Santi.
I want more! I'm picturing them living such a happy life, but I'm sad that it's over.

Stunning, emotional, and lyrical in its writing. This book cut so deep. The characters were relatable, their struggles and growth encouraging and uplifting. I loved it beyond words.

I absolutely adored this book. I am so happy that BN has chosen this as a young adult bookclub pick because it will get this story and the issues discussed out to the masses. Living in Austin, I loved reading this one based in San Antonio. The texas culture and tex-mex culture was very refreshing and interesting. Villa created unforgettable characters and a draw for teens who like art and want an artistic career. The author dealt with issues of the U.S. immigration system sensitively but did not shy away from the experiences that undocumented people actually have. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

This was ok but just not for me. It was very slow (I almost DNF) and there was a lot of talk about art that I didn’t really cared out. It also felt like it had unnecessary drama and I just wanted to get to the end of the book. I know some people has loved this book but didn’t do it for me. Not sure if the fact that I’m Mexican and have faced immigration challenges changes how I saw this book and my enjoyment of it. Talks on immigration and ICE are hard for me.

Ander has so much support in their art but wants to help the family restaurant before they leave for art school. Their replacement at the restaurant, Santi(ago) is attractive and they are interested.
I love their relationship so far even though it might be temporary with art school and Santi's status.
ICE and the threat of deportation is discussed with Anders family and those that work at their business. Even though the owners are citizens they get targeted.
I'm halfway through the book but the blurb said it's like the Sun is Also a Star and that book made me cry.
This one definitely made me cry at the end too but the epilogue helped. This was a beautiful book about love in an world with so many faults and neverending inequalities. But the art that Ander brought to the world was his voice and told his story. Love will find a way not always in the way we expected or wanted.
Thank you stmartinspress and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Ander Lopez only knows their neighborhood in San Antonio and focuses on their job at their family's taquería. Ander is also a muralist getting ready for art school but isn't sure they're ready to leave. When their family "fires" them so they can prepare for college, they meet Santiago Garcia, the hot new waiter. Falling for each other is easy; Ander learns more about themself and their art, and Santi begins to feel like the United States is home. When ICE agents come for Santi, Ander realizes how fragile that really is.

Ander wanted some real-life experience as a muralist, especially when some schools rejected him after reducing them to only Mexican styles and subjects. Ironically, the advisor coaching them at the school they deferred for the year wants them to only focus on those themes and doesn't bother to actually get to know their interests. Ander gets too locked in their doubts, but their good friends and then Santi help them open up. It's a teen romance in the beginning, with awkward moments and family members butting in. Santi tried to slow the connection between them; we know why even as Ander doesn't, because he doesn't want to make close connections he'll have to drop at a moment's notice. It happened to other workers in the taquería, but Ander hadn't been as personally affected before.

I love how the characters are casually bilingual in a real way, not fake fumbling for words. The tension from ICE agents coming into the restaurant or following them made me clench my teeth in fear. Ander makes a decision no one expects, but it's one they commit to and can feel good about. It's a bold move, and I wish them all the best of luck.

This book. Ugh. That's a good ugh by the way. It's hard to put my feelings on this one into words. What I really want to do is just shove a copy in your hands and say here, read this, read it now and don't stop until you are done. I don't think I've read a book before that portrays the sense of utter fear people must face when dealing with ICE. As a white female, I recognize my privilege talking here when I say that I never thought about how utterly terrifying it must be to be in a country trying to make a life for yourself, send some money to your loved ones and just exist and along comes these assholes who want to intimidate you and send you away. I mean I thought about it but this book made me sit with the thoughts for a while instead of just moving onto the next thing.

Anyway, what I've very poorly trying to say here is read this book and do some soul searching and thinking about it. You won't be sorry. Oh and eat something before reading because it's partially set in a restaurant and I want to go there now.

Many many thanks to Wednesday Books for a gifted e-copy.

I loved learning about the characters development in this one. It was such a wonderful book. I loved the writing of the author. I highly recommend this book to any YA reader, though be aware there are some more mature themes and the main characters are nineteen.

Gorgeous and heartbreaking, this story is a must read for all humans. Beautifully written and tender.

This was an absolutely delicious novel. Full of romance, art, heart-felt feelings, intense longing, and is unapologetically queer, Ander and Santi Were Here was perfection from start to finish.

Ander is queer, non-binary, and Mexican-American. Born in 'The Land of the Free, Home of the Brave,' Ander has been witness to many an ICE incursion, but has never really had to fear what they were capable of. That is until Santi waltzes into their life. Now the threat of separation hangs constantly over the pair's heads, and Ander isn't sure how to handle that, especially with them leaving for college at the end of summer. With so many things trying to pull the pair apart, with their love be strong enough to withstand all opposition?

