The part i liked this book was the way it showed about the struggle immigration causes in people. that part struck with me and made the book better, the romance was good.

I loved this book! The writing was great and the characters were wonderful! The author has great imagination and I love a good romance novel!

Such a great book! I believe in fate too... and, yes, maybe sometimes it's just too much. But if that leads to a beautiful relationship as Madi and Peter seemed to have it's all worth it. I would love to read more from you, specially if you keep coming up with characters as Madi, Peter, Audri and Reyna.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this work.
I have loved Furia and Twice a Quinceañera by Yamile Saied Mendez and was very excited for Love of My Lives, especially because of the setting. However, reading this felt off. The main character seemed young and the insta-love was not for me. I really loved the male main character however. I will continue to look for this author’s work in the future despite my disappointment in this particular work.

Thank to netgalley for this copy. This was a sweet a cozy romance read. I liked it.
This was a 3.5 stars read for me

An interesting read and I liked the setting of Puerto Rico.
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed Furia so wanted to try out Saied Mendez's newest book- it had beautiful representation of Puerto Rico and was very atmospheric but the romance element didn't knock my socks off due to the main characters lack luster chemistry. Not a terrible book but not richly developed

This was a cute cozy romance, I look forward to sharing this book with other readers who will want to escape the winter months.

Thank you for allowing me to read and review this book. I have to say, I love a good rom-com and this book completely hits the spot, down to the happy ending. I thought this was an extremely quick read and also quickly fell in love with the characters. Definitely a feel good book.

Madi has it all - yet she still feels like something is missing, especially when it comes to her boyfriend. When she has the opportunity to take a business trip to Puerto Rico she jumps at the chance, and the opportunity for a little space from Jayden, her boyfriend, thinking it will be just what their relationship needs. But in Puerto Rico she meets another man and everything becomes more complicated.

This book is a beautiful love letter to Puerto Rico, and with the incredible descriptions of the setting and so much information about the culture, I want to book a trip there immediately. I loved the descriptions of the location as well as the history and culture within the story. I thought this was truly the highlight of the book. Unfortunately, while I adored the setting, the romance fell a bit flat for me. Instalove and miscommunication are tropes that can be tricky for me to get into, and in this case, I never fully felt the chemistry.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Love of My Lives by Yamile Saied Méndez is an excellent story and portrayal of a modern day immigrant family. The book follows the life of 12-year-old Lucía, a girl living in Utah with her father, stepmother, and two siblings, and her mother who is living in Argentina. For the duration of the novel, Lucía is embroiled in the ever-evolving proceedings and intricacies of her parents’ divorce as well as her mother’s deportation back to Argentina.

Love of My Lives does a fantastic job of displaying the struggles of modern day immigrant families, how difficult it can be to manage two cultures living so far apart, and yet how meaningful it can be when the family comes together. Méndez does an excellent job of showing the reader the internal political debate through the eyes of 12-year-old Lucía, who finds herself in the middle of her parents’ debate much like a child of any family in a divorce might think that he or she is “damned if they do and damned if they don’t.”

The book springs alive with beautiful imagery of Lucía’s home in Argentina as well as her life in Utah as she tries to balance two lives in different countries. Méndez manages to show the reader what it’s like for immigrant families to be separated and the struggle to keep a tight connection with those far away. The story also highlights a bittersweet attempt to become a citizen when Lucía gets chosen to speak at a scholarship event in front of politicians hoping to use her image as a beacon of hope for immigrant children everywhere.

The characters Méndez introduces us to are vibrant and full of life. Lucía is a strong female protagonist that is easy to root for and her parents are real and approachable. Additionally, Méndez’s usage of the Spanish language to represent Lucía’s thoughts and conversations allows the reader to more fully grasp the culture of the family.

Love of My Lives is an excellent work of fiction that weaves a powerful narrative of a modern day immigrant family. Méndez shines a light on the struggles of keeping a family together while so far apart and the importance of creating a home, no matter how different it looks from the one before it.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

The book follows Madi who is winning at life and to top of her winning season her boyfriend proposes . She should be excited but find herself not that excited to marry Jayden. She battles with this feeling as she saw the initials JR in a dream once upon a time, Madi ends up going to Puerto Rico where she not only scatters abuela's ashes but meets someone else. Love of My Lives is an exploration of what it means to love someone , dream meanings and the power of being true to self.

