If you were a fan of the first book then you'll the follow up. Each book in the series has been filled with beautiful culture and diverse characters. I might even say that I liked the second book more than the first, because Milo was such an interesting passionate character. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future, I think she'll become a major voice in the genre.

This time around this story is about loud and proud Camilo (Milo) Santiago Briggs who gets his happiness on with billionaire, Thomas Hughes.

Both have similar backgrounds but are worlds apart especially when it comes to finances and with Milo he's stubborn and too proud, so Thomas has to work for it. Which is good for Thomas because challenges in his personal life are new to him that he wants to fight for it and win.

At times Milo was too proud and stubborn which affected their relationship and Thomas was too easy to give up but once they both figured it out it was good.

I liked these together and now I can't wait for more from this series. October seems to far away for the American Love story #3 with Patrice and Easton.


I gave him what he gave me, the freedom to be seen exactly as I was and be loved for it, not in spite of it.


3

"Then he took my hand and kissed my palm... because my life was a Jane Austen Novel now."

The world Adriana Herrera is painting in her books is one of warmth, heart, chemistry and love. It's the story of a group of friends who are sons of Caribbean immigrants who are finding their way in life and also finding people who they're sharing it with. After the first one, I adored this world. After this one, I'm completely sold. In American Fairytale we have Milo Santiago, who is a Cuban/Jamaican social worker in a nonprofit that serves victims of domestic abuse. He is assigned to work with Tom, a Dominican/American billionaire who is investing his money in a project that can change the company where Milo is working. Because of his mother, Milo doesn't believe in fairytales and in men who seem too perfect to be true but he connects with Tom immediately, especially after the first night when they have the most amazing hook up and he can't get him out of his head. But he doesn't mix business with pleasure.

This book is extremely entertaining, mainly because all of the feelings we encounter. The conversations that Tom and Milo have given Tom's wealth and his position in the project that Tom is working in, everything is super healthy and thoroughly talked about, Also, throughout the book we had so much to unpack and to learn about their cultural identities and I loved the moments where they got extremely personal and real about their feelings regarding those experiences that a lot of people might feel are similar but in reality were very different and I appreciated all those nuances. You could tell their mixed identities were very important and influential in their personalities and that was specifically talked about in the book and it was done very well.

Some of my favorite moments where the domestic ones, the quiet ones. I adored the relationship that Milo and Tom had with Tom's daughter and also the moments with Milo's friends. All the relationships, not only the main one felt incredibly complex and intricate and I couldn't be happier about that. There was development in those relationships and they were all very taken care of. I love when in romances friendships and important relationships aren't pushed to the side in order for the main ship to flourish. The conflicts that they had were realistic and didn't feel tedious even if they both had things to figure out on their own. The characters were beautifully developed and at the end of the book I felt like I knew them all. These things came together because of Adriana Herrera's gorgeous, well constructed, deep and detailed writing. I fell completely in love with it and I can't wait to read more of it.

This book was good... really good. I honestly didn't like it as much as the first, I think because there was a definite lack of "the gang". I missed having more of that wonderful group of friends from American Dreamer. They are here, just not as much as I hoped. Also, Camilo is hard to love... he was harder for me to connect with because he is very ridged in his beliefs and never asks for help and won't accept it when it's offered. Really ridged. Whereas Thomas just wants to help because he loves hard and deeply, but also doesn't realize that sometimes his money makes his offer for help a little bit hard to deal with.

The conflicts that Camilo and Thomas have are obviously resolved, this is a happy ending, but the journey there is a difficult one. Still, I loved reading this. I love how much I could connect with their culture, their drive to do good in the world, and how much they clearly loved each other. A great addition to this series and I can't wait for the next.

I LOVE THIS STORY! This story starts out with a dirty talking one-time event and then morphs into a sweet love story. This couple is just adorable without being too cute. I loved that the characters were older and knew what they wanted. I loved Camilo Santiago Briggs and respected the way he stood up for himself. I really liked that Thomas Hughes was aware of the advantages white privilege gave him even though he felt like he was passing. This story covers a lot of ground but the heart of it is the love story between Tom & Milo. Highly recommend.

