Friends to enemies to friends to lovers has and always will be one of my favourite tropes. Second chance romances always give me all the feels, and with a little culture injected into it - *chef's kiss*. No, literally because it's about food.

I'm a big fan of meddling families forcing two people together and the awkwardness that ensures - our main characters were all incredibly well written and possessed all the depth and tone needed to make a book successful - no Mary Sue's here guys.

All in all, a great read. Thanks for the ARC.

Rating: 4 stars
Spice: 3 chili peppers
Genre: Rom-Com
Representation: Puerto Rican, Irish-American
Content Warnings: grief, death of a parent, abandonment, cancer (side character)

Description
Kamilah Vega is a passionate chef who desperately wants to keep her abuela's restaurant alive in their increasingly gentrified neighborhood in Chicago. Her plan? To spiff up the place and enter it into the Fall Foodie Tour. There are a few problems...her family doesn't really take her or her plan seriously and her abuelo is planning to sell the building along with his bestie. The only way he and his best friend will agree to not sell is if she and Liam Kane get married.

Liam Kane's granda and Kamilah's abuelo are dead set on this marriage and he feels like he doesn't really have a choice when he finds out his granda has cancer. He is all Liam has left aside from his family's whiskey distillery. Liam has spent years trying to update the distillery and he and his grandfather are focused on winning a national competition. If he wants to have that chance to compete and get his granda to agree to cancer treatment, Liam has to give in to his demands.

Their futures are on the line but Kamilah and Liam are repelled by the idea. They used to be best friends as kids but now, it seems, they can't stand one another. The two agree to fake an engagement to get what they want from their grandfathers but the plan isn't as easy as they'd hoped...

Review
This book was addictive! Kamilah and Liam had awesome chemistry and the food descriptions were delicious. I went back and forth between the audiobook and the print (as usual) and loved both. The narrator Valentina Ortiz did a wonderful job and I felt so seen. The pacing was perfect because I almost didn't want to put the book down to go to sleep, except for when the inevitable fallout hit.

Something I really appreciate about this book and After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez is that each of the MCs got a moment to confront their families about the dismissive attitudes they've had towards these women. I'm not sure if this is just a Latine(x) thing, but I've also noticed this within my own family. Women are held to higher standards in the family and if you have ever screwed up, you'll never hear the end of it. Yes, they love you, but rather than being more positive, they will question your ideas every step of the way and remind you of every mistake you've made. It's so demoralizing! I'm glad Kamilah called her family out on this.

I rooted for Kamilah and Liam all the way through! While this was not a hot and heavy book right out the gate, the tension between these two made the spicy scenes more satisfying.

In A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña, the grandfathers of two former best friends—who have drifted apart becoming enemies/foes—blackmail them into agreeing to marry. So, Puerto Rican chef Kamilah Vega and Irish American whiskey distiller Liam Kane pretend to be engaged. Caña’s debut is a funny, poignant, heartfelt, and entertaining family-centered romance about two friends finding their way back to each other, themselves, and their dreams. I love her use of language, colorful dialogue, and vivid description that makes you feel like you are right there with the characters. Another of my favorite parts of the novel is the cultural aspects Caña sprinkles throughout her narrative. Caña weaves Spanish into the dialogue to blend smoothly with the English. Her descriptions of food make you long to jump into this book. However, I do not advise reading while hungry!

Kamilah and Liam’s relationship, their sunshine heroine/grumpy hero dynamic, and the crackling and fiery tension sparked by their lifelong friendship turned into faux enemies are wonderfully developed by Caña. I love their funny, snarky, sweet, intensely emotional, passionate, and chemistry-filled banter, interactions, and love scenes, which barely mask Kamilah and Liam’s underlying attraction/connection. While they are complete opposites, they complement each other, balancing one another’s lives. An incorrigible dreamer and optimistic force of nature, Kamilah is a bold, fearless, stubborn, and demanding social butterfly. Liam, on the other hand, is an anti-social loner and hermit burdened by past trauma and loss. Yet, he’s also sensitive, sweet, caring, generous, supportive, loyal, and dependable.

