Oliveras has written a clean, sweet second-chance love story with a heroine anyone can cheer for. At the story's heart is loyalty and family—or familia, as Sofia calls it (her family is Puerto Rican)—and how it can tear people apart and bring them together. Set all around Florida, from the fictional Paradise Key to Key West, RESORT TO LOVE brings real estate scion Nate and boot-strap local girl Sofia back together after they were driven apart years before. Sofia has plans of her own now, and she can't let Nate get in the way. And when Nate sees Sofia by chance, he realizes that maybe he's made all the wrong choices. It's easy to pull for these characters, to hope they'll find their way back together. (Part of a series, I read as a standalone.)
[This review was posted to Goodreads on June 24, 2018]

The Paradise Key series tells the stories of 4 friends, their friendships, first loves and romances. This is Sophia's story. When Sophia was a teenager, she spent summers on Paradise Key with her aunt. She worked at the Paradise Key Resort and fell in love with the owner's son. Over the years, the resort changed hands a few times and was now up for sale. Sophia wants to buy and renovate it, but finds out there is another bidder, Nathan Patrick Hamilton III, her previous romantic interest. Things had gone bad between them, but the feelings toward each other is still there. Can they trust each other and rekindle that romance that began when they were teenagers?

This is a sweet romance. It was a bit predictable, but there were elements of the story that added interest and kept me turning the pages quickly. I knew they would end up reconciling, but the road to that was bumpy. Sophia is a wonderful character. She has a lot of friends and people she considers family. There were some tense moments, some worrisome situations and some triumphant ones as both Sophia and Nate finally take the plunge to go after what they really want in life. A perfect story for February, the month of romance.

Resort to Love is book 3 in the Paradise Key series. The other books in this series are:
Book 1 Summer Love: Take Two by Shirley Jump
Book 2 Love at the Beach Shop by Kyra Jacobs
Book 3 Resort to Love by Priscilla Oliveras
Book 4 Small Town Summer by Susan Meier
In the beginning of the book, Sofia returns to Paradise Key for a funeral but also to bid on a resort. The same resort where she worked every summer as a kid.
But Nate shows up also, and this is when things start to become interesting.

DNF
At this time, I am no longer interested in reading this title. Thank you for the opportunity to review this title and I apologize for the inconvenience.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

I loved the setting of Resort to Love and this author does a wonderful job of creating a delicious sort of tension between the characters. Her writing is really lush and brings everything to life so well.

Sofia Vargas has gone back to the place where she was happy as a teenager, and now she hoping that she will be able to buy the rundown resort. Hoping that no one else would want to bid on this property she is surprised to see the man who a boy was standing looking at her. Nathaniel Patrick Hamilton III is thinking that he must be dreaming but he knows he is not. It is the girl now women that he has always been in love with, and who he hurt years ago. Sofia does not forget what he did to her when she thought he was going to propose her but instead it was to another women because it would help the family business. Not wanting to think about it she must now only hope that he is not here to try and bid for the sane property as she, for she cannot go up against the Hamilton money. A wonderful story about young love, lost loves and can love be found again. Also how much is family worth, enough to walk away for the one you love or stay with family? Read this wonderful story and find out.

If you are looking for a sweet second chance romance then this is well worth a read. Sophia and Nate were together years before while both working at the Paradise Key resort until Nate broke her heart they meet back up when they are bidding against each other for the resort. I enjoyed getting to know them it was a fun read and I really liked it.

Priscilla Oliveras is a new-to-me contemporary romance author and one I’d heard good stuff about from romance-reading Twitter friends. I was happy to add her title to my TBR and appreciated what she had on offer: as Oliveras herself self-identifies on her bio, a “Latinx” heroine, Sofía Vargas.

