I received a free audiobook of Like Happiness in exchange for an honest review.

The literary novel, Like Happiness focuses on some heavy content, like power dynamics with interpersonal relationships. I found this to be an extremely well written, and thought out novel. It was consistently interesting, and I was never bored. I found the main female character Tatum to be an interesting and extremely well-developed character. It was very interesting to watch her grow throughout this relationship that was clearly toxic and to come to the realization that she was in a friendship that was absolutely one-sided, and she had zero power in.

This novel is told from one POV, Tatum, but it goes over two separate timelines. One that is considered "present day" and one that is about her past friendship detailed in a narration of a letter to M Dominguez. In the present day timeline, Tatum is coming to terms with the fact that she was in a toxic friendship, and in the past narrative detail through the letters, she is explaining to M Dominguez, why, she feels the way she does about the relationship.

It was extremely cathartic to see somebody take their power back from a very imbalanced power dynamic. Overall, I definitely will be reading more by this author. I feel like this was very well done, and I loved the mixture of Spanish and English throughout the novel.

Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

This read was intriguing, engrossing, and atmospheric. The book is thought-provoking and full of complex themes such as power imbalance, gender inequality, grooming, and Latinx identity.The MC is infatuated with a celebrity author and he takes full advantage of that.

Tatum has created an idyllic life living in Chile when she gets a call from a reporter asking her to speak about the case against M. Dominguez. He’s a renowned author who had her under his manipulative spell for years. The story is told by Tatum and she recounts the years through a letter to the famous author detailing their unique and toxic relationship. She takes us from the beginning as she feels isolated in her college class being the only minority there. She contacts the author who she admired and this deeply complex and destructive relationship begins, lasting 10 years. She is examining everything their relationship went through.

This is a part coming of age, part self discovery and taking back power. As the relationship progresses, you can see that he was grooming her. It gave me Lolita vibes, but more about an abuse of power. I think this would make an excellent book club read. The writing is captivating!

The narration kept me engaged the whole time and the pacing felt just right. The transitions between past and present flowed smoothly and made for an easy listen and enjoyable listen.

Thank you Celadon books for this ARC and Macmillan audio for the ALC.

Like Happiness is an unflinching portrayal of a toxic relationship between a literature-loving young Latina woman and an older author whom she idolizes intellectually and, at times, romantically. Tatum and Mateo connect when she impulsively writes him a letter after being moved by his writing, sparking a messy, sweeping decade marked by admiration, obsession, and an imbalance of power. When a young woman accuses Mateo of sexual assault, Tatum is compelled to reexamine the nature of her own relationship with Mateo.

I was captivated by this beautifully written coming of age story that touches on tough topics like grooming, gender, sexuality, racism, and power dynamics. Although it has echoes of My Dark Vanessa, the power differential between Tatum and Mateo is more understated, as he has no “real” power over her (i.e., he’s not her professor or boss) but he grooms and subtly manipulates her all the same. Tatum is young and naïve when they meet, a lonely and isolated college student who is ripe to be sucked in by Mateo’s attentions. The author does a masterful job of depicting the insidious way Mateo controls the power dynamic and blurs the lines between them.

I was lucky enough to be able to read and listen to this one simultaneously. Marisa Blake does an outstanding job narrating and bringing Ursula Villarreal-Moura’s gorgeous prose to life.

This book is ideal for book clubs and sure to inspire a rich discussion! Many thanks to NetGalley, Celadon Books, and Macmillan Audio for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Excellent narration. Written like a memoir - Tatum looks back over her life, after being contacted by a reporter. Her longest friendship, the author of a best selling book has been accused of abusing a young woman. The reporter is desperate for Tatum's story - a prompt for Tatum's reflection and forcing an honesty she has avoided for decades.
A tough read at times - definite themes of grooming. Abuse comes in many forms - making it so difficult to define. As a survivor of years of mental and emotional abuse, this book really spoke to me. Well done and gorgeous.