4.5 Stars! Adriana Herrera pens a marvelous between social worker Milo Santiago and tech millionaire Tom Hughes. It is fully of sexy chemistry, charm, and heart.

I love the world Herrera creates with Milo's circle of friends who represent the Afro Caribbean diaspora. Milo's mother is Cuban refugee and his father who who is not around is Jamaican. Tom is white passing Dominican whose father is white but moved to DR and met and married Tom's mom. His parents are amazing. Milo's mom is pretty amazing too. She struggles with depression and Milo works himself to exhaustion trying to ease some of her money and housing stress.

I really value the exploration of Tom's perceived identity versus his home culture because my home culture and my red hair don't match up either. Tom's own circle friends from his Ivy League college days as well as their business is wonderful drawn.

The conflict of the plot teases with the forbidden workplace but doesn't really go there and the work meeting become lovely dates and courting. The really conflicts come as they should from the character themselves.

We do get systemic pressures as well with class, mental health care, and housing but Tom's habits of not putting in the time and relay on money and taking away Milo's agency. Also, Milo's work in domestic violence and his and his mother's histories with men make his boundries and learning to partner and balance independence and inter dependance.

The writing is depth and all the characters are so well crafted and romance made me so happy.

Can't wait for the next one in the series!

I was given this book for my honest review. So there you have it!

If you liked American Dreamer, you’ll probably like American Fairytale, too.

Just like the first book, this one has a very realistic feel, in spite of the fact that one of the main characters is a multimillionaire. That would be Tom, whose upbringing in the Dominican Republic has left him a very down-to-earth person even though he’s become very wealthy. He’s a good match for Camilo, who earns a decent salary but still struggles with making enough to support himself and help out his mother while living in New York City.

Sparks fly between the two of them from their first meeting, which ends in an encounter that is muy caliente. (Can I just note how much I’m enjoying dusting off my Spanish as I’m reading?) The heat continues throughout the book, but their relationship is also filled with moments that left both Milo and me swooning. Tom is a sweetheart, and he treats Milo like he’s precious. That instinct is ultimately the source of the conflict between them, though, because Milo is proud of his ability to stand on his own two feet and doesn’t want Tom to take care of him.

I don’t want to give too much away about the story, but I have to admit that the major crisis point didn’t quite work for me. Tom goes too far with his caretaker instincts and is roundly criticized by just about everyone for it. I grew up relatively poor myself, and I understand the instinct not to want to ask for help. But if other people are willing and able to help you, at what point does a refusal to accept it just become stubborn pride? Nobody really brings that idea up to Milo, though, which sort of left me wondering if it was a cultural thing.

As with American Dreamer, Tom and Milo’s story is rooted in the immigrant experience and celebrates the rich diversity of the world both men live in. Milo’s mother came to the US from Cuba, and his father was Jamaican, and he’s rightfully proud of his heritage. Tom’s mother is Dominican, but his father is white and from the United States. One of the more interesting conversations between Milo and Tom in the book revolves around the benefits and personal costs to Tom of being able to pass as white in a world that privileges that part of his identity.

If that sounds deep, don’t worry, there are plenty of lighter moments, including some adorable interactions with Tom’s four-year-old daughter. And as I’ve already mentioned, there’s a hefty helping of spice, too, particularly one scene after Milo sends Tom a video of himself dancing. ¡Qué calor!

¡Lo recomiendo! (If you guessed that means I’m recommending the book, you’d be right. 😊)

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

Excellent read! This is the second book in the Dreamers series but it is easily read as a standalone. It's a great M/M contemporary romance. It's set in NYC but the characters are proud of their ethnicity and it plays a huge role in who they are. Camilo (Milo) and Thomas are an intriguing pair. Milo comes from a single parent middle class home and works as a social worker. Tom is a billionaire with all the high society trappings around him. Their attraction is intense but when it turns out Tom is the new benefactor for one of Milo's projects they need to put their attraction aside. Can they accomplish that? Read their story and find out. I highly recommend it.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, this one comes out tomorrow!! I'm madly in love with this series right now and was so excited to get an ARC of "American Fairytale". It is a bit like a fairytale, but one they have to work for and I love it. Camilo and Tom are fantastic and their connection jumps off the page. But I love their differences and how they each have to learn to work through them... because that's life. Especially when they have such differing backgrounds. Not only do we have socioeconomical differences, we have family ones, too and I loved that neither of them completely changed theirselves as so often happens in fairytales. Plus Libe is amazing and going to run the world one day 😍. We get to check in with the four best friends (helllllooo Patrice I am ready for you) and we get to meet Tom's crew who are so great as well. It's another stellar addition to this series and I am chomping at the bit for book three now because Herrera has a way with words!