Resort To Love opens with the hero’s, Nathan Hamilton III’s, arrival at the now-defunct, dilapidated, Floridian Paradise Key Resort, where he and Sofía fell in love, consummated their love, and set a path to an on-again, off-again romance through their college and early-career years. Sofia hasn’t seen Nat in two years, but the sight of him sets her immediately back in their high-school sweetheart days and everything their love entailed, especially as illicit “cross-class romance”: “Their forbidden romance – him in management, her a summer employee – had heightened their adolescent hormones.” Sofía is beset by memories and feelings, but her primary emotions are grief (she’s recently lost a friend), anxiety, and anger. On his part, Nathan too is overcome by tidal waves of desire and love, but he’s also hurt from Sofía’s rejection: “It’d been two years since they’d been together. Two years since she told him not to contact her again.” There be reasons!

Oliveras sets up her reunited-lovers romance with lovely descriptions of Florida’s sun, surf, and sea, Sofía’s love of “familia”, and bittersweet memories of two people who, though they’ve hurt each other, have bonds of youthful love and longing, adult desire, and a deep, abiding affection built on friendship and support. Oliveras’s romance’s richness comes from creating the lovers’ shared history and well-thought-out, credible conflict. It begins, as I quoted above, with a hint of Nate and Sofía’s social and economic gap when they met and wooed. Sofía is employee to Nate’s rich-boy, daddy’s-business privilege. Now, years later, Sofía wants to buy, restore to its former glory, and run, as a way of renewing her beloved community, the very resort where she met Nate. And Nate, in turn, has been sent by his still formidable, domineering father to do the same. Nate and Sofía are estranged lovers, as well as business competitors. Rich and rife with conflict and Oliveras’s fine writing and strong use of dialogue drew me in and had me nodding in enjoyment as I read, especially the novel’s first third.

[For some readers, what follows may be spoilerish, though it happens quite early in the narrative.] Oliveras also builds bit by tantalizing bit the reason behind Nate and Sofía’s recent estrangement. This is where Oliveras lost me, not totally, not DNF-territory lost me, not curling-lip contempt lost me, but a persistent dull, low-grade awareness that took me out of her story. As readers of this blog may know, I’m interested in what I call the betrayal moment in the romance narrative, what others call the “dark moment.” Oliveras’s version is compelling, but unappealing. Two years ago, on a romantic getaway week-end, Nate told Sofía that his father wanted him to make a business “merger,” with the daughter of a powerful, wealthy family friend, in other words, a marriage if not of convenience then definitely of profit and power. Sofía, understandably, was devastated: ” … he’d told her about his father’s demand he put a ring on Melanie’s finger … Until Sofía hadn’t asked him not to do it.” Poor little immature rich boy wanted Sofía to ask him not to marry another woman. Now, two years later, Sofía thinks: ” … the man who hadn’t been strong enough to stand up for himself. For them. A man who hadn’t wanted her enough to do so.” Damn right, he didn’t.

With this twist in the romance plot, merit as idea, rotten tomatoes because I didn’t like it (others may), my enjoyment dimmed. I’d loved Sofía and suddenly I loved her less. Nate, whose grinning charm has never been a fave as far as hero traits are concerned, annoyed me to no end. At the time, I thought, “the only way this is going to work is if the novel becomes one long Nate grovel, or at the very least, much Nate-humbling-and-amending.” Which is what it became. Sofía’s fight for the resort went by the way-side as she struggled with loving Nate and Nate, not that there was much to begin with, was leached of personality. The HEA was one romantic grand gesture after another, but this reader wanted someone else to sweep Sofía off her feet. Someone Not-Nate. As for papa’s-boy Nate, I pretty much spent the novel’s second half thinking, “Would you please grow up?” Add my dislike of the “closed-bedroom door” romance, I didn’t feeling as great about Resort To Love at the end as at the start. (‘sides, Nate’s bedroom moves might’ve helped raise him up a notch in interest and attraction.)

My pissiness aside, Oliveras did manage to write great chin when she has Sofía stand up to Nate’s domineering father, Nate the II, with: “She jutted her chin in a ‘kiss-my-ass’ response.” Wish she’d jutted to fils as to père. Nevertheless, there was much to like about the novel, especially the writing, and if Oliveras doesn’t write another betrayal, closed-bedroom-dooor romance, I would read her again. For now, with Miss Austen, I say Resort To Love is “almost pretty,” Northanger Abbey.

