This was an incredibly powerful story. I loved the way it was told, with the narrator writing to this man who shaped so much of her life, and most of that being for the worse. When it gets to the ending, I had a lot of rage built up from that reveal. I felt so much for Tatum who devoted so much of her life hanging on to this unequal relationship with Mateo. The writing was beautiful and the characters were well written.

A woman must confront her past with a notorious author after he accused of sexual assault.

I thought this story was good, but I didn’t like the writing style as much. It switched between first person and second person (Tatum talking to the author), and that wasn’t my favorite.

First, I gotta say I've enjoyed this author's writing style. I found it to be interesting enough for me to keep reading it.
However, even though I liked one of the main characters from the beginning, had this book been longer I'd have DNFed it.
After around 40% of the book I started to get a little bored. I didn't really care for the main character's dynamic and I couldn't relate to anything they were strugglinh with.
Also, I didn't love the setting. Nothing wrong with it! It just doesn't appeal to me.
I'd hever read anything by this author so I decided to give it a go.
I'd say this is a *me* thing. Most likely I'm not the proper audience for this book.
I'd still recommend it to any readers who enjoy reading coming-of-age/literary fiction/ queer dramatic stories.
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with a free eARC of this book.

I enjoyed this one. I think some reviewers were disappointed it didn't go somewhere with a clear moral or resolution, but the relationship and the book are both messy and I don't think I was expecting something easy. Villarreal-Moura does a great job of showing us the multi-layered power dynamics at play, how it isn't abusive but certainly isn't equal, how Mateo is a man child in need of constant reassurance but only on his terms. All of this makes for a very complicated and sympathetic story. I was frustrated with Tatum, but I think that was the point. She gives Mateo too much credit, and even as an adult when she is settled with her partner, there is still that aspect of hero worship. Exploring the relationship from the start shows us how and why she still feels that way, even to the extent of not believing Mateo's accuser at first. I think this is an excellent addition to the "me too" canon of novels, as it shows how grey life is, how we want so badly to be loved and to think the best of those we idolize. Is it right? Villarreal-Moura isn't passing judgment, so it's up to you.

3.5

This is an ambitious debut that is tackling power imbalances and identity and memory. Told in a dual narrative, the book explores Tatum's relationship with a famous author, M. Domínguez and alternates between her now (in 2015) learning that he has been accused of assault, and her as a college student meeting him then following their decade long relationship.

I liked the exploration of memory and the framing that allows for the reader to re-examine events in a new light. The pacing of the story kept me intrigued and I liked the narrative voice that Villarreal-Moura gave Tatum. I think where I struggled the most is with the ending because we don't really see how Tatum moves from where she is at the end of her letter to where she is in 2015. There's a scene that was hard to read because we see Mateo's "final" betrayal of Tatum but then I was left feeling sort of unsatisfied because we never really get a resolution.

On a technical level, I liked the prose and I found the story engaging but there were aspects that I found a bit clunky. This is a debut novel though, so I would be really interested to see what Villarreal-Moura writes next!

It's very well written, page-turny and well paced, it doesn't get bogged down. It starts off extremely strong, but the failure to fully resolve the issues raised was a bit of a letdown. An important topic, and it does feel like the author was trying to do something important with it, but ultimately I was left uncertain and unsatisfied.

Would recommend for fans of…
🌳 My Last Innocent Year
🌳 Queenie
🌳 My Dark Vanessa

Like Happiness is about Tatum, woman reexamining her relationship with a famous writer in light of allegations against him. It’s a short novel, but author Ursula Villarreal-Moura manages to work a lot of plot points and larger themes into the slim volume. It’s a great selection for lit fic fans that are looking for stories that explore themes about power and control.

While Like Happiness is well-written, it didn’t quite wow me. I think where this book lost me is that it feels very similar to several other lit fic darlings from the past couple of years. It follows the formula of “grown woman looks back on her ‘complicated’ relationship with an older mentor in light of the MeToo movement” and doesn’t introduce much more in terms of character and plot. It has a very detached style (I got big Sally Rooney vibes) and doesn’t waste words on flowery prose. I will say I appreciated how Villarreal-Moura was able to introduce elements surrounding class and race, which helped to slightly differentiate it from similar titles.