when milo and tom first meet in american fairytale, it's this instant connection and crazy hot hook up. and then it's complicated. milo is a social worker dedicated to helping women out of abusive situations, who works hard to help his mom and does the best he can with what he has and tom is the man with the purse strings, who has the means of solving all the problems with merely opening his wallet.

this difference between them is the heart of their conflict. milo and tom have more than enough love and chemistry and commitment between them. but milo is proud and he doesn't want tom for the money. the last thing he wants is tom's money. and tom, he's a fixer and he doesn't always grasp that sometimes even though he has the means to solve a problem, he needs to take a step back and let milo fix them on his own. milo doesn't want a white knight swooping in to save the day. he wants a partner.

and tom wants to be that partner. but he also can't stand being forced to sit on his hands when he can make everything better. why wouldn't that be the right thing to do? it's a testament to the author that she makes this conflict work on both sides. milo and tom aren't wrong, their difference in life outlook and philosophy is clear and neither position is invalid. and the only way things will work is if they compromise, and it's hard work to compromise. they have to want it, they have to mean it. and they have to prove it.

i so enjoyed milo and tom's journey, i continue to adore the latinx/caribbean representation in these books.

**american fairytale will publish on may 20, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/carina press in exchange for my honest review.

The second book in the Dream series is just as great as the first one. The tile first for the book. It's romantic, have old an old fashion way of courting and sweeping somewhere off their feet. Miles is a social worker and Thomas is a billionaire who donates a large sum of money to a charity where Miles works. Unknown to both men they have hooked previously and Miles have doubts about working together and how it will affect their donations.
I loved seeing the characters from the previous books and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Content Warnings for review: References to trauma, intimate partner violence, overbearing behavior.

I fell hard for Camilo in American Dreamer, and went into this really excited to read his romance. I loved him even more in this story. I wanted to be his friend. I felt so much for him, and loved witnessing him in his relationships with family and friends. His relationship with his mom was especially lovely to witness.

American Fairytale is a contemporary m/m romance with billionaire, meet-cute, one night stand to relationship, workplace romance, and single parent tropes. I liked the meet cute and the one night stand aspect of the story a lot; their flirtation was really fun to read and I enjoyed their chemistry and heat in that initial moment and throughout the story. I adored the kiddo in this book so much and really enjoyed the single parent trope and how it worked in this story. Milo being all nervous about meeting Tom's kid was adorable, and I liked watching their relationship develop. There is a conflict around their workplace relationship, but it seems to just kind of dissipate, except that it creates a need for secrecy/forbidden relationship, which really only has a couple moments where that creates difficulty. This issue gets handwaved away at the end as not a problem, which bugged me a bit, but not too much.

I loved the representation of intimate partner violence work, it was the most real I've ever read, resonated on so many levels. As someone who worked in the field for many years, I was blown away by how accurately, and beautifully the work was depicted. It meant a lot to me to read that.

Connected to that, I deeply appreciated how much Milo was invested in making sure his partner did not trample on his agency and respected his consent. As a child witness to intimate partner violence and as someone invested in the work, it felt so resonant that he was not going to tolerate his autonomy being infringed upon or his no disrespected, and I loved that, even when he was really rigid about it, because it felt so real. Both as a trauma response--not letting anyone do what was done to his mom--and a vicarious trauma response--internalizing the ways controlling behavior drives abuse dynamics. His reactions around this and firm boundaries about it felt so familiar to me, as someone who brings a similar set of experiences and trauma to these questions, and it felt affirming to see that depicted on the page.

