I read You Had Me At Hola earlier this year, and was already excited to hear more about the primas, so A Lot Like Adios was a welcome addition to the series. The friends to lovers romance, while sometimes rushed, felt well developed, as was the family drama present between Gabe and his parents.

There’s so much that I want to talk about with regards to this book and it’s kind of hard to know exactly where to start. While the book does give us both Michelle and Gabe’s POVs, it very much feels like a book that’s really focused on Gabe’s journey. Therefore, I’m going to use the same approach in this review. Gabe’s professional obligations are the instigating factor that drives the plot of this book forward, impacting his relationship with his one-time best friend/the girl next door/the girl he was secretly in love with in high school and then deserted, and also impacting his relationship with his parents, with whom he’s been estranged for close to a decade.

Ultimately, this is a second chance romance between Gabe and Michelle, who were long-time best friends who finally decided to act on their mutual attraction the week after graduating from high school. Before they actually had sex, Michelle discovered that Gabe had been lying to her about his post high school plans, and instead of staying in New York for college, he’s going off to California the very next week. That deception causes Michelle to kick Gabe out and here’s the part I guess I don’t understand. After that huge blow-up, she reaches out to him several times and he completely ignores her until the present day, which is something like 12 years later.

Given Gabe’s complete and utter abandonment of his best friend, it’s very awkward when it comes to light that Gabe and his business partner, who are trying to open a new branch of their very successful gym in New York, need Michelle’s professional skills to establish their brand. Since Gabe’s partner is unable to travel to New York due to his family obligations, it falls on Gabe to return to his hometown for the first time in almost a decade. Michelle agrees to help her one-time best friend in exchange for him staying with her and discussing why he left her without a second glance and refused to have any contact with her for over a decade. Unbeknownst to him, she’s staying at her childhood home, which also happens to be next door to HIS childhood home and he’s caught between trying to agree to her terms and keep his estranged parents from finding out he’s in town. Given that Gabe and Michelle are sharing a house, one thing very quickly leads to another, and 20% into the book, the two give in to their long denied attraction and have sex.

So, let’s break all this down and examine what worked for me and what didn’t. First of all, I’m not super fond of fitness-oriented main characters but overall, that wasn’t so much of a problem in this book. There really wasn’t any body shaming and moreso, Gabe seemed more of a physical therapist than a trainer. Secondly, while Gabe eventually admits that the reason he kept his plans to move to CA a secret from Michelle was that he was afraid she could successfully convince him to stay, I really don’t understand why he chose to ignore her attempts to reach out. And therefore, the fact that Michelle is so willing to overlook his abandonment and move on and act on her attraction also seems quite fast. If you’re familiar with my reading habits at all, you know I love a good strong slow burn with lots of pining and longing and will-they-or-won’t-they sexual tension. The fact that the tension in this book is resolved so quickly means we spend a lot of the remainder of the book inside of Gabe’s head as he struggles to figure out what he really wants vs. what he thinks he’s supposed to want and how to go about getting it.

That leads to my next issue with the book: Gabe and his problematic relationship with his parents. The weight of familial expectations and his father’s desire to control his life acts as the motivating force that propels Gabe to move cross country in the first place. Gabe has not spoken to his parents in 9 years, since he and his father had a terrible fight at his sister’s wedding. I’m more than familiar with toxic parental relationships and buckling under the pressures created by parental expectations. However, Gabe has spent 9 years avoiding his parents and in the space of a few days, basically, manages to work things out. Again, it doesn’t make sense why he just stopped talking to both his parents for 9 years only to have the sudden realizations he did that lead to them reconciling. It happens very fast and Gabe’s tendency to run away from his problems instead of facing them head on is part of the reason I found him to be such a problematic character.

Going back to the Gabe/Michelle dynamic, one of the things that is used in this book are interstitials that involve fanfiction the two wrote when they were younger, about a tv show they both loved. If you think this sounds very familiar, you might be thinking of the book Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade which came out in 2020 and uses the same narrative device to help propel the romance forward. Listen, I’m not saying authors can’t use the same type of narrative device in their books. But it just feels so familiar that one can’t help but compare the use of these interstitials between the two books.

