I’ve never really been a fan of soap operas or telenovelas, but I LOVE a good romantic story! You Had Me at Hola has a beautiful cover that immediately grabbed my attention, and so I figured I’d give it a shot.
Jasmine Lin Rodriguez is ready to go from being a soap opera star to a leading lady, Ashton Suarez is trying to move beyond telenovelas and make it in Hollywood. While she has landed herself on the cover of tabloids after a messy breakup, he’s keeping his personal life under the radar so no one finds out his secret. Their lives are unexpectedly connected when they end up costars on a telenovela remake, Carmen in Charge.
Like any good romance this book has love, sex, drama, and misunderstandings. I love the way the relationship between the characters evolves in both their personal lives and their on-screen personas. The chemistry on set makes them want to get to know each other better off-screen, where their own personal baggage can get in the way of their relationship. The fact that this was an #OwnVoices romance, filled with LatinX culture, made this even better for me. I could totally see this book being adapted to film!
I loved the bits of Spanish interspersed in the characters’ conversations, but every once in a while there was something I just couldn’t figure out based on context. I was happy to be reading this as an ebook so that I could take advantage of the translate feature and figure out what I was missing.
This book is a perfect beach read - full of rom-com drama and laughs!

This my first DNF of the year. The writing of the novela inside of the novel came off a bit jumbled. Their love story was cliche and honestly didn't make sense.

I really didn't fall in love with this book. It was entertaining enough but nothing to swoon over.

Jasmine and Ashton are romantics leads on a television show and when off screen, thanks to fear of bad press for dating a costar, they try to deny their attraction toward each other. They can't fight their desire for each for too long.

The one thing I was impressed with was that both of them made stupid decisions regarding their relationship at the same time. Usually, only one person acts stupid at the third act.

The review is based on an ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

You Had Me at Hola helped me get out of a funk. I kept starting books, reading a bit, then starting another one. I had a feeling when I started this book that it might be the one. It was! This book is what we need in the world right now. Representation of all sorts is seen. LGBTQ+ characters, a heroine with brown nipples, and Latinx culture are seen throughout. I like it.

Both the heroine and hero are actors. They have been working hard. They want this project to blow up their careers. The heroine is getting over a break up and has goals to be a leading lady. I enjoyed her. She isn’t perfect. She’s growing. Love her relationship with her cousins. I am putting it out in the universe that we should get their books too. Family is also very important to the hero. He tends to worry about taking care of and providing for them instead of living. The heroine has him start to rethink that. I enjoyed his POV too.

You Had Me at Hola was a good read. I enjoyed the characters and the story. I look forward to more books in this universe, fingers crossed.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

You Had Me at Hola features Jasmine Lin, a soap opera actress going through a very public breakup beginning her next project, Carmen in Charge. Jasmine is ready to become a leading lady, and that means focusing on her career and definitely not rebounding with her dashing costar, Ashton Suarez, a Puerto Rican telenovela star, despite their chemistry on and off set. Ashton also is having a hard time setting boundaries with Jasmine, despite having a family secret he cannot let the tabloids discover. As the two stars get closer, they must decide what they're willing to risk for their careers, and what they're willing to risk for a shot at love.

I am so grateful to have another romance novel to hand to patrons that features a Latinx cast. This will be easy to recommend to fans of Jasmine Guillory, Helen Hoang, and fans of the television show Jane the Virgin. As a fan of soapy drama, I wanted there to be slightly more telenovela-level intrigue to the story, but overall I appreciated seeing Jasmine and Ashton's relationship develop along side their on-screen characters. I loved getting to know their families and rooting for their careers as well. I'll keep my fingers crossed that we can join some of these characters as Carmen in Charge continues into it's second season!

I really ended up loving this book. I have to admit that I needed to look up a few Spanish phrases to get the context, but I learned some things. Definitely recommend.

This was a very sweet story and the characters were well developed. I loved the inclusion of all the spanish. It added something special to the story.

This is the adorable, sexy, representative Latinx romance that I've been waiting for!!! Jasmine and Ashton are both so relatable and you can't help but cheer for them as their attraction deepens to real romance. This left me feeling warm and fuzzy. I would love to see this turned into a series with the side characters like Michelle and Ava getting their own stories. (And thank you for the epilogue where we find out who was the surprise at the end of season one of the tv show within the story -- you know that would have left me hanging!)

I adored this book! As a Latinx librarian and romance fan, this book really resonated with me.

This new romance by RITA award-winning writer, Alexis Daria is a sizzling hot and fun ode to soap operas. Jasmine, a soap opera actor, and Ashton, a telenovela actor have just been cast on a popular streaming service TV show that promises to catapult each of them to break-out stardom. Although they initially resist becoming romantically involved, they quickly give in to temptation and indulge in a torrid affair that means more to them than either wants to admit. When the paparazzi exposes a shocking secret, Jasmine is forced to reevaluate the trust she put in Ashton, and Ashton is compelled to come to grips with his traumatic past that has long held him back from fully living his life and finding love.

Firmly rooted in Latinx culture, this novel covers complex issues of language, colorism and identity while also managing to be an upbeat, entertaining and super-steamy read. Recommended for fans of soap operas/telenovelas, diverse books, contemporary romance and anyone looking for a hot new book by a talented writer.

This was fun!

I liked but didn't love her first book. This one worked much better for me. I loved the telenovela TV set background. I really liked both characters, and thought they had great chemistry with each other. The secondary characters could have used some rounding out, but the book was pretty short, so there might not have been time. I would actually have liked this to be longer so it could be more fleshed out in general.