Like Happiness is out now. Thanks to Celadon and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A first-person reflection on a relationship driven by awe and laced with power imbalance and a large age-gap, framed by modern-day-ish assault accusations. The further you are from your twenties/early thirties, the more you may appreciate this book.

Like Happiness is the dual timeline narrative of the relationship sparked between Tatum Vega and a famous male author when he responds to her letter. They strike up a long and complicated friendship. When a reporter contacts Tatum after allegations of sexual assault against the author surface, she begins rethinking their shared history, what it meant, and the power that lay between them.

I rate this book 3.5 stars. I found it a slow burn, but I did complete it. It was an interesting deconstruction of the power differential between these two individuals.

I recommend this book to someone looking for nuanced character studies and a slow build.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for making this novel available for my honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A beautifully-written story about being seen - a feeling so addictive and rapturous, once encountered, nothing can stand in its way.

And so we meet Tatum Vega, the first person POV narrator of this story, a young Latina woman, living in San Antonio, Texas. A Literature and Fine Arts college student, twenty-one year old Tatum, intelligent and erudite, in her short life thus far, has come to experience both Caucasian exclusion and complete disregard, leaving her an angry, belittled, friendless and alienated member of her larger community.

All of this changes when Tatum reads the work of author M. Dominguez (Mateo), an older Latino writer whose fictional renderings of Latin Americans living in the US and Puerto Rico seem to speak to Tatum’s embittered soul.

As Tatum and Mateo strike up what is to become a complex and extraordinary relationship, the author peels back the layers between them gradually, exposing (on both sides), what can only be seen as the waxing and waning, over time, of raw and naked urgency, need, ego and vulnerability, and the extremes a soul will go to in service of the same.

With a story eventually spanning their decade's long entanglement, converging across two timelines, we will come to understand Tatum as she was "then" (and, through her eyes, Mateo as he emerges), and how both, through choices and actions, evolve into their "now" timeline selves, ten years later. Where motivations, and their consequences, for each, are no longer obscured.

I loved this book, - a compelling and sharply-edged commentary on ambition, passion, belonging, and power. Heartbreaking and pristine, this gorgeously-told story cannot help but engage, drawing us in with the self-important authenticity(naïveté) of young Tatum's voice, and carrying us with her through all of what is to follow. Including the author’s (and Tatum’s) gradual unwrapping of the enigma that we understand to be Mateo.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

This is a fascinating novel, with a somewhat difficult main character. If you enjoyed books like The Bell Jar, The Girl's Guide To Fishing and Hunting, or any of Curtis Sittenfeld's novels, you'll probably like this one (I love all of those books). It tells the story of a young woman, who is an avid reader, who develops a friendship of sorts with an older male novelist - told from the perspective of her as a grown woman, being questioned about this man as he has had sexual harassment allegations made against him.

I will admit that when another character calls Tatum "passive," I cheered a little. She is a challenging narrator - at times snobby and critical, at others deeply insecure and letting life just happen to her. At the same time, I recognized a version of my own college self in her. It is remarkable how long her "relationship" with Mateo lasts, and despite this, I still found myself very surprised by how it ended.

This book has a lot of layers to it - #MeToo, age gap relationships and friendships, what a writer owes to a muse, and racial identity in America. I strongly recommend this one. I suspect it will stick with you after you finish it.

I loved the premise of this, and it started out strong, but it didn't do as much as what I thought the author could. Power dynamics between men and women have been a topic of cultural conversation for years now, and I was expecting a deeper dive into those issues. However, it only brushed the surface and I was left unsure of what the author was trying to do or what they wanted to say. I still enjoyed it and am glad I read it, I just wish it had taken the story farther than it did.

I really wanted to love this book, especially after I loved the ending so much, but overall, it just didn't quite do it for me.

The premise intrigued me - a young, impressionable woman infatuated with a successful author that has had a marked impact on her life. The relationship between Tatum and Domínguez was at times really tough to read. There were times when I empathized with Tatum because really, what young girl hasn't found herself in an inappropriate crush situation? But as time went on and Tatum allowed herself to be marginalized and disrespected over and over again, I just felt exhausted by the whole thing.