In the afterword, the author talks about how this series is a love letter to Latinx moms, and I really saw that in both books, but especially in this one. I adored both MC's moms so much, and really loved witnessing those relationships, they gave me so many feels. I loved how deeply this story had a sense of place; it really felt specific to Harlem, not just NYC generally, and that was wonderful.

I loved the ways the MCs talked about culture, race, and privilege with each other, and how constant and nuanced those conversations were. I also loved that there are basically no white folks in the book, and how it's deeply multicultural in so many ways that center immigrant folks of color. I cannot speak to the cultural accuracy as a white reader, other than to say it felt real to me, and I really enjoyed the depth of cultural specificity in the story.

This isn't quite as much of a foodie story as American Dreamer, but wow did it satisfy on the food details anyway, and I adored all the different ways the characters created intimacy and connection, home and community, via food. Food is a big deal in this story, not just in those ways but in how it wrapped around the class differential in the central romance.

I'm rarely a fan of billionaire romances; this one has a rather different feel from other's I've read. It plays with that trope, attempts to resist it by making wealth more of a problem than a fantasy, and focusing the conflict on the way the billionaire hero is overbearing in how he uses his wealth and economic privilege. The fact that the money was a problem that lampshaded the real issue--him being overbearing--created an arc where in order for him to learn, he had to make the same mistake three times, and escalate each time, until he'd destroyed trust almost completely. You could see why he didn't get how his behavior wasn't okay, because it was clearly well-intended, but that repeated escalation put a strain on things for me as a reader when the third time came around. I honestly wasn't sure how it could be repaired, the trust was so deeply broken, and he was so clueless about the problem.

It did feel...fairy tale like, in a way. There is this way that on the surface Tom seems so right for Milo, gets under his skin so deeply because he really doesn't seem like your usual billionaire, and seems really invested in consent and being careful with Milo and he is a really wonderful parent and his friends are so lovely, and they just seem like this magical match, this at first sight kind of thing. The three mistakes almost seem like a breaking of the spell, so that now they need to actually be real with and for each other, not a fairy tale, not perfect. Flawed, push each other's buttons, not easy with each other, when you get down to it.

I liked Tom's friends, especially Priya, but I was irritated on her behalf at how clueless they were about relationship issues, except for her. It felt like she was doing so much emotional labor in that foursome and I really wanted Tom to do more of that himself. I think it's too common in stories about queer men to give cis women the lion's share of emotional labor in supporting queer men to be better to each other. It felt like Tom was clearly a feminist, but also had not been pushing himself to learn how to do this, and I wanted him to be invested in it, for himself. Otherwise, I worried that he would just lean on Priya every time things went wrong with Milo because he hadn't learned how to do this himself.

I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to get on board for the happy ending. There is a grand gesture, which felt like the right one, if any grand gesture would work. (I'm often iffy on the grand gesture thing, but I do think that if you are up for a grand gesture, this is likely work for you.) There is this sense of slowly rebuilding trust, and then a skip forward to an epilogue. I would have liked a bit more of the slow rebuild, would have appreciated seeing the moment when Milo really risks himself and lets go into trusting Tom again.

Overall, there were many things I loved about this romance, and a few places where it itched a bit and didn't sit as comfortably as I'd like. Overall, it was a really enjoyable, engaging ride, and I was blown away by the realism in the depiction of intimate partner violence work; I honestly have never seen that part of myself depicted in a way that resonated that much before, and it felt really wonderful to have that on the page. I adored Milo to pieces, and would gladly reread this. I'm looking forward to American Love Story, the next book in the series. I cannot miss Patrice and Easton's book!

Representation

White-passing biracial Dominican American queer man MC.
Cuban-Jamaican American queer man trauma survivor MC.
Many secondary characters of color, including several queer ones. This book has pretty much an all-POC cast.
Afro-Latinx Dominican American woman author.

Content Warnings for the book:

MC works in the field of intimate partner violence. MC has trauma from being a child witness to parental intimate partner violence. MC's aunt was killed by her abusive partner. MCs are working together on a project related to shelter for intimate partner violence victims. MC is trying to get his mother to go to a support group for survivors of intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence is discussed at length in many different contexts.

