I requested this book after seeing a rave review by a fellow Bookstagramer, not knowing much about it.

Tatum reaches out to her favourite author, which sparks a friendship and complicated relationship that spans years. The story is told from the current day, as this author is being investigated for sexual assault accusations. Tatum is telling her POV to him, explaining her experience.

I enjoyed the complexities of the characters and their relationship. It was a very unique approach. I also liked how it touched on the experience of being a minority in a genuine way, without reliance on stereotypes. The nuance to her experience was very educational.

This is a shorter book, but it felt complete and complex. I highly recommend!

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

It’s 2015, and Tatum Vega feels that her life is finally falling into place. Living in sunny Chile with her partner, Vera, she spends her days surrounded by art at the museum where she works. More than anything else, she loves this new life for helping her forget the decade she spent in New York City orbiting the brilliant and famous author M. Domínguez.

When a reporter calls from the US asking for an interview, the careful separation Tatum has constructed between her past and present begins to crumble. Domínguez has been accused of assault, and the reporter is looking for corroboration. As Tatum is forced to reexamine the all-consuming but undefinable relationship that dominated so much of her early adulthood, long-buried questions surface. What did happen between them? And why is she still struggling with the mark the relationship left on her life?

This book was interesting. It's always interesting to look back at things in our past through the lens of hindsight and a more mature perspective. It was a journey through the memories of a toxic relationship. For a debut book, this was well-written, but I felt the ending wasn't as satisfying as it could have been. Overall, it was an enjoyable, thought-provoking journey.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to love this novel and appreciate the diverse array of pointed themes it could have introduced. The main character, a queer Latina, grapples with complex issues of imbalanced relationships, gender identity, celebrity, memory, Latinx heritage, and power dynamics. Our main character, Tatum – the embodiment of these conflicts – is contacted by a US reporter seeking an interview at the onset of the novel. This contact potentially breaks down the carefully constructed barriers between Tatum’s past and present. However, as I read on, I found myself still waiting for that moment to unfold. Unfortunately, the novel fell short of my expectations, with zero resolution and little care for our main character. There was also no resolution for the one character I cared for most, Vera.

Instead of exploring these rich themes, we were left with a character who complains and yearns for understanding but actively pushes others away. I will champion all the Tatums of our world and stand by their truths. However, this is one novel I was waiting to dig deeper into, but it was just left on the surface.

A coming of age novel that was a heartfelt and thoughtful read but was not overall strong for me. I liked this one but didn't have the punch that I was looking for in novels such as this. It drug a bit for me in the middle and was hoping for a steadier pace. Thank you to Celadon Books for the digital copy to review.

Thank you Celadon for letting me read a copy of LIKE HAPPINESS. This one is out now.

I had a really hard time with this one. It felt like a long essay that wasn't edited and that also didn't have any sort of direction. I think mostly I wasn't in a place to take in all the trigger warnings and reading this felt like a chore.

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.

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