Priscilla Oliveras’s Resort To Love is published by Tule Publishing. It was released on May 15th and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-ARC from Tule Publishing, via Netgalley.

I am a big fan of the second-chance love story, and Resort to Love was a mildly entertaining way to spend a quiet summer morning.

Sofia and Nate fell in love as teenagers. He was the owner’s son of the resort where Sofia worked during her summers growing up. As they got older, Sofia realized she and Nate would never have a future, so she told him to stop contacting her. Now, two years after their last contact, they discover they are both bidding to purchase the resort where they met and fell in love.

In order for a second chance love story to work for me, there needs to be a couple of things. I need to understand how much they meant to each other, I need to know what went wrong, and I need to understand why they are still hung up on the other person. And while I did get that, for the most part, their previous relationship kind of bothered me.

(Some of the below may seem a bit spoilerish, but in the book their past isn’t treated as a secret, so I don’t feel like I’m ruining a surprise plot point).

Near as I can tell, Sofia and Nate never had an exclusive relationship. From the time they were 16, until 28, it was a “no strings attached” friends-with-benefits type deal. She lived in Florida, he lived in New York, and they would communicate frequently through talk, text and email, only seeing each other occasionally. They were good friends who would hook up whenever the opportunity presented itself. Sofia was always hoping for more, but knew his family expectations wouldn’t allow it. When Nate tells Sofia that his father wants him to marry another woman, she sends him packing. AS SHE SHOULD.

And then Nate, who is supposed to be a brilliant businessman, is hurt because he can’t understand why Sofia doesn’t want to remain friends with him. Turns out he always thought he felt more for Sofia than she did him, and was too big of a pansy to mention it. It’s hard to like a hero when, at the age of 30, he’s still letting his parents completely run his life. I can understand not sharing how you feel when you’re younger, but once you become an adult it’s time to put the big boy boxers on. Nate finally grows a pair, but it took him a long time. And, in my opinion, he owed Sofia a lot more groveling than she got.

This is a shorter book (165 pages according to Goodreads), so that could account for some of the shortcomings in character and plot development. But even so, this second-chance love story fell flat for me. I wanted to feel more for Nate and Sofia, I just didn't.

*thank you to NetGalley and Tule Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

This was such a sweet contemporary romance! I loved the other novel I've read by Priscilla Oliveras and this highlighted her strengths as a writer. I haven't read the previous two books in this series (they're written by other writers) but I'm definitely intrigued to learn more about this group of friends.

Sofia returns to Paradise Key Resort after the death of her best friend Lily. She first met Lily, Jenna, Evie, and Lauren while staying with her aunt for the summer when she was 10 years old and their bond grew stronger every year. I loved these women and how they were there for one another as they grieved. I haven't seen this particular kind of loss in fiction that much and really appreciated the way Oliveras explored it.

The conflict between Sofia and Nate was gripping. While at times it seemed like they just needed to have a good "clear the air" conversation, I understood why they didn't and how their insecurities got in the way. They have a long history between them and Nate screwed up big time. It was frustrating to see him act like the victim, when it was his choices and, really, cowardice with his father that got him into this mess. But we do get to see him wake up and grow up and be the man Sofia believes him to be. This was wonderful! I really enjoyed watching Nate pursue Sofia and prove that he was worth taking another chance on.

I also really enjoyed the role of the resort in their love story. It's where they met and the sale is what brings them back together, even though only one of them can win the bid. I didn't always understand Sofia's stubbornness in wanting to do everything on her own, especially when she had valid options and support. But it did help build the conflict so I went with it.

I only wish this had been longer! I wanted to see more scenes with the friends, more in-depth conversations between Nate and Sofia where they hash things out, more good moments between them. The Latinx representation is fantastic and I loved what this added to the story. Even though it deals with grief, this really was a feel-good read and I'm looking forward to what's next from this author.