MC's mother has depression and trauma. Reference's to MC's father's death in the past, of cancer.

Alcohol use.

Suicide joke. Casual cissexism/anti-trans language. Casual ableism, including slurs. Gendered slurs. Casual anti-native language (“savage”). 

Sex on the page, including semi-public sex.

I really enjoyed this. Camilo is sooo damn extra but i loved that guy. How could i not. I liked Tom too, but damn my dude kept messing up so muuuuch. If anyone ever tried ordering food for me, didn't even give me a chance to get an opinion in I would be pissed. And Camilo is rightfully so.

Now as Tom kept messing up I realized ok people make mistakes yes, multip;e times too but omg I just wanted him to get it together ASAP. I felt it for Camilo who wanted to express his hurt but felt like maybe he was overreacting. I could relate to that a lot, and Tom truly exasperated me those times but I didn't hate him, was more frustrated with him. And I was glad that not only did Camilo call him on his BS but his friend Priya did it multiple times! Go Priya!

As with book 1, the family and friend relationships in this serious are so precious to me. I appreciated so much that Camilo and his guys are so affectionate with each other and just real. no sugar coating. They were so funny as well. I can't wait for their books. We've been teased for Patrice and Easton so i'm readyyyy.

We also get to meet Camilo's coworker and friend Ayako and i just adored her and I ship her with a certain friend of Tom's so we'll seeeee. ;)

I felt like Tom truly did, finally see the error of his ways, and i do wish he'd respected Camilo's decision to not have him just toss money at a problem, earlier. Since Camilo kept saying it made him uncomfortable. Even as the decision Tom made without Camilo's input was to help out Camilo's mom was a giant overstep i feel like i'm satisfied Tom gets it.

Read the little sneak peek for book 3 so i'm just waiting now.

American Fairytale by Adriana Herrera
Dreamers #2

Great meet-cute when Tom and Camilo meet at the fundraiser...I knew they would end up together since the blurb f or the book SAYS they will so what could have been a hot one time thing did end up more...still...great meet-cute. From there the romance progressed slowly through work involvement, hit a few bumps in the road and eventually overcame the main issue to achieve a HEA for the couple. The book dealt with LGBTQIA issues, workplace ethics and romance, money in relationships, family, depression, intercultural issues and more.

What I liked:
* The honesty, caring and sharing of Tom and Camilo in the relationship they were building
* Tom – great book boyfriend
* That both men felt they could be themselves when together
* supportive friends of both Tom and Camilo
* Libe – Tom’s daughter
* The backstories of the parents of Tom and Camilo
* Work ethics of both men
* multicultural aspects of relationships
* more

What I didn’t like:
* Camilo’s need for control over issues I sometimes felt he should have loosened up a bit overcame
* Feeling that there must have been more backstory to the secondary characters supporting of both Tom and Camilo that we were not privy to...and why had those friends not made Tom and Camilo aware of character issues they could have worked on before this book came along
* Not always knowing what the foreign phrases meant and some of the slang that I have not heard before

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Carina for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars

FYI – “American Fairytale” is the second in Adriana Herrera’s Dreamers series, but it can easily be read as a standalone.

“American Fairytale” draws together two strong characters into a romance that definitely holds your interest. I like the flow of the plot and especially enjoy how the author portrays the characters’ rich Latinx culture and background – Camilo’s Cuban heritage as well as Tom’s Dominican heritage. And as the author notes, this book is a love story to strong Latinx women.

Camilo and Tom meet hot n’ steamy (can you say smokin’ bathroom blow job with a sizzle of dominance) in the midst of a black-tie gala, and then meet again – to their horror – when Tom turns out to be the wealth White Knight who has donated buckets of money to build a shelter for survivors of domestic abuse to the agency that employs Camilo. Camilo worries that his boss will learn of their prior involvement, but then again, Camilo worries about everything.