I will say, in defense of this book, the interstitials, while brief, actually did work in that they were illustrating a parallel storyline that basically reflected teenage Gabe’s growing feelings for teenage Michelle. And using the fanfiction narrative in a very pivotal scene towards the end culminates in Gabe making the necessary grand gesture to win Michelle back.

I did like parts of the book but I didn’t connect to the story or to Gabe as much and preferred the first book in this series, You Had Me at Hola. I adored the family relationships in this book, especially on Michelle’s side, and loved the insight into a culture I’m not very familiar with. I found Gabe to be indecisive and his penchant for running away left me unable to trust him and wondering how Michelle ever could. He also refused to let anyone in and help him shoulder his burdens and to me, that’s not a really great hallmark of someone who would make a good partner. His self-isolation was purely by choice and his tendency to cut people out of his life, whether it be Michelle or his parents, made me question his staying power in a committed relationship. However, I appreciated Gabe’s growth and his realization about becoming an adult and how that translates to having a different relationship with his parents. I also loved the queer rep in this book: both Gabe and Michelle casually reveal themselves to be bisexual and Gabe also has a niece who is transgender. And while I’m always on the side of a long-simmering slow burn, I did love the high heat in this book – that Gabe, for all his faults, is kind of a dirty talker and both Michelle and I are here for that. Ultimately, I wished Gabe had been more forthcoming about his feelings and his fears and felt Michelle was far more willing to be emotionally vulnerable than he was.

CW: toxic parental relationships, mention of previous drug use

I absolutely loved You Had Me at Hola last year so, of course, I was hyped for the next Primas of Power book! A Lot Like Adiós is a reunion story. Michelle and Gabe were childhood friends, on the cusp of something more, when he leaves NYC for California and completely abandons their friendship. When they reconnect, around Gabe opening a gym in NY and Michelle being hired to run the marketing campaign, they quickly return to that friendship moving into romance stage. I’ve said in the past that I’m not the biggest fan of flashback scenes but this book does it in an unique way. Like the previous book’s tv show cutaways, this book uses instant messages about the sci-fi fanfiction Michelle and Gabe wrote together as teens to give insight into their past friendship. I felt that this was perfect with how it flowed in the book and into their final story and didn’t take me out of the current storyline like I think usually flashbacks do. Both Michelle and Gabe are Bi and I love how it was addressed in this book. It was so natural and just a part of who they are.

In addition to Michelle and Gabe rediscovering their friendship and attraction, there is the subplot of family that runs through the book. Gabe initially left because of conflict with his parents. While Gabe’s earlier reason for cutting ties was the right move, reconnecting with his family and developing an adult relationship with his parents, who have become more understanding, does seem to happen at the right pace and doesn’t seemed forced. This is a lovely story of friendship, deep love, and the bonds of family, both biological and not.

Nine years ago, Gabe left New York and never looked back. Now he's back in town to meet with Michelle, his childhood best friend, about a business proposal. Long-pent-up desire comes to the surface before they can get down to facts and figures. Is this a second chance at love, or a fling to get each other out of their system before he leaves again?

This is a high-heat novel that focuses on the physical relationship first, and the romance second. Gabe and Michelle both have a lot of hurt to work out of their system before they can find their HEA.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Alexis Daria's You Had Me at Hola was one of my top books of 2020. I enjoyed A Lot Like Adios even more. Daria effortlessly pulled me into this book with a fast-paced, immersive story that kept me eagerly turning pages from beginning to end with no idea how this journey would finally reach its conclusion.

I really liked the friends-to-lovers romance for Gabe and Michelle. It was fun to watch them reconnect after so many years apart - not an easy process. Daria skillfully and realistically guided them through the (still fresh even after 13 years) emotional fallout from their less-than-amicable teenage breakup, forcing them to communicate and work through their issues in present day. I appreciated the work these two had to put in. The author gave them no easy answers. While they had to put in the effort to address their emotional issues, they obviously needed no assistance with their physical connection. These two were hot for each other and I loved it!