Like Happiness is really well written and conveys a lot of powerful messages. The ending was spectacular and the storyline was great. I ended up really enjoying this book, but some parts were too drawn out and my connection with Tatum was too tenuous for me to ultimately root for her.

Thank you to Celadon and NetGalley for the copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review

Tatum's story was so intense and heartbreaking. So many important topics were talked about in this novel. The first half of this story was so immersive and I felt like I was right next to her, feeling everything she was. However the 2nd half fell a little flat compared to the beginning. There are different moments where I wish there was details and it went a little deeper. But overall I enjoyed this book and Tatum's story is a powerful one that many can sadly relate to.

This was a thought provoking narrative. It was a little hard to get into at the start, but the message of the story was the strongest. It addresses issues of race, sexuality, and privilege.

A hard hitting and thought provoking read. Deals with difficult topics related to race, privilege, and power imbalance. Written in alternating time lines, slow pacing to build the overall emotional impact of the story. Overall well written

Like Happiness was an interesting read. I found it to be a fairly accurate depiction of the manipulation so many young women unfortunately experience from older men. Getting to see Tatum realize the mistreatment she endured at a young age, a time when she wasn't fully aware of how poorly Matteo was treating her, was interesting. As a reader, I was able to witness her present self take back the power her younger self had unconsciously given up.

My only qualm was this one was a bit slow to read for me, perhaps a matter of the pacing between present and past, but otherwise I was very impressed with this debut.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a poignant and engaging narrative. I loved the way the timeline dipped in and out at times, taking us backwards for context and pulling us forward to the present as the narrative unfolds. There were times where it moved a bit slowly, but the overall length was not so great that it disturbed my pace as a whole. Overall, it was right in line with the type of book I like to read and I would certainly recommend it to those in my circle.

I love books about books, so this one was hard to resist.

“Toxic relationships are like ticking bombs. Once I pulled the pin and acknowledged your disregard, your disingenuousness, your betrayal, we could never rewind and begin again.”

This unique coming-of-age story covers themes of identity, self-actualization, isolation, toxic relationships, and power dynamics, which often go hand in hand. It follows Tatum’s life over ten years, from her college years to her early thirties, and her relationship with older renowned writer, M. Domínguez, whom she idolizes (or more precisely – whose writing she’s obsessed with). I loved that it was written in the form of a letter. It felt very personal, and it made it easy to understand Tatum’s perspective and emotions. Even though I couldn’t connect to her character personality-wise, some of her experiences felt relatable.

Overall, this was a solid debut! The writing style was beautiful, and the story was engaging. The outcome of their relationship was predictable, but there was also a twist I didn’t see coming.

Thank you, NetGalley, the publisher Celadon Books, and author Ursula Villarreal-Moura for the ARC copy! My review is based on an uncorrected text. I received a free copy of this book, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The legal and ethical ramifications of a romantic relationship between a teacher and student are fairly well understood, but there may exist a grey area when that relationship occurs between a celebrity and a fan. Tatum Vega is a young woman who has devoted the entire third decade of her life to limerence with renowned author M. Dominguez. Feeling adrift as a rare Latina woman amid the White-centered worlds of art and literature in her Massachusetts college, M.'s (Mateo's) work is a lifeline. Ten years after her first email to the author, a reporter contacts Tatum after another woman accuses Mateo of sexual assault. Like Happiness is a reflection of those years, told from the perspective of a woman who is coming to terms with the manipulative nature of the man she put above everyone and everything else.

Difficult to put down, Like Happiness was able to weave together an interesting narrative with a descriptive experience that many Hispanic and other minority groups face. The writing was beautiful, and Tatum was an empathetic character despite being so unmoored. I would have liked to see more evolution of how Tatum is able to maintain a healthy relationship with Vera after being manipulated by Mateo for so long. I came away knowing more about Tatum's cats than her current partner, but maybe its because Mateo will always be number one and Vera is just another detour. I'm glad this is left open to interpretation, as I will be thinking about this book for a long time to come.

Note: I received a free ebook copy of Like Happiness from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.