Actual rating: 3.5

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

2 stars.

"Love of My Lives" by Yamile Saied Méndez is teaming with culture and language and diversity and representation on each and every page. I so very much appreciate being transported to Puerto Rico through Méndez's story. She paints a vivid description of the settings, the beaches, the smells, the foods, the sights, the festivities. Unfortunately, the writing is very flat and did not capture my attention. The main characters, Madi and Peter, have no chemistry together. I did not care about either of them and actively rooted for Madi to end up alone so she can just mature for herself!!! Madi jumps from one relationship with her horrible, sexist, crypto-bro ex, Jayden, right into another... insta-love-heavy situationship??...with Peter, all because of a vision she had of her abuela when she was 13. Madi shows over again how she hasn't really matured or grown up since she was a teenager. She is so desperate to follow her abuela's guidance that she's willing to be treated like garbage just to fulfill some soulmate prophecy for herself. She's not the type of strong, self-aware, attuned character I enjoy reading about, which would be fine if she wasn't so whiny and grating. I almost did not finish this book on multiple occasions because I was just not feeling it. I am fine with tarot cards and yoga and soulmates and visions of dead grandparents, but only when the main character displays that they actually *know what it means* to think cooly and calmly with mindfulness!! She criticizes Peter for putting punctuation in his texts, for god's sake!!! Irrational!!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books, and Yamile Saied Méndez for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

I was intrigued by this story and thought it had so much potential! It didn't quite live up to where I expected it to be. Madi lacked a confidence that I think I needed from her character. And the fact that Peter just walked off without a word just frustrated the HECK out of me. Overall it was a sweet story but just wasn't as developed as I thought it could have been.

This fell flat for me. The pacing was weird, character development was not well done, and the writing was immature and stilted at points, reading more like YA. The actual romance and subplots were intriguing but the poor writing overruled that for me.

I love the “soulmate trope,” it always feels magical in their own way. In this book, Madi believes in soulmates and yearns to find hers ever since her late grandmother alluded her soulmate to her in a dream. In her premonition, she sees the initials “JR” but also sees two people. Confused, but desperate enough to believe in what she saw, she went on life searching for her soulmate with the initials “JR.” But of course, life being life (unfair), she ended up with the wrong person. But thank goodness for a “business trip” in Puerto Rico, she breaks up with her boyfriend and tries to “heal” herself in a place she used to call home. And then she meets Peter. Mister Right, finally. Her real soulmate. Madi and Peter’s chemistry was lovely. I just wished there was more depth in their characters. I liked this book. It was simple and straightforward. But it did need more of everything.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was good! I really enjoyed it. It was a quick read for me and I found it flowed very well as a whole. I would recommend this book to my friends who enjoy romance novels. I loved the whole concept of the book and I think many people run into issues of wanting someone but also feeling like maybe it isn't the right fit for you. Thanks, NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I thought the premise of this story was promising. Madi always knew her true love would have the initials JP based on a dream she had the night her abuela died. And her boyfriend’s initials are JP - he has to be the one! So what if it doesn’t quite feel the way she imagined it would? It’s meant to be. But then Madi takes a trip to Puerto Rico and meets someone who feels right - but doesn’t have the right initials.

Unfortunately the execution didn’t work for me and I couldn’t get into this one so it was a DNF for me. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook.

2.5/5 stars
1/5 spice (fade to black)

Tropes:
Latinx rep
Insta-love
Soulmates
One room/bed
Single POV

I think I would have liked this book more if it wasn't written like the MCs were immature despite both being in their 30s. Madi was the only POV in the story and I was tired of her inner dialogue very early on in the book. I get why she clung to the soulmates idea but she blatantly ignored very clear red flags and was arrogant in thinking that she interpreted her dream accurately. Eventually she meets the love of her lives in Peter, but it was borderline forced insta-love...and then it wasn't... and then it was. Sigh...

I really wanted to like this book but I found myself skipping a lot of the info dumping and repetitive inner dialogue from Madi and this was a short book too. This wasn't the book for me. I don't mind insta-love if it's worked into a fated mates/soulmates kind of story but this didn't work well for me because I couldn't care enough about the FMC.

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered voluntarily.