A young latina woman writes to the author of her favorite book and they fall into a weird undefinable relationship. The characters just seem so real and the story is done so well. and is so believable. Great, great book!

This audiobook captivated me from start to finish. The writing was skillful, and I found myself deeply invested in the protagonist's journey. However, I must acknowledge the challenging themes of manipulation portrayed by the author, which added depth to the narrative.

While the final twist was somewhat anticipated, its execution was satisfying. I had hoped for a more substantial resolution, but the implied aftermath offered room for reflection.

Overall, the audiobook proved to be an engaging experience, enhanced by the excellent narration. I would recommend it to those interested in explorations of complex themes within the Latin American context (Mexican and Puerto Rican main characters), particularly readers who enjoyed works like "My Dark Vanessa."

However, I feel compelled to issue a trigger warning for themes of grooming and abuses of power.

Characters - 7
Atmosphere - 9
Writing - 9
Plot - 8
Intrigue - 10
Logic - 7
Enjoyment - 8

Thank you author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!!

I’m in awe! This is so good! It’s phrased like a letter to her abuser! It shows how she goes from complete denying he abused her to admitting that he was in the wrong! Please!! I am unwell at how accurate this feels! She’s a reader and dreamer so when he comes into her life she feels so special, like it’s fate. She’s taken advantage of and it shows how even now she’s still trying to heal.

This novel centred around a long-term, sometimes romantic, relationship between an older author and a college student that spans several years. I found the character of the author to be quite unlikable by the end of the novel but thought that both he and the student character were well-developed and well-written. The relationship between them was incredibly complex and well-thought-out.

The narrator of this audiobook did a fantastic job.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I have to say that the audiobook narration by Marisa Blake was fantastic. I really think this format was the perfect way to experience this novel.

It was hard for me to fully relate to the main character, Tatum, who seemed too naïve at times. She meets her idol, the author of her favourite book, and starts a friendship with him. The path of that friendship, and Tatum’s choices, made me feel a sense of dread, and the tension kept me reading until the conclusion. I loved the writing style and the voice of this debut author. Some aspects of the narrative reminded me of My Brilliant Friend, others made me think of Yellowface. I know for sure that I’ll read more by this author as this is my favourite book of 2024 to date.

I highly recommend this one. It would make a great book club discussion!

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬
𝐁𝐲 𝐔𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐚 𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐌𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟑.𝟐𝟔.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑜𝑜𝑛!

3.5 ⭐️

I liked how this is formatted as a sort of hindsight view, as we walk in on Tatum Vega in 2015, now living in Chile with her girlfriend. She is contacted by a journalist who wants to know about her relationship with the writer M. Dominguez, who has been accused of sexual misconduct. Tatum tells the journalist that, no, Dominguez has never mistreated her.

The book shifts to Tatum’s memories of her time with M. or Mateo as she has come to know him, from the fan letter she wrote to him when she was a college student and the strange friendship that blossomed from it.

But now, with the memories replaying, questions begin to plague Tatum as she looks back - was it a friendship? Had she been obsessed? Did he take advantage of her? She realized it was not sexual abuse, but something was off. All she believed, or wanted to believe about her old friend and mentor was starting to feel twisted.

There is a lot you could unpack: power struggles, heritage, betrayal, sexual identity, and I even felt there was a bit of academic snobbery going on. I just need more from the characters to balance the weight of the themes at play.

A thought-provoking debut.

Thank you @celadonbooks for the gifted digital ARC.
Thank you @macmillan.audio for the gifted audiobook.

Wow! This is such a different perspective on a toxic relationship. A reporter requests to talk to Tatum about M, a famous latin author, who was at some point her friend/paramour. The reporter tells her that M has been accused of sexual harassment and while she first says that he never abused her, reflecting on her experience with him stirs back old emotions. This book is told from the perspective of Tatum now, interspersed with parts of a letter she is writing to M retelling their story from the beginning.