Close familial bonds drive them to continue their family legacies. Liam and Kamilah also are burdened by family pressure and keeping secrets, preventing them from following/achieving their dreams and finding happiness and peace—also distancing themselves from loved ones. Liam and Kamilah have deep emotional ties that still draw them to each other despite their attempts at denial and pretending otherwise. Yet another secret stands between them about why their friendship suddenly broke off just when they were verging on becoming more. Bitterness and anger about this feed their animosity.

Though Liam and Kamilah try to fight their attraction and deny the emotions and the connection/bond that still exists between them, spending time with each other, living together, and pretending to be engaged while planning a wedding brings all those feelings to the surface. They encourage each other to be their best. Kamilah and Liam struggle with being comfortable with who they are and living up to family legacies that are important to them but can also be a burden.

The Kane and Vega families are hilarious, especially the abuelos with their scheming and troublemaking. But also, the interactions between the Vega siblings, their parents, and Liam and his grandfather are too.

Kamilah loves her family’s Puerto Rican restaurant and believes the only way to save it in the wake of the gentrification of their Chicago neighborhood is to enter the Fall Foodie Tour. But first, she must convince her parents and family to go for her ideas, requiring them to change things up at the restaurant. But, unfortunately, her Abuelo won’t let her change anything in his restaurant unless she marries the one man she can’t stand: his best friend’s grandson—her former best friend.

After a decade of working to turn his family’s distillery into a contender, Liam and his grandfather are on the brink of winning a national competition with a prize-winning brew. But unfortunately, Liam’s Granda reveals he has cancer, and his heart is set on seeing Liam get married before it’s too late, but only to Kamilah. Their grandfathers threaten to sell the building housing both family businesses if they refuse to marry each other.
So, of course, Kamilah and Liam do what any former best friends would do under the circumstances. They fake an engagement. Things become way more complicated than either one expects as their lives once again become entwined.

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse is a sweet, funny, steamy, angsty, fun ex-friends-to-lovers, fake dating, and second-chance romance about friendship, forgiveness, guilt, first love, following your dreams, taking risks, sacrifices, and family.

CW: childhood trauma, loss of loved ones

Advanced review copy provided by MIRA Books via Netgalley for review.

I liked this, but didn’t love it. A PROPOSAL THEY CAN’T REFUSE was a poignant, dual-pov romance novel that explored complex family dynamics, identity, and the dissonance between passion and duty.

Though a standalone in a trilogy of companion novels, this book very much felt like Book One in a series. Lots of page time was spent info-dumping the backstories of various family members. I enjoyed the scenes with Kamilah and Liam together - so much so that I wish there were more of them. I love books about big families, but this needed a better balance between side characters’ back stories and (much needed) context about the actual main characters.

I thought both narrators were neurodivergent-coded: Kamilah with ADHD and Liam with autism. This wasn’t bad, per say, but this could have provided more context to the characters’ (re)actions. This was especially interesting considering Kamilah’s brother had an on-the-page ADHD diagnosis. Also be warned: the third act breakup in this was VERY intense.

I liked this enough to continue the series! I’m hoping to see improvement with pacing in future books because I see potential.