While this book is definitely the story of Michelle and Gabe's journey to love, and Michelle does experience growth both professionally and personally, in many ways this was about Gabe, his journey being more complex, and his growth more profound. There were so many issues for him to work through apart from his feelings for Michelle. There's his career, his fractured family, his self worth, and his ability to be his true, authentic self. It's a rewarding and emotional journey that had me crying, laughing, and cheering.

Daria has also assembled a richly diverse secondary cast that enriches the main story. The family interactions are, by turns, hilarious, poignant, messy, and loving. This author really knows how to write big, meddling, affectionate, occasionally overbearing, Latinx families and bring them to vivid life on the page. She has also included sexual diversity in this book - trans and bisexual characters, for example - without making it a big deal but, rather, casually stated as simply a natural part of a character's make up. I find that so refreshing. I also have to say that I really enjoyed the interstitials between chapters, flashing back to the texts between a young Michelle and Gabe as they wrote fan fiction together. Not only did it give me greater insight into their characters and their younger relationship but I found myself being pulled into their fan fic and wanting to read the full story!

If you enjoy Latinx stories with a friends-to-lovers, second-chance romance, meddling families, emotional growth, plenty of steam, and a hard-earned happily ever after, give A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria a try. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

*ARC received for fair and unbiased review

Phew! This steamy friends-to-lovers second-chance romance gets started off with a BANG! (Literally. There’s sex almost right off the bat.) There’s witty banter and some sneaky hiding from family that provides some great laughs. It’s such a fun and charismatic story, and although you don’t need to read the first book in the series, it’s a great place to start before you read this one. I also can’t wait for the next Prima of Power story!

Thanks to William Morrow and Avon for the advanced read in exchange for my honest review!

A Lot Like Adios is the second book in the Primas of Power series by Alexis Daria. After meeting Jasmine's cousin, Michelle in You Had Me At Hola, I was excited to get her story. I loved the strong cousin friendship and was excited to see both Jasmine and Ava featured in this book.

This friends-to-lovers Latinx book had me swooning and fanning myself over the steamy scenes. First and foremost, I appreciated that both main characters were bisexual and that it was easily accepted. I enjoyed watching Michelle and Gabriel come together after 13 years apart. Michelle knew she was missing him and wasn't going to let the chance to work with him go without trying to reforge that friendship. The throwbacks to the messenger chat transcripts were a great way to show the past and what the fanfiction that Michelle and Gabriel wrote together meant to them.

Working together on branding Gabriel's gym, Michelle pushed Gabriel to think about what he really wanted both professionally and personally. Gabriel helped Michelle gain the confidence she needed to kick start her true passion as a free-lancer. Both Michelle and Gabriel got closure and gained insight into each other's lives that they hadn't had before. From the easy friendship to the banter to the steamy scenes, this book had it all.

I can't wait for Ava's story next!

Gabe and Michelle were high school besties, both unknowingly crushing on the other until one night, they gave in to their desire and hooked up. They haven't spoken in the thirteen years since. But when Gabe's business partner reaches out to Michelle for help marketing their new gym, Gabe finds himself not only reunited with his first love but also with the parents he left Michelle to escape.

I didn't read You Had Me at Hola but this book works as a stand alone. I love Daria's writing, the Latinx rep (especially how she incorporates Spanish without having characters repeat the same thing in English right after!) and Michelle and Gabe together but for some reason, I wasn't wowed. I don't get it. The steam is STEAMY and there's even a book within a book (Gabe and Michelle write scifi fanfic together) - all things I adore. Maybe it was Gabe's business storyline that didn't jibe for me? I don't know.

Don't let my review deter you - I'll definitely read whatever Daria writes next. This was a book I wanted to fall in love with but I think we'll just end up being friends.

Thanks to Avon Books and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

Entertaining.

A fast paced, brisk second chance romance, complete with a large cast of characters, the intricate family dynamics and two very stubborn people.
Gabriel and Michelle grew up next door to each other, as best friends and more. But Gabe ghosted Michelle once before. Can they bridge the trust gap and all the changes life has wrought their way?
As they work together, back to the scene of the crime in NY.