Like Happiness reminded me a lot of Anita de Monte dies Laughing, so it's strangely coincidental that both of them are coming out the same month. They both have an older male figure that explores from a young student/artist, take place in New York City, and, obviously, they both have latina protagonists. If you liked that book, you'll like this one as well!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publishers to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was a really interesting read looking back at a toxic relationship. A little slow but that didn't take away from the story much. The narrator did a great job.

Ursula Villarreal-Moura's debut novel Like Happiness addresses the need for intersectional feminism head-on in a heartbreaking exploration of one woman's experience with power and love.

I won't lie, I am a harsh critic, and I know this about myself. I'm often my own worst enemy when it comes to books because I refuse to let myself enjoy the story when I don't absolutely love the writing, but Ursula Villarreal-Moura created a unique predicament for me in Like Happiness.
While I had a very hard time falling into the writing, I tore through this book in just a few hours. After I finished, I found myself mourning the characters I wouldn't get a visit from again. This is both a compliment and a criticism. I desired to keep these characters with me past the book's end because I felt love for them. However, they also did not feel fully fleshed out. The story was unfortunately lacking closure because the characters did not feel fully realized, even in the end.
The overall language choices feel robotic and academic. While this is, in part, intentional characterization, it also felt out of place and forced the characters to blend together without definable characteristics. Even background characters and settings are unnecessarily described, blurring lines of importance. From haircuts to nail colors, we learn too much about characters who are only mentioned once.

I enjoyed this story and felt it was important, but I wished it had been told in a different way. Personally, I feel this title may have worked better for me in the written format. As the characters were writers themselves, and this was nearly an epistolary novel, I almost needed that tactile reference to make the story flow.

I enjoyed reading this. The writing is very good. The author's use of second person through much of the book is well done.

In thinking about this afterward, I struggle with a lot of it. The protagonist's closure through explaining to Matteo how he hurt her is confusing. He's so self-centered and oblivious - why would he care how she feels, especially now? Also, she faults him for stringing her along for a decade, but he didn't really. And many of the character flaws he has, she does also. Most notably, she treats her family and friends pretty poorly, reaching to them when it's convenient for her.

Obviously I'm torn on this one. I would certainly read whatever is next from the author, and I purchased a copy for my library.

Thank you NetGalley and BookishFirst for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook.

An enjoyable read about the #metoo movement, from a different perspective, with characters of color. I also really liked that in the present day timeline the main character no longer lived in the U.S. (nice to see a story that doesn't need to be set in the U.S. for characters to have a valid narrative).

Tackling toxic relationships, gender dynamics, and power inequalities, "Like Happiness" tells the story of Tatum Vega in dual timelines.
After listening to the audiobook, I determined that readers will enjoy seeing someone meet their favorite author and learn the secrets behind the veil. Many times we have built up those people because their writing stirred something in us, but at the end of the day, they aren't what they seem. Our hearts will be connected to Tatum as she describes her life and being dragged along to connect with Mateo. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC audiobook to review, all opinions are my own.

This novel effectively used time jumps to tell the story of a queer Latina woman who had a complicated relationship with an older Latino author starting during her undergraduate studies and extending on for years to come. It was a well-written novel and the audiobook performance was good. I look forward to reading more by Villarreal-Moura in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

What do I think of this one? For starters, this is a very easy story to get wrapped into. How she meets Mateo and how her life wraps around him. At some point, it starts to get hard to listen to it. And then the betrayal at the end? Damn - that was rough.

I did find it a little confusing when it switched to the 2015 in Chile parts of the story. Idk if I just missed the switch or what but that threw me off a couple of times!

I’d give this one a 3.5. Engaging character even if she was naive. It was hard to listen to her be groomed by this man, idk the toxic relationship was tough. It’s giving what John Mayer does to get more creative content for his music….fu**ed up

This was lovely and poignant - a beautiful exploration of the complexities of dependency and power. Villarreal-Moura's prose reads almost like poetry, