A strong 3.5 stars. Lots to love here, but let down by some unclear writing and a lack of exposition or explanation in some places when she would drop in names or situations that I had no clue what she was talking about. I even checked to make sure this wasn't the second in a series because it seemed like there should have been way more backstory.

But the things to love:
-the meddling grandfathers
-the close ties between an Irish and Puerto Rican family
-the food and drink descriptions
-two people overcoming some pretty serious trauma and emotional issues
-childhood friends to "enemies" to lovers
-guy falls first & hardest
-dual POV

Posted Apr 29, 2022 on Goodreads
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for giving this ARC, and this does not influence my review. This was a great read, I loved the depiction of the tight-knight families in Puerto Rican culture, and the family banter made me laugh and reminded me of south Asian families. The food descriptions were mouth watering I love the grandparents they were super stubborn. This book was a dual POV, which I didn’t like but it was still a great read. The romance was well done, and falls into the friends to enemies to lovers trope, fake dating trope, forced proximity, and <spoiler> ONE BED TROPE, the guy falls first trope, their chemistry was sooo good. Also, I love how Granda was sick of his grandson being an eejit (my new favorite word) and not doing anything about his feelings, so he decided to rope him into the fake engagement.

This was such a cute read! When I heard it had the enemies to lovers trope I was so excited to get my hands on it.

This book will make you laugh, sigh, and fall in love. The characters are funny and endearing. The grandparent’s especially had me laughing.

The overall story and setting was also very interesting and refreshing.

Kamilah owns a Puerto Rican Restaurant in Chicago and she's trying to keep it from going under. Her abuelo refuses to let her change anything to help save it. He will only let her change things in the restaurant if Kamilah agrees to marry his best friends grandson, Liam. The only issue is Liam and Kamilah hate each other. Liam is also trying to convince grandfather to make changes to the family business but his grandfather isn't budging. Kamilah and Liam strike a plan to fake date, or fake an engagement so they can both get what they want. A Proposal They Can't Refuse is a charming story about love and family. I had a blast reading this story!

Fake dating, enemies to lovers, and yummy food? Check, check, and check. This was such a cute debut. It was an easy read, and I loved the banter and the family drama. Really glad I read this one!

This book came at the right time because I had just finished a huge fantasy novel and feeling burnt out. It was nice to follow Kamillah and Liam as they tried to figure out their relationship and their lives.

This book had all the tropes: second-chance romance, enemies-to-lovers, fake relationship. There was even a scene where there was only one bed! It was funny, relevant, and made me tear up at the end. I knew I would enjoy this one the moment Kamillah punches Liam in the nuts in the very first scene.

I think my favorite characters had to be the octogenarian meddlers forcing their grandchildren to get together, but once you find out more about their past and relationship, then you really see why their grandfathers would suggest something like a relationship in the first place.

I also am a huge food person, so the description of Puerto Rican fare alongside the delicious whiskeys made me crave both.

This was definitely the book I needed after feeling a bit burnt out, so I'm glad to have read it!

What is better than a forced engagement? When they actually fall in love. These two had such chemistry from the moment they interacted and boy oh boy it did not disappoint! Love this book. It has spice, romance, and second hand embarrassment wrapped in cute bow!

this is such a sweet and wonderful book! i enjoyed every second of this. it was fun and sweet and charming and lovely. thank you so much to netgalley for letting me read this one early!! adored it.

I am sorry but if you don’t love this book you probably sure seek medical attention. I loved Kamilah and her fire in her comebacks. This is a enemies to lovers with a fake relationship.
Kamilah wants to revamp her families restaurant but her childish grandfather says to do so she has to marry his best friends grandson. And of course his best friend is just as childish but he is sick and dying and wants Liam to get married before he passes and he wants it to be Kamilah. In the first chapter you already see the best friends wanting them to get together because they make a comment that they should get a room because they already fight like a couple. So to get want they want they pretend to be engaged but we all know that when you fake something for too long it starts to feel real.
Also if my best friend and I are not causing so much trouble at our living facility when we are old I am going to sue her for not being like them.

I would like to start by thanking Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Cana in exchange for a honest review

For starters I was drawn to this book based off the bright playful cover and the description. I'm a sucker for fake finance stories....

In my opinion the book started off kinda slow and made me feel as if I wasn't going to enjoy it. Until about chapter 7 when things really started to pick up.. after chapter 7 I was extremely engaged in Liam and Kamilah's blackmail setup. So much that I honestly had a hard time putting the book down. Overall I really enjoyed this plot and storyline. And that whiskey tasting table scene!!! Talk about spicy🌶🌶
But the epilogue of this book really pulled at all my heart strings and made everything come together just perfectly in the end..

First off, thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review A Proposal They Can't Refuse

The cover alone had me wanting to read this book! but Oh my goodness! I adored this book so much more than just the cover!! Loved the characters and the plot! Sure is it a ground breaking book, no, but will you have a great time reading it YES!. There were plenty of laughing out loud moments within the first few pages and they continued throughout. A fun, easy read. I definitely recommend this book!

This was such a great debut from Natalie Caña! I've read a couple of other books now in which the MC and love interest come together to save their respective family businesses and fall in love along the way, and I swear, this trope hits every single time. I loved following Kamilah and Liam's families and seeing the dynamics between their family members. The balance between Kamilah's boisterous family vs Liam close connection with just him and his grandfather was really well done, especially when considering the fact that even though these two families could not be more different, both Kamilah and Liam feel the same burden of feeling responsible for taking care of their family members.

The romance was also well done (I absolutely love the trope of childhood friends fake dating as adults while the love interest has secretly been in love with the MC the entire time) and I loved how both Kamilah and Liam's grandfathers meddled in their fake engagement as well. Liam being super close to Kamilah's family and therefore being able to speak Spanish properly and understanding all the Puerto Rican traditions and customs that Kamilah's family practices was so heartwarming. The only thing I wish was changed was the fight between Kamilah and Liam in the third-act breakup. I found some of the things Liam said about Kamilah to be really harsh, and I'm not sure if I would've forgiven someone for speaking to me that way. With this scene, I think I would've liked to see Liam and Kamilah spend some more time apart before immediately getting back together.

Overall, this was a very fun romance with fake dating and Puerto Rican rep, and I highly recommend it if you're looking for adult romances with Latina MC's!

My, oh my, where do I begin? Well, I guess I should start by saying I loved this book and that Kamilah and Liam are the perfect grumpy and sunshine couple I never knew I needed.

This book has such a huge heart. I mean it. It’s got heart for family (while also recognizing that family screws up) and heart for food, culture, and friends and finally, for some romance. Yes, this book is one of those books that just combines a lot of elements seamlessly and perfectly and it’s just *chef’s kiss*

The romance is also *chef’s kiss* and there’s tons to love. It’s perfect if you like a good grumpy x sunshine pairing, complete with a fake dating scheme and close proximity AND childhood best friends to enemies to lovers. So, basically a huge amount of all my favorite things.

Really, go do yourself a favor and pick this one up, judge for yourself and then come scream with me about it.

As someone who adored her grandmother, some of journey the characters go through really resonated with me. This was a sweet story that was worth reading, It won’t be one that I tell everyone they must rush out and read but I did enjoy it.

Puerto Rican chef Kamilah Vega has been trying unsuccessfully to convince her family to modernize their restaurant El Coquí. When her grandfather Papo offers his support to convince the rest of her family to make changes to the restaurant in exchange for her marrying Killian's grandson Liam, she begrudgingly accepts after striking an agreement with Liam to pretend to be engaged and help each other with their businesses.

I would like to preface my review by stating that the Puerto Rican characters, except for Papo, are members of the Puerto Rican diaspora, and I am a Puerto Rican living on the island. The experiences of the Puerto Rican diaspora are naturally different from those of mainland Puerto Rico. I thought this book was pretty cute! The grandpa's antics constantly reminded me of my grandfather, and I loved seeing such specific cultural references as "Amorcito corazón," one of my grandmother's favorite songs. I also enjoyed reading many references to Puerto Rican cuisine, and the Spanish dialogue felt very idiomatic. However, while I understand that ARCs are uncorrected proofs and that they will undergo another round of proofreading, I noticed some spelling mistakes in the Spanish, and I am not sure whether the instances of Spanish will be proofread by an editor who specializes in Spanish.

Mistakes in Spanish can be a pet peeve for many readers who speak Spanish as a native language. I enjoyed the story, and the characters were very relatable. Many of the scenes were very familiar to me as a Puerto Rican, especially the scenes where the family insisted that Kamilah should serve Liam his food. *eye roll* The dialogue was a bit wordy toward the end of the book, and I felt some characters overreacted to the main conflict, but things in my family can also escalate quickly. Who am I to judge?

"A Proposal They Can't Refuse" comes out on June 7.

CWs: cancer, death of a parent, depression

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse is a standalone romance by Natalie Caña.

I generally enjoy fake relationships and enemies-to-lovers in romance novels but the thing is, fake relationships almost always seem contrived in contemporary novels, and this book was no different. I couldn’t really suspend disbelief to the extent I found the novel truly enjoyable although there were parts of the book I did find endearing and heartwarming.

There were some laugh out loud lines and scenes but on the whole, the book felt like a checklist of tropes and different elements instead of a coherent narrative. And, I’m going to be blunt, the fact Latinx was used in this novel absolutely threw me off because sources indicate that as little as 2% of Hispanic voters use the term and as much as 40% of Hispanic voters are actively repelled by the term (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/06/hispanic-voters-latinx-term-523776). I don’t speak Spanish at home but like, that was just one of many reasons the novel felt sort of unnatural and forced upon, like the whole book fell prey to the contemporary romance trend of being intentionally progressive by telling and not showing.

But, I will check out what the author brings to the table next but on the whole, I wasn’t super impressed.

**Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

Enemies to lovers meets fake dating and add in the one-bed trope. I want to start by saying this novel completely took me by surprise. I went in having no expectations for this novel, but I can tell you, it raised my standards. I did get a bit lost in sections where Spanish was incorporated, and as a result, I did feel a bit confused in conversations with her family. A Proposal They Can't Refuse reminded me of why I love reading. I love falling in love with the characters to the point where even a happy ending feels like a sad one because I have to leave the characters behind. I love how when a book is so amazingly written, I can fly through it and feel like I am living in the novel. This book had me feeling all of those things and more. The two main characters, Kamilah and Liam, had been friends throughout their childhood and began the story as adults with a dislike for each other. While I loved their romance and their journey in becoming friends and lovers, I wish there was more background on the two main characters' romance because I feel that there was more history there than what was told. I absolutely loved Kamilah's assertive and determined personality, and it made her very likable, adding to how much of an impact the novel had on me.

Shout out to all of my readers in a reading slump right now!!! I have been there before, and I can tell you that A Proposal They Can't Refuse is the cure.

A review on this novel doesn't do it justice. 10/10 would recommend. Keep your eye out and place your orders as it comes out on May 24, 2022.


*I received an ARC from Harlequin Trade Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely. Quotes used subject to change with publication.

Kamilah Vega is desperate to convince her family to update their Puerto Rican restaurant and enter it into the Fall Foodie Tour. With the gentrification of their Chicago neighborhood, it's the only way to save the place. The fly in her mofongo—her blackmailing abuelo says if she wants to change anything in his restaurant, she'll have to marry the one man she can't stand: his best friend’s grandson.

Death changes you. It affects your life. It affects your work. It affects your family. It affects your relationships. There's so much hope for this romance to work out for the better that you are holding your breath. Some light humor intertwined and an overall cute story.

This was one of my most anticipated Latinx releases of the year and while there were some parts I enjoyed, ultimately this one didn't work out for me.