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña
“Love is Creation”
~~~
Thank you Natalie Caña, NetGalley, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the eARC! Also thank you Crystal for this recommendation. It was amazing, and so good! I loved the family dynamics, the romance, the comedy. Just everything was 10/10.
Even though, unfortunately, I don’t speak Spanish, I was able to figure out the translation through the extra context and other descriptions!
Also this book made me cry at the end and unlocked how bad I have daddy issues.

4.5 rounded up!

I really enjoyed this and want to read more of Natalia Cana in the future!! It’s tough to have a plausible fake-dating premise when the MCs aren’t in the public eye, but meddling grandpas worked great. I appreciate that Liam told his friends the truth, and the fact that Kamilah didn’t….well that fits with her character arc.

Most importantly, I felt the relationship between Liam and Kamilah progressed in a way that I could follow: they felt like full characters with full lives, and a history. Well done!!

I got an ARC from #NetGalley for #AProposalTheyCantRefuse. Opinion is my own!

I will always be a sucker for the fake dating trope, but fake fiancés just hit different and this book proves it.

First of all, I find it hilarious that Kamilah and Liam are strong-armed into an engagement by both their grandfathers. Every time they had to interact with Kamilah's abuelo or Liam's grandfather, I knew we were about to be in for a wild ride and I lived for every second. The humor in this book was spot on. Kamilah is delightfully chaotic, and Liam is a perfect balm to her personality. Vice versa, Liam's quiet, stoic demeanor is always softened by Kamilah's energy.

I loved seeing their relationship unfold throughout the story. Much like fake dating, I will always be a sucker for one LI falling first, years before the start of the book, who's been pining all this time and just waiting for their shot. Kamilah and Liam are what I would call emotionally estranged friends to lovers, and I nearly squealed when all the puzzle pieces clicked into place for what happened in their past influenced where they were at the start of the book. I also loved seeing the way they supported and encouraged each other in their family's businesses. They truly understand each other like no one else, which makes them perfect for each other.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this one and can't wait for more books by Natalie Caña!

I read this book in one sitting. I felt that I could relate to Kamilah with how she puts her family's well-being first ahead of her own. I could also relate to her ideas and her family's reluctance to change. Kamilah could be myself or someone I know in real life. I loved the romance between Liam and Kamilah and how their fake engagement sprung from two meddling grandpas. Liam and Kamilah are childhood friends turned sorta enemies turned lovers. I love how Liam noticed small details about Kamilah. Gosh, I keep writing "love". So basically I loved this story. Two thumbs up.

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña is a contemporary romance novel. The story in A Proposal They Can’t Refuse is one that is told by changing the point of view between the characters to give both sides of their story.

Kamilah Vega has been working in her family’s Puerto Rican restaurant and knows the business inside and out and what she knows now is that they need a change to keep up with the times. Kamilah’s suggestions aren’t being taken seriously though even though she knows their best hope is to enter the Fall Foodie Tour.

Liam Kane is practically running his family’s distillery when he gets the news that his grandfather is sick and may not be around for help. Liam wants to do whatever he can for his grandfather but finding out his and Kamilah’s grandfather have this far fetched plan for them to marry may be a bit too much.

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña was right up my alley since I love a good fake dating/forced together story and that is what I found in this contemporary romance. Liam and Kamilah were also all about their family which is another thing I enjoy and the diversity with those families was a nice flare to an already fun story. Of course everything wasn’t smooth sailing for the couple but I certainly did root for them along the way and would return to this author again in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Friends turned enemies blackmailed into being engaged and turning friends and finding love wins in the end… with some help from interfering grandfathers. Hoping for several sequels!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love the fake relationship troupe. This was an amazing summer read. Lots of fun and loved the grandparents.

I absolutely loved this book! It was so easy to fall in love with these characters right from the beginning. Kamilah and Liam were obviously the stars of the show, but I also adored their grandfathers, Liam's friends, Mila's brothers, and many others! The range of emotions contained in this book were so powerful and beyond impressive for a debut (!!) - I can't wait to read what this author comes up with next (I am very much looking forward to Saint's story!!!). I cried multiple times towards the end of the story. The overall writing & closure/confessions/emotions were all so lovely.