Sofia has her heart set on reopening the hotel that has always played a huge role in her and her familia's life, it seems just one person stands in the way. Nathan is back in Paradise Key's to place a bid on his families old hotel when he finds out there is one other bid. Can Nathen and Sofia come to terms in this crazy bid process or will Nathen's Dad be the catalyst to the end?

What a sweet story. So far this series has been really fun and this book did not disappoint either. The love that these two had when they were teenagers follows through this whole story. It makes you think of your own high school sweetheart. The book was a super quick read and really makes you feel like you are catching up with friends not reading a fiction book, it just has a way of drawing you in. I loved how the family is so important to Sofia and how she loves so wholeheartedly. This book does have some adult situations but overall this book was a super fun read. This series is the perfect series to grab this summer for sure.

Resort to Love by Priscilla Oliveras is the third book in Tule’s Paradise Key multi-author series about a set of friends who return to the Floridian island where they all met for the funeral of a dear friend. Each of the books can be read as standalones. Like Oliveras’s previous novels it features a Puerto Rican heroine and it is a sweet and sexy closed door romance that is not lacking in sexual tension. Oliveras’s recurring core theme of balancing faith, family and love in order find happiness drives this story of ex-lovers reunited as rivals in a real-estate transaction.

Sofía Vargas grew up spending her summers with her Tía Mili on Paradise Key, eventually joining her aunt as a summer worker at the Paradise Key Beach Resort. It was at Paradise Key where she first met Nate Hamilton, son of the resort owners, sent to Paradise Key to learn the family business from the bottom up. Always aware of the huge gulf between them, Sofía set up the boundaries for their romance, as simply “no strings, just fun”. They spent their summers sharing picnics on the beach, and dances in the moonlight. Eventually after they both left Paradise Key for college and then careers in the hospitality industry, flirty texts, frequent phone calls, romantic getaways weekends kept their connection alive if undefined until the day that Nate came to let her know that his family expected him to propose to daughter of business partner as a way of solidifying a potential business merger. Never wanting to be the cause of division in his family she cut ties with Nate then and there.

Two years later and newly freed from the engagement he never wanted and once again on the outs with his overbearing father, Nate finds himself exiled back to Florida. Sent on fact-finding mission, to assess potential real estate targets for acquisition, Nate is sidetracked when he runs into Sofía outside the shuttered and storm-damaged Paradise Key Resort, which his family had sold off many years earlier. The awkwardness of their uncomfortable reunion is magnified when they realize they are both planning on submitting rival bids to re-open the resort. While Sofía hopes that Nate will once again walk away, the quicker the better for her hurting heart, Nathan sees it as an opportunity to re-write history and stop letting his family dictactate his actions and reclaim his life and love.

Oliveras does a wonderful job portraying Sofía’s Puerto Rican heritage, and how Sofía’s sense of family extends beyond her immediate family, to include her friends and can even encompass her relationship with her boss and business mentor Sal and his wife Vivi. By contrast, Nate’s is a loveless business venture masquerading as family, where his father seeks to dominate and micro-manages rather than encouraging and supporting. I loved how this came to play in the resolution, especially as Sofía has to reconsider how certain assumptions, omissions and decisions in both their parts were results of their very different senses of family. The reconciliation is not easy gained but Nate puts in the work through the whole novel by being there for Sofía when she most needs him, never wavering, showing his maturity and determination and taking the emotional risks. It earns him the trust that lets him pull of a big romantic gesture with a high potential for failure at the 11th hour.

The one sour note in this novel is the cartoonishly stereotypical (although not mean-spirited) portrayal of Paul, the sole gay character in the book. Paul is Sofía’s trusted assistant hotel manager, who is juggling managing several properties on his own while Sofía is away yet his flamboyant and gregarious personality is played for comic relief. Had there been more LGBT characters in the book, it wouldn’t have stood out, but there is only one other character, Vida, the spacey-hippyish town planning board member, that has their mannerisms or way of dress are singled out in this way. It was disappointing but mercifully brief.

The one stand-out supporting character in the novel is Sofía’s Tia Mili, who I hope returns in her own solo novella or novel. Widowed young, she has built a life for herself in the community she shared with her beloved husband David. Despite the loss she is vibrantly joyful and wise, and successful small business owner. I would love to see her find love again.