The basic plot here is that Jasmine Lin and Ashton Suárez are going to be starring in a streaming show from Netflix analogue Screenflix, and this could bring telenovelas, and both of their names, to the attention of Hollywood. Ashton has been working to make it big since the beginning of his career as one of the most famous telenovela actors, and Jasmine is hurting from a very recent public breakup with a pop star. Ashton is famously private and press-shy. Neither one of them want to date a co-star, let alone fall in love with one, and neither one of them want to make the front pages. So of course they have ridiculous chemistry and are attracted to each other right away.

I appreciated this didn't go the insta-love route. They get to know each other, and Ashton gradually starts to let his walls down. And despite her explicit plans otherwise, Jasmine starts to fall for him. Their desires, and the press, inevitably come into play and provide a push of outside conflict.

I love the way Latinx people and culture is portrayed here, very real and lived in, but not idealized or stereotyped. There are a huge variety of Latinx actors and other characters in the book, many of them of Puerto Rican heritage. We also get snippets of scenes from their TV show, Carmen in Charge, which is a remake of a telenovela reimagined for American audiences, much like Jane the Virgin. I had some quibbles with their conflict at the end, but they were all addressed before I finished the book, so they don't feel worth bringing up. My only remaining criticism is that especially at the beginning of the book, she relies on telling instead of showing quite a bit. The reason show don't tell is a writing mantra is that showing something directly engages the reader's emotions. Telling puts it at a remove, and I did feel at a remove for the first third or so of the novel, until things started happening in the plot. (view spoiler) Lots of other moments like that could have been fleshed out in a similar way and this book would have gone from fun and entertaining to *brain candy unputdownable yes*, which is how I most like my romance novels to feel.

I'm still rounding up to four, though, because what was there was fun and I liked it more than three stars. Definitely worth checking this one out if you like romances.

[3.5 stars, rounding up]

An absolute delight.

You Had Me at Hola is both a sweet and sexy romance and its own love letter to the Latinx and specifically Puerto Rican communities. It's delicious to watch Jasmine and Ashton come together, sometimes against their own better judgment, because it feels like a romance between two full-fledged adults.

Books set in the entertainment industry often over-glamorize celebrity, but You Had Me at Hola delves a bit into the dark side, including stalkery fans, antagonistic reporters and the general downside of having your life splashed across social media.

Between that gorgeous cover and the sweet romance at the heart of this one, it's a summer must read for sure.

CW: MCs parent died from cancer

This was a fun, cute, touching romance between two really sweet characters. The back and forth helped build up the tension and the chemistry between the two leads was red hot! I really enjoyed the diverse cast of characters, which, in addition to Latinx characters, also included gender-fluid and other LGBTQ+ characters, and a single parent dad, which is very rare! The writing was good and I really got swept up in the story.

A steamy romance that's sure to delight fans of 'Jane the Virgin,' with a hero and heroine to root for, and very believable stakes and conflict. So immersive that I sat down to start the book and didn't look up again until after I'd finished it!

This was such a sweet, sexy, and well-written contemporary romance! The secret child plot is one that I don't usually love, but it was done in a unique way here and made a lot of sense to the character and his issues, so it worked for me. Ashton and Jasmine were both compelling characters with authentic voices and emotions, and I found myself caring so much about them finding love and happiness together and in themselves! I really loved the story-within-a-story feel from the TV show scenes and the perfect parallels to the actors' real lives. This is the first book by Daria that I've read, and it made me want to check out all of her others ASAP. Will highly recommend this to romance fans!

Absolutely adorable. Jasmine and Ashton are both delightfully ill-equipped for just how much they like one another, and it doesn't help that their romance ends up playing out on the set of an American Telenovela. The book was funny, sweet, and sexy.

Fantastic modern love story. Humorous and sexy. Quick, fun, hot read. It was great to read a love story that focused on a racially diverse community. Loved the focus on family.

Gah I adored this book so much. It was my first time reading about telnova's and I am addicted. This was steamy, fun and so romantic. I need all alexis daria's book asap! OBSESSED!

I'm so glad I was approved for You Had Me At Hola because let me just say I LOVED this one. I went into this novel with no expectations, just that the title was cute and the cover was beautiful. Jasmine was such a great character. Very strong but also allowed herself to be vulnerable and genuine. She exudes girl power and I loved it. Ashton - I went back and forth with him. He was a little too dramatic but that's okay, I ended up liking him a lot. I also enjoyed their awkwardness that began their relationship and then eventually leads into a lot of steaminess. I also thought that the scenes where they're behind the set, shooting the show was super fun. I will say that I'm not that into romances so if you love romance novels, definitely read this one. I'm off to go check out whatever else Alexis Daria has written!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and to the publisher for the advanced copy!

Everything about this book was glorious, least of which was the diversity and inclusion, ever so casual AS IT SHOULD BE. This book was a melting pot without screaming "LOOK AT ME, I FEATURE DIVERSE CHARACTERS FOR CLOUT" and I'm living for it.

The romance was *chef's kiss*. I loved the awkwardness and the build up, and I enjoyed the peak at the MCs as their telenovela counterparts. I loved everything about this book and now I'm going to hunt down Ms. Daria's backlist and soak in everything.

Jasmine is a successful actress who is just trying to break into the major spotlight. When she's paired on a telenovela with actor Ashton, who wants nothing more than to keep his head down and avoid the spotlight at all costs, she becomes hesitant. She feels a connection with him, and as costars and love interests, they need to have rapport with each other. Ashton avoids her at all costs and does not socialize with the cast outside of work. Although, he may have good reason... Will Jasmine be able to break through his walls and get her to open up to her?
Delightfully romantic and skillfully written, Daria's tale will have readers enchanted from the beginning to end.