From the moment Killian and Papo appeared on page with their mischievous scheming, I was hooked. Those two provided the framework for the story, and I loved the romance tropes of fake dating/engagement, friends to lovers (but even more complicated!), forced proximity, second-chance romance, only one bed, and grumpy-sunshine that were woven into the relationship between Liam and Mila as a result of those two octogenarians.

There were so many hilarious scenes throughout this book, but also many really deep conversations and emotional depictions of trauma, grief, loss, familial duty, and love. I am seriously tearing up again thinking about these amazing characters and how much their story touched my heart. Also, I desperately want to give Liam a big hug.

Family was such a central element to the story, both Mila's large & complicated family and Liam's relationship with his Granda. Lies (and secrets) were another important topic - those made out of omission, love, desperation, and protecting one's own heart. Character motives were explored and there were difficult conversations about reasoning and forgiveness. There were questionable decisions made by many characters, and I am really pleased with how mistakes were handled and discussed.

Another factor in ~the things that went wrong~ were passions and the choices we make while pursuing and protecting our dreams & the things we hold most dear. Mila was perceived as the wrongdoer by those around her until they took the time to understand her perspective and their role in shaping events that happened. On the happy flip-side of passions, I loved the scenes where Mila, Liam, and their loved ones were pursuing what made them happiest! The cooking scenes, depictions of Liam drawing and discussing his whiskey, and discussions about improving their family businesses were all really lovely.

Now, excuse me while I rave and ramble about how much I loved Kamilah and Liam. For real: too cute together. Their denial was so strong (especially Liam trying so hard to protect his heart) for the longest time. But it was obvious (to readers and those around them) that there was a spark & a special connection & a deep understanding between them. I adored how they could read each other so easily (expect about their true feelings haha) and know what the other needed. They were so supportive and encouraging of each other's endeavours. There was also a big cloud of ~steam~ around these two! Also: I think it's super cute that Kamilah's nickname has the same letters as Liam's name - meant to be together! I really loved how their relationship progressed throughout the story, bumps and all, and how they acknowledged they still had work to do on themselves and their relationship - setting healthy exceptions is the best! If my library gets this audiobook, I will definitely read this story again. I look forward to seeing more of Mila and Liam in the rest of this romance trilogy. ❤️

3 stars!

This was a cute read, but was nothing mind blowing. I was able to read it in a day. I enjoyed the different cultures being brought together in this book. Overall, a book I would recommend if you need something to pass the time.

Kamilah and Liam’s grandparents have been friends for years, and their restaurants are next to each other. Kamilah and Liam used to be friends, but they had a falling out and grew apart as adults. Their grandparents schemed up a plan to help them save their restaurants by proposing that Kamilah and Liam get married. They reluctantly agreed.

This book exceeded my expectations. I am a sucker for a cute second chance romance, especially when it involves estranged childhood friends and mischievous grandparents with secret plans. The beginning drew me in, and I loved the grandparents knew that Kamilah and Liam had great chemistry together and they would be perfect for each other. The way they cared for each other after years apart was adorable, and it was easy to root for them. I also loved how they tackled challenging situations together such as cancer, death and culture differences. This book was lighthearted and fun with a highly recommended feel good romance!

Thank you to NetGallery and to Harequin Publishing for giving me a copy of the book.

When I saw that this book featured a main character chef and a main character whiskey distiller, I was completely on board. Throw in some frenemies to lovers romance, a fake engagement, hilarious banter, two meddling old grandfathers who mean well, and some serious angst and spice, and I'm completely smitten. For a debut novel, this one packs a major punch. Easily one of my favorite romantic comedies of the year, with well-rounded, diverse characters, heavy themes of family and friendship, and a romance that is sizzling underneath, even though both characters are determined to remain single. Absolutely loved it! Can not wait for her next book.

Read if you like: fake dating, enemies to lovers.