This book was a refreshing, and eye-opening read. Written beautifully with some genuinely laugh out loud moments that helped lighten the sometimes heavy subject matter, it is definitely a favorite of mine for the year.

I’ll start with a quote from this book that primarily lends itself to Ander’s struggle reconciling their identity as an artist but feels like a much bigger sentiment and encompasses the larger themes in this book:

"[T]here are times where I don’t know whether I love or hate where I am right now."

Ander is a nonbinary Mexican American artist. Santi is a bisexual undocumented Mexican boy. This is their story of a burgeoning romance, of loss, hope, pain, and life.

Love, expansive and fully realized, permeates this novel. We have these two queer kids falling in love. And we have Ander’s wonderfully supportive family, their taquería, and all the ways in which they have concreted community in San Antonio, TX. We see evolutions of friendship and identity as it relates to the individual and the diaspora. We reckon with what allyship means, the ways we fail at it, and the ways we work to do better. Ander & Santi Were Here has so much to say, and it is achieved through Jonny Garza Villa’s precise command of language.

Every word the author strings together in this book is remarkable – there’s charming banter, Spanish left untranslated and de-gendered, the most delightful references to pop culture, and a powerful undercurrent of emotion that comes with the exploration of the politics of racism, immigration, and capitalism in the United States. But stars, the way Ander & Santi epitomize queer joy through it all. Queer and trans identity are the nucleus, and it just is. It’s a texture, or something mellifluous, washing over you and painting your heart with promise.

Like I said that quote came from Ander grappling with his heritage and his artistic identity. But, in a way, it speaks to the space Ander & Santi carves out for queer existence and intimacy. And it’s me wondering about MY identity, my inheritance, my citizenship. And about this country that disregards humanity to deem people capital or criminal, and, as the author’s note put it, objectifies “the potential of migrants” as a measure of who deserves to be given a chance.

And what you need to know is this: Ander & Santi Were Here is a meditation—on home and where you belong—and an affirmation—of here and with us.

Finished this and IMMEDIATELY came to write a review because wow. Wow. What a beautiful book.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Secondly, Jonny Garza Villa. You icon. I’m immediately adding you to my “auto-buy” authors list because you are everything I love reading.

As a queer Latina reading this book, with a mainly queer BIPOC friend group, this book was so beautiful and so amazingly written. The spark we feel between Ander and Santi the first time they meet hooks us in so quickly and we immediately want more information on Santi. Ander was also just… the biggest mood. I can’t tell you how many times I was audibly laughing at their reactions and thoughts to things.

I love books about soft queer babies falling in love. I really do. But the Latine focus on this hits so much harder for me. Seeing how sweet Ander’s family is and how supportive they are about their dreams and relationship and just, their gender identity and sexual orientation filled me with so much happiness because I feel thats so hard to find in Latine families in my experience.

I love this book. And it will leave you sobbing. But it does end beautifully and I am so happy.

4.5 Stars
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.
This was such a good book, and I don't even know how to begin listing everything I loved about it. The romance was swoony without being cheesy, which was lovely. The character development for all characters was amazing; upon finishing this book, I feel like Ander is actually a real person that I know because the way their feelings were portrayed was so genuine. This was true for all of the characters; even people like Santi and Zeke and Ander's family who we don't get to read from their POV, it's still very clear who they all are because their personalities just shine through. I think that tells of amazing writing skills. The characters are flawed in realistic ways that make them seem more human. There were multiple times where I was giggling at Ander's sarcasm, and also multiple times where I was almost in tears over their emotions. This book presented an amazing range of feelings. I also loved the art aspect and I deeply wish I could see some of Ander's art. I also wish I could eat all of the food that was talked about in this book!
I also want to talk on the diversity piece of this book. I'm definitely not an expert, but as a reader I thought it was extremely well done. Ander's gender identity is explored in a way that makes it very clear to the readers but isn't pushy. I love reading books about LGBT+ characters, but there are times where it seems forced or over-complicated. This is absolutely not true in this book, and I thought this aspect of Ander's personality was covered perfectly. I also loved reading about their exploration of how they wanted their culture to shine through in their art; again, I can't speak on this personally, but I feel like that's probably a realistic struggle for some artists and I think it was a great aspect to highlight. I also feel that the immigration piece was handled well. Again, obviously I can't speak on the part of individuals who have shared this struggle. My personal opinion is that it did a great job showcasing the very human part of what some individuals may go through when immigrating, and I think that's something that needs to be shared more often.
I would 100% recommend this book! If you enjoy art, romance, LGBT+ stories, coming of age stories, this book hits on all of these topics. It's an important read that shares aspects of cultural diversity that I feel are sometimes overshadowed.