I really appreciated the diversity of the cast from the open till the end.
Recommend.

4.5

I knew this would be good given the Bronx setting alone! One of the things I love about Alexis's writing is how real and fresh her characters often come across, and that is definitely true in A Lot Like Adiós. Michelle's assertiveness and self-assurance were so fun to read and definitely helped to kick off the action early. She and Gabe's dynamic and interactions added delicious tension and heat to this childhood friends to lovers story.

But as much as I loved the quick pacing, I wish we got more backstory on Michelle and Gabriel's separate lives before their romance kicked off. Some of the plot points and info presented towards the end of the novel came out of nowhere, and establishing the characters a bit more upfront could have helped this. Also, I don't know that the interstitial chapters were put to the best use.

That aside, this book was so hot and funny and entertaining. There were so many standout scenes (though shoutout to the drugstore, party, and hotel scenes in particular), I won't forget this read anytime soon.

I was so excited to get approved and jumped right into this one. I'm a little dumb and didn't realize You Had Me at Hola was connected to this story as a companion novel. It's on my shelf but I haven't actually read it so I'm sure if you read YHMAH you would be even more connected to Michelle but as someone who didn't, I still connected, enjoyed Michelle and don't think it hindered my reading experience.

I totally loved this second chance, friends-to-strangers-to-lovers romance! It was steamy in the first 20 percent of the book so you know it's going to be good. I wasn't expecting it to be this hot but I'm not mad about it. Nope. It also didn't ruin the sexual tension and angsty/slow burn build for the rest of the novel either. I enjoyed the humor, heat and heart of this story. Michelle and Gabe were both funny, sweet, snarky and complex in their own ways and worked really well together. Everything about this book was super relatable and all the drama was justified (which is sometimes rare with romance books). I also loved that Michelle was a freelancer in marketing and PR.

I didn't really enjoy the flashbacks of them writing fanfic together. I found myself skipping over that part. But, besties, I wasn't skipping any other part of this book.

I totally loved this book and now I MUST go back and read YHMAH. This book has convinced me I need to read more second chance romances. Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Lot Like Adios is a great sequel to You Had Me at Hola, though it misses out on some of its charm by lacking the celebrity allure. As a whole, the book is excellent, with well-developed characters, steam for days, and Latinx representation. The main downside compared to You Had Me at Hola, which it's impossible not compare to, is instead of a fun telenovela script built into the story we're stuck with some kind of odd sci-fi fan fiction. As someone who is primarily a contemporary romance reader, this was not my jam, and I found myself skipping over these fanfiction bits, even though I know they were at least tangentially related to the plot. But I didn't want to read them and skipping them helped move the story along. This format worked better in the first book with the telenovela script because it logically fit into the story more and was still the same genre, and thus target audience. The fanfiction felt kind of random here, even though it was a nod to the characters' childhood.

This complaint only makes up a small fraction of the book (indeed, as mentioned, I skipped it), and I very much enjoyed the rest. This book blends a lot of good tropes seamlessly and is somehow second chance, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, and fake dating all in one. Who can resist?

Thanks to Avon for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 stars - 8/10

Can I just say...muy calienté! 🔥 That's about all the Spanish I know so flexing it at this moment just seemed like the right thing to do.

I planned on reading the first book in this series before reading this one, but (as usual) ran out of time because LIFE and also ADULTING. I am happy to tell you that A LOT LIKE ADIÓS is a great standalone! Although, I absolutely plan on reading You Had Me At Hola soon.

Michelle and Gabe are the Childhood Friends-to-Lovers you need in your life! The chemistry, people. The CHEMISTRY!

Michelle is a truly fantastic female lead. She is smart, hard-working, kind, and brimming with confidence, and sexy as hell! You will love her. Gabe was just a bit more difficult for me to totally fall in love with. Yes, he is hot, swoony, and sweet, but he is also fairly immature in those book and loves to run from any and all conflict. I understand that this was part of his internal conflict and something he needed to overcome in this story, but it got annoying by the end.

I loved this story of friendship and passion and love and how our family expectations and our personal goals can destroy our peace. There are so many great moments of choosing your own path, with both positive and negative outcomes.

And, lest I gloss over the important stuff, this book is STEEEEEAAAMMMMMY! Prepare yourself for hotness.

One thing worth noting: there is some dialog in this book that is in Spanish. As a non-Spanish speaker I first look for context clues within the story and when that didn't work I was able to quickly get a translation since I was reading via Kindle. If you are reading this book in paperback form and do not speak Spanish, there will be times when you don't know what was said. I love the addition of Spanish speaking by these characters, but fewer than half of those instances were easily discernable by context clues.

A LOT LIKE ADIÓS is a great read that is sweet, swoony, and steamy with a lot of family drama mixed in and a second chance at claiming the love of your life.

I really enjoyed Adiós! I love the way Alexis writes - big families, swoony love stories, and diverse characters. I really resonated with Gabe’s struggle to reconcile with his parents, and I loved that Michelle did not put up with Gabe’s shit at all. I also really appreciated that there was no fat shaming in this (Gabe is a gym owner). I can’t wait for Ava’s story next

A LOT LIKE ADIOS follows Gabe, a PT gym founder living in LA who is running from his past - including ghosting his high school best friend Michelle. He goes to New York to open up another gym, only to realize that his business partner hired Michelle to do the branding for the project.

This is a story about family, friendship, and connecting back to who you truly are, and it was so wonderful to see Gabe and Michelle address past hurt and, eventually, encourage each other to be the best version of themselves. The easy rapport between them reminded me of real friendships in my life, and it was also great to see the Primas of Power supporting Michelle as she navigated how she felt about Gabe.

And HOLY FUCK. These sex scenes are some of the best I’ve read in contemporary romance (that wasn’t like erotica because obviously that’s a different steam category lol). Just like…prepare yourself 🥵

4.5 Stars ⭐️ - Top Pick

“Their relationship was complicated, mixed with love and affection, anger and hurt, and unfulfilled desire. But when she thought about Gabe, it was like a cavern opened up in her chest, a gaping emptiness where her heart and vital organs should be. If she had the chance to replace even a bit of what she’d lost, she had to take it. Maybe if he could just be in her life again, somehow, she wouldn’t feel the ache of loneliness as acutely as she had since he left.”

Gabriel Aguilar left everything in the Bronx including his parents, his family, and his best friend, Michelle, when he chose to go to college in Los Angeles. The falling out with his parents and Michelle have prevented Gabriel from going back to the Bronx, afraid to face them, until he has to travel for work. What’s worse than that? His business partner asked Michelle to help them with the marketing for their new gym. Gabe doesn’t have anywhere else to hide. Michelle is ready for some answers from the boy who broke her heart years before, and she will stop at nothing to get them.

Alexis Daria continues to impress me. Honestly, her books are highly entertaining and extremely funny. I thought the first one in this series was good, but this one was leagues above it in my opinion. There are a huge number of supporting characters in A Lot Like Adios, but Michelle Amato stole the show in this story. She shines in every page that she is on, and I just want to gush about how wonderful of character that she is. While Gabe may not have the presence that Michelle does in this book, I still enjoyed him. I loved his growth and how his relationship with his family is mended after many years of estrangement. I think that Michelle brought out the best in him and pushed him to do things that were uncomfortable for him or that he had been hiding from. Their physical chemistry was muy caliente, but it extended far beyond the physical to a place of deep intimacy, friendship, and love.

There really was so much to love in this story, and if you are a fan of Talia Hibbert and Alisha Rai then you will absolutely enjoy this one!

~ Michelle

There is so much to love here! Take my rating with a grain of salt - if you like angst, especially family angst, you will eat this up.

The good:

- I love Daria's writing and it's in full force here, along with her fun characters.

- Both Mich (pronounced "Mish") and Gabe are bi, yay! There's also low-key mental health rep, with Mich taking anti-anxiety meds daily.