Camilo is a porcupine of emotion – prickly, irate, pissed off, worried, upset, mad, pouty – basically anything life-related bumps into Camillo’s thick pelt of spiky emotions and it sets him off. IMHO, Camillo is one of those people who starts with the absolute worse-case scenario in any given situation, and hangs onto that with all they’ve got. Simply put, Camillo is exhausting.

Millionaire Tom is incredibly wealthy and extremely generous in using his money to help people, but he has a tendency to throw money at a problem. And one of the central issues of this story is how Tom uses his money to “help” Camilo, only to have Camilo rail against having control taken away from him. And Tom also has some real tone deafness when it comes to keying into the feelings of others.

Tom and Camilo have a deeply satisfying sexual relationship; their problems begin when they leave the bedroom. But eventually, slowly and at times with lots of aggravation (I think this is the sort of book where either Tom will drive you crazy, or Camilo will drive you up a wall because of their dynamic), they eventually work it all out. I could have done without about 50% of the drama, but overall, this was a very satisfying read. 4 stars.

When I saw American Fairytale by Adriana Herrera on Netgalley, I sent a request right away. I was very excited when I was approved, and I decided to start with American Dreamer, the first book in the Dreamers series. It was already in my TBR queue, but I bumped it to the top. After reading American Dreamer, I was even MORE excited to read American Fairytale.

Camilo is a social worker, and as the story begins, he has just received an invitation to attend a posh benefit/fundraiser. Camilo is a hard worker, but he’s looking forward to having a good time. He does not intend to hook up with a handsome stranger, but such things aren’t usually planned in advance. He doesn’t think he’ll ever see the guy again, and that’s okay, because Milo isn’t really looking for a relationship because he’s too busy with work and taking care of his mother.

So, imagine his surprise when the handsome hookup is the major donor for the domestic violence shelter that Milo has been hoping to build for years.

Tom might be a billionaire, but he and his friends built their business from scratch. He’s excited to see Milo again because he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him since their hookup. But he also has a lot going on, and a new relationship isn’t a top priority.

Ostensibly, Milo and Tom need to meet periodically to discuss the progress of the project, but they realize that their attraction hasn’t diminished at all since the hookup; if anything, it’s even stronger.

They’re so happy together, and it seems too good to be true. Will they be able to find their fairytale ending?

This book was amazing- so lovely and tender. I’m going to have to be vague because I don’t want to give too much away, but even the conflict came from good intentions. Milo and Tom have scorching chemistry, but more importantly, they have a good rapport, and even though they’ve just met, they get along like old friends. They come from similar backgrounds: Milo’s mom came from Cuba, and Tom might look like a blanquito, but he’s a Dominican. The pillow talk in Spanish was so sweet.

I liked when Milo’s friends from the first book made cameo appearances. It was nice to “see” Nesto and Jude again, as well as Juanpa and Patrice.

I would absolutely recommend American Fairytale. I think it’s helpful to read American Dreamer first, but it’s not mandatory; Fairytale functions well enough as a standalone. I loved every minute of this book, and I have to tell you that when things got rough, I was sobbing- full on ugly crying. Herrera is one of my new favorite authors, and I can’t wait to read the next books in the Dreamers series!




I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

Ok I came away with this kind of hating both heros. Tom keeps throwing his money around and making decisions without anyone's input or respecting anyone's boundaries in really unnecessary ways. And seriously who orders for someone at a restaurant and how hard would it have been to just ask if you could treat someone to the chef's table at a fancy restaurant. Most reviewers seem to write a lot about what an idiot Tom is and give Milo all the passes. I do not give Milo any passes. Yes, you can be mad that your boyfriend is not respecting your boundaries, that's reasonable. However, the reader is constantly told that the reason that Milo doesn't want Tom paying for anything (except all of their dates, those are fine) is because his mom was in an abusive relationship where the man used wealth as a way to abuse her. Great, ok, so what the reader should recognize is that this means that Milo is afraid that the only reason Tom isn't abusive is because Milo isn't allowing him to pay for things (except, again dates). That's a super large lack of trust to build a relationship on and it is never brought up and they never discuss it between themselves. I can only believe it's because the author was making a point about wealth disparity in relationships and bringing that up undermines her own argument. However, it undermined it for me anyway. Also there's a moment at the end (spoilers I guess) where Tom makes plans with Milo's mother. He doesn't ask Milo if it's ok and this is somehow a problem. Milo does not recognize that his mother is a grown woman. Yes, she has depression, however, she is still a grown woman who can make her own decisions. I do not understand how in any way this was Tom's fault but the book/author tells us that Tom went out on a dangerous limb doing this.