What I loved most was how Kamilah was determined to be her own woman. I saw a lot of myself as a Latina woman in her, I connected very deeply to her and felt for her. She honestly made the book for me.
Her romance with the hero was funny and their banter was great but I did feel like it felt rushed, they had so much history between them and it felt like we never truly got the full story there.

I do have to say that there was some great representation in here but with that came some comments that were uncomfortable, they were comments that served no purpose to the story. It felt uncomfortable because it was comments about other cultures and I sincerely hope sensitivity readers were involved before the final copy is put out. There were also several mistakes in the Spanish that made it hard to keep up at times, I am a native Spanish speaker myself and while understand that Spanish is different in all the countries that speak it there were definitely some big errors here that I hope are fixed before publication.

Overall, the book was not for me but I know others will enjoy it and I would be so open to reading a final copy to see if any changes were made. Definitely an author I would read again though.

**3.5 STARS**
Content Warning: Death, Illness

Kamilah and Liam were childhood best friends when a traumatic incident happened in Liam’s life and he started pushing her away. As adults they can’t stand to be around one another but everyone around them, especially their grandfathers, thinks they belong together. The scheming grandpas come up with a proposal – Kamilah and Liam have to get married or both grandpas will sell their family businesses, leaving the two with nothing. Kind of cutthroat of the grandpas if you ask me!

Kamilah is miss sunshine to Liam’s dark cloud. He’s the handsome, broody, anti-social grumpy one. Together the sparks fly and I couldn’t help root for them to have a happily ever after. Now there are other things going on in their lives. Kamilah is trying to figure out her life. She works hard at her family’s restaurant, a restaurant it seems her parents resent, but she wants to keep in the family. In fact she tries to save the restaurant all on her own and I thought it showed her love for her family but as the story continues we get to understand all the feelings the family has about the restaurant. As for Liam, he has PTSD from an incident that made him lose his father and Nana, and just trying to move on from that has been difficult. He pushes people away so he doesn’t have to feel that hurt again. Clearly these two have issues to work on and I love that the happily ever after included therapy and waiting to be better for the other person!

There were a few side characters I enjoyed a lot in this book. Kamilah’s brothers, Leo and Saint, who I hope get books of their own – Leo needs someone to take him down a peg or two haha. Kamilah’s best friend and cousins and Liam and his friends were fun. I loved that this whole cast felt like family, friends and a community. I love the puerto rican food that was mentioned and the whiskey distillery even though I don’t drink whiskey. It was lovely when they started being fused together. I also loved learning Irish American culture as well.

Honestly, I felt bad for Kamilah. Her family gave her such a hard time for her ideas. She did love her family, but they accused her of only loving herself. I just think they didn’t know how to communicate with one another. I thought it wasn’t fair that she got everyone’s anger, even if she was manipulated by her own grandpa. I know it’s supposed to be a funny story but there were some heavy moments and uncomfortable feelings when I was reading it. Like why are they pressuring her to get married and have kids? (Okay this definitely triggered me haha, I could relate big time.) I know some families believe in tough love (another trigger) but did she really deserve all of them abandoning her? It’s why I loved her brother Saint, he stayed by her side – I hope he gets a good love story.

Other than that, I thought Kamilah and Liam were cute together because they had their history. They get a happy ending, but also acknowledged they need to work on some things before saying “I Do.” I liked that.


Why you should read it:
*childhood friends to enemies to lovers, fake engagement
*the sense of community and family closeness, fun story
*there is food and Puerto Rican culture, and Irish American culture reps

Why you might not want to read it:
*maybe some triggering family moments

My Thoughts:

This lively story has a melting of cultures: Puerto Rican and Irish American. There is an abundance of family, friends, food and good times. But there is also some tough moments in this story especially when it comes to Liam’s past and the way with Kamilah tries to deal with her personal. The love story was cute though. Kamilah is the sunshine and Liam is the grumpy guy and I was rooting for their happy ending. I look forward to reading more from this author.