- All the competence pr0n. Mich is a kick butt marketing consultant, and Gabe's gym is doing so well they're opening branches on the other coast. We get to see each of them doing their job on the page and it's satisfying.

- There's a slight gender flip from the usual, with Mich avoiding emotional connections and Gabe being more in touch with his feelings.

- It's made clear early on that this book will not end with a walk down the aisle or a birth announcement. HEAs without publicly declared love via wedding or babies are rare, and I'm ever and always here for it.

- I think this is the first time I've seen word-level code switching in fiction, and definitely the first time to this extent. In other books characters switch languages sentence to sentence but Daria writes what bilingual folx, in my experience, actually sound like.

"Oye, muchacho. I wanted to go over there right away, pero your father told me lo que estabas conprando, y él lo dijo qué I shouldn't interrupt you."

- The steamy bits are really, really steamy.


The not-good-for-me:

- We are up to our eyeballs in angst for most of the book. I do well with messy characters, but this is messy situations - avoiding estranged parents, awkward parties, fake dating to cover true intensions. Perfect for fans of family angst especially, but I'm afraid it's not my thing.

- Mich does something early that I was Not Happy with. It all works out eventually, of course, but if I were Gabe I would have been so pissed at her. I didn't see that reflected on the page, quite, but it didn't bother other people so I'll chalk it up to personal taste.

While A Lot Like Adiós isn't a "me" book that doesn't take away from its many strengths. If you liked You Had Me at Hola and don't mind some angst this will be a perfect read for you!

In short: Gabe returns home after 13 years and has to confront his past; the girl he’s always loved and the family he left behind.

What to expect:
❤️‍🔥Lots of steam 🔥🔥🔥
❤️‍🔥Childhood friends to lovers
❤️‍🔥Reconciling with your past
❤️‍🔥Finding where your passion really lies

My thoughts: 13 years ago Gabe left the Bronx to escape his demanding parents expectations. Unfortunately it also meant leaving Michelle, his best friend and long time crush. Now he owns LA’s hottest celebrity gym and his investor is insisting on opening a NY location. It’s the last place he wants to go but he’s forced to confront his past when Michelle is unexpectedly hired for the marketing campaign.

This was an excellent romance about childhood friends to lovers. The chemistry was muy caliente (which I admittedly skipped through the steam scenes) and the characters gave no pause in starting things right away. I liked that even after years apart they were still so comfortable with each other. There was also a strong connection to family ties and expectations, or perceived expectations.

I listened to this on audio and highly recommended. The pacing was quick with great narration. The audiobook truly made this book come alive.

This second installment about the primas was just as well written, but definitely had a different vibe. This one had fan fiction interspersed with the story and while I know some people loved it, I had trouble connecting.

In spite of many communication issues with basically every character in the book I really did like Gabe. He was far from perfect and had lost himself a little, but at his core he really cared about people and I especially loved how eager he was to help prop with his Physical Therapy.

I have to admit I was a little thrown at how easy this second chance romance came together. I wanted more dialogue between Mich and Gabe. They didn't do much talking.

Another part of the story that felt a little incomplete to me was their sexual orientation. Both admit to being bisexual, but in my opinion it felt like it was thrown in to be inclusive but there was no need for it as it didn't fit with the story line or serve a purpose. I was just a little confused how that added to the story. If that was a part you loved then I'm glad it worked for you.

I still loved the glimpses into the culture of their families and the Spanish throughout the book but I felt like this one lacked substance.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.
Content Warnings

Alexis Daria has done it again with this warm and vibrant romance. A Lot Like Adiós perfectly balances childhood friends to lovers and second chance to create a deeply felt story that basically wrecked me.

Daria is so skilled at writing confident and successful characters that are simultaneously the most lovable and deeply flawed. Both Michelle and Gabe needed to work through a lot to find their way back to each other and Daria was able to balance that growth with a super sexy romance. She also weaves in family in way that makes her books and characters feel full and layered.

I’m also just constantly impressed with how Daria succeeds at weaving casual inclusiveness into her books. It’s something I want to see more and more and throughout romance and just makes me impossibly excited for Daria’s next book!