The writing for the most part is pretty good. The story does drag a little. I love the cast of characters in this book. Lots of actual diversity done well.

I mean, REALLY. I didn’t think anything could top American Dreamers but now I have to think way too hard about which of these I loved more! Herrera is a master of romantic relationships with real, deep, and thoughtful issues that couples have to deal with. Just the right amount of drama/angst and grab-the-fan HEAT. So so steamy! Loved it and can’t wait for book 3!

Herrera is so brilliant at developing characters and a community that makes you want to sink into her books so you can spend time with these characters who feel so real. I loved seeing Nesto and Jude from American Dreamer (and Patrice and JP), but I also loved getting to meet new characters, from Tom's friends to Milo's coworkers at the Shelter. The romance in American Fairytale lives us to the title in many ways, but I love how both Tom and Milo have their flaws and those things that hold them back from one another. That said, I did feel like for the most part it was Milo taking issue with something that Tom did, which makes it seem like Milo was perfect. I feel like that's not normally something I notice, but because the conflict(s) that arose were similar, it was very apparent. I, personally, think I would have preferred the final conflict to have been handled differently, but for the most part, I thought the book was incredible.

Also, there's this absolutely amazing paragraph (maybe two) where Milo explains why it's so important that they host a dance class at the DV shelter and I wanted to pull a full on Tom what's his face and jump on a couch because YES. It's so unfair that poor people (and there's an extra burden when it's poor POC) are given this message that they don't deserve happiness because it's wasteful and not meant for people trying to figure out how to pay all of their bills. I loved that paragraph a whole, whole lot and would highly recommend.

American Fairytale is the second installment of Adriana Herrera's American Dreamer series. I read the first book, American Dreamer, and fell in total love with Nesto and Jude. This book is a perfect followup to the brilliance of her debut novel.

American Fairytale centers on the relationship between Camilo (Milo) Santiago Briggs, a Cuban/Jamaican social worker, and Thomas Hughes, a wealthy, Dominican/American tech ceo who, together with his two friends and co-owners, sells their company for an obscene amount of money. Milo and Thomas have an explosive hook up that, over the course of the novel, results in a relationship based on hard-earned understanding and mutual respect.

There is so much to unpack in this novel, so much that is done well. The negotiations between Milo and Thomas, given the huge wealth differential, the cultural understandings that can only come from people who share a similar background. Kudos to Herrera for representing mixed identities in romance, something that doesn't get depicted often. Both protagonists are of mixed parentage and this influences the way they navigate through the world and their romance.

The only tiny complaint I have is that, at the end, I grew a bit exasperated with both characters - Thomas was being a bit pig-headed about throwing money at problems after he was told, over and over, not to do so. Camilo, though, was a bit stubborn about accepting help and complicates his existence in consequence. However, this also made the novel more realistic because, hello, sometimes our biggest obstacles to happiness lay not in external conflicts but in our own inability to get over intrinsict flaws that cause to repeat the same damned mistakes over and over. Refreshingly, our protagonists are guilty of just that.

And can I say, I love an m/m romance that features every kind of relationship, including straight ones in a non-toxic way? Especially friendships with straight women. Imma get up on my soap box so stop reading if you don't want any part of this:

I get the feeling sometimes in m/m romances that women and straight folks are characters-non-grata and I get this profoundly but in the real world, things are a bit more nuanced. Yeah, CIS-hetero folk as a collective give non-binaries a hella lot of trouble in the real world but many also fucking love the LGBTSTGNC (and yes, I found the most inclusive acronym because it's my soapbox and I can) people/relatives in their lives I can say that, among my people, we got each other's backs and we are a part of each other's lives so yay to Herrera for depicting that.
Ramble over. I can't wait to get that third book in my hands!