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Kamilah and Liam’s grandfathers are best friends and the two grew up together as their families also have businesses in the same building. Kamilah wants to upgrade her family restaurant and Liam is working hard to make sure his family’s distillery wins a competition. But when their grandfathers insist they get married or they’ll sell the building, they acquiesce to their request, hoping they will eventually find a way out of the scheme.
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This book was super cute and fun. I loved the characters and their development, the romance, and the pacing was quick. I really loved it!
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CW: sexual content, racism, sexism, cancer, drowning, death of a parent and spouse.

"𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮."

A few months ago, @harpercollins sent me 5 romcoms from their summer 2022 schedule, and first up was this fun & trope-filled contemporary. Seriously, this one has everything: childhood friends to lovers turned enemies to lovers, fake dating, second-chance romance, a grand gesture, and the beloved one bed setting. Throw in some spicy scenes and this one has a little bit of something for every romance fan.

But how did we get there?

Set in Chicago, 𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 centers on former besties Kamilah Vega & Liam Kane being blackmailed by their mischievous grandfathers. Both are desperate to save their family-run businesses (a Puerto Rican restaurant and an Irish whiskey distillery) and, in order to do so, agree to a fake engagement orchestrated by these meddling men in exchange for their help. And, yes, all the antics and theatrics you'd expect promptly ensue.

There was a lot to love about Caña's debut: the representation, the mouth-watering depictions of Puerto Rican cuisine (for real, have snacks on hand 😂), the glimpses into the MCs budding relationship, and the devious octogenarians themselves. The story also delves into important conversations surrounding trauma, gentrification, loss, and identity making it a much heavier story than its light-hearted cover implies.

However, this story also features one of the most emotionally toxic families I've read in a while. Their behaviors infuriated me, and prevented me from truly getting lost in the pages. Between Kamilah's mother's incessant commentary about her reproductive timeline, her father's tone of condescension any time she took charge, and most of her brothers constantly reminding her of past failures, it's truly a miracle she didn't leave them all behind.

That being said, there is an HEA, a super strong grand gesture, and enough positives to make this a solid addition to your summer TBR!



Trigger Warnings: death, death of a parent, death of a grandparent, cancer, drowning, depression/grief, gentrification, toxic family

I’ll jump at any opportunity to read a story built on pride for Puerto Rican culture. In this story, we follow Kamilah and Liam as they navigate being forced to enter a fake marriage while being ex-childhood best friends with years of things left unsaid.

In spite of his tendency to also be jarringly immature about his feelings toward Kamilah, Liam does his best to break away from his stoicism and express affection. It’s something I actually wish we’d gotten more from, but overall this is a story of a woman who loves her family and her roots.

Kamilah is filled with love and pride and you just can’t help but root for her.

The food, the Spanish, and the slang. The book is familiar in the warmest way possible.

With that being said, though, Kamilah’s family is an absolute nightmare and my skin got itchy anytime they were on page. All they do is obsess over her “biological clock”, her love life, and nothing else. They speak over her, assume the worst in her at all times, belittle her, and dogpile any mistake she makes before repeating the cycle. Even during apologies, the bulk of remorse falls on Kamilah and her intelligence is still insulted. Kamilah is never given the benefit of the doubt and is put in a position where she has to go above and beyond in extremes to gain a crumb of decency and respect from these people. In a story about the love of family and community, the community in question is insufferable and hostile.

Where is the love? Where is the warmth?

There were parts of this story that I really did love but they have a tendency to get overshadowed by pure frustration and never ending conflict to the point of leaving so much to be desired. Kamilah is very rarely loved unconditionally and it made my heart hurt. I almost wished she would cut everyone off and find a new sense of community.

Book: A Proposal They Can’t Refuse
Author: Natalie Caña
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Review~
Kamiliah is part of a Huge family who owns a restaurant and her parents want to sell it but she will not give up on the restaurant. Kamilah has be childhood friends to Liam who they both had to highs and lows together. But one day they had a proposition that they both had to decide to go along with it!! Liam work at a whisky distillery with his Grandfather.


Overall This book is so good it was a easy read and I really loved the dynamic of the family sticking together and how childhood friends can stick around

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
I enjoyed this steamy romance. The heroine was spunky and fun and the grumpy hero was really just a big cinammon roll.