Resort to Love was a emotional read that balanced angst with humor for sweet and hopeful romance about valuing family and knowing when to risk it all by laying everything out on the table.

I really enjoyed reading Resort to Love. Sophia and Nate were sweethearts from the past . When fate brings them together again to bid against one another on a B&B they both wanted. Sophia just an ordinary person with strong ties to family. Nate 's family is extremely wealthy and will do what ever it takes to get what they want. In the beginning Sophia tries to ignore Nate, keep him at arms length to protect her heart. Nate tries his best to please his impossible father, but no matter what he does is never enough. It was fun watching the story line between Sophia and Nate unfold, the heart wants what the heart wants . I would recommend this book, it is one of 4 in a series, each written by a different author which is fun all in itself.

This book is your standard love story. Childhood romance, they separate because you know, life. They come back more mature. Both of them want to buy the resort that was a part of their childhood. He wants to because his rich dad wants to control everything. Her, because her friend just passed and she feels a connection to all of her friends and him there. It’s always good to read a fluffy book from time to time. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

Resort to Love is book three in the Paradise Key series. This is Sofía Vargas and Nathan “Nate” Patrick Hamilton III’s story.

I really liked Sofia and Nate’s character. Nate has a chance to make it right with Sofia. Will Sofia be able to trust Nate? This is a sweet second chance romance.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Resort To Love, book two in the multi-author Paradise Keys series, is a sweet and light story that stands alone well. Perfect reading for a day at the beach, this story has a delightful Mexican flavour throughout as author Priscilla Oliveras has peppered the story with Mexican language and tidbits of Mexican food, religion and culture.
The story stands alone well, and is filled with warm and caring characters - family is something that is very important to our heroine, Sofia Vargas. She and her love-interest Nate Hamilton are both likeable characters and their story bubbles along nicely throughout making for a very enjoyable read.

A Second chance romance between Nate and Sophia. Nate has returned to Paradise Key to bid on the same resort as Sophia, and now is his chance to make right that went wrong years back. They come from two different worlds, and now is the time for Nate to stand up to his dad. Sophia is all about family, which Nate did not have growing up.

Loved this story of second chances, the importance of family and friendships. This is the third story in this series but can be read as a stand alone. I highly recommend this book, along with the rest of the series.

So this is the third book in this series, this is Sophia's book. Sophia and Nate were young and in love but then she finds out that he was engaged. She is back on the island after a while and she is intent on buy the resort, come to find out that the person who is bidding against her is her ex Nate. While they are trying to fight attractions, secrets come out, the villain is still the villain, and eventually love will conquer all.

I really enjoyed reading Resort to Love by Priscilla Oliveras, book three in The Paradise Key series. This is a second chance love story between Sofía and Nate. While in Paradise Key for her friend’s funeral, Sofia decides to buy the old and rundown resort, that holds many memories from her youth; both happy and sad. However, when she discovers her old flame Nate is also interested in the resort, Sofía realizes protecting her heart might be her biggest challenge. Nate has tried to be the good son his entire life with the exception of his on and off relationship with Sofía. After a two year separation Nate believes he finally has a chance to win back the girl of his dreams and repair the wrong that tore them apart. Sofía doesn’t trust Nate nor does she easily forgive him. It is going to take more than crazy town hall meetings, an emergency trip back to Key West, stolen kisses and a re-creation of their first date, for Nate to even be in the running. Nate must decide if the ultimate prize is the resort or winning back Sofía's heart.

I loved these two and all the demands each had. Sofía had a strong belief and love of family while Nate’s family did not seem to care about him or what he has accomplished as long as he did their bidding. Sofía taught Nate much about what family and love should look like.

This was a fun book to read and easy to visualize the story as it occurred. I totally loved these characters and didn’t want to put this book down. Ms. Olivera did a fantastic job creating her characters, keeping the story interesting, making me forget the world around me and did not let me go until I turned the last page. I highly recommend this book to other reader and look forward to reading the next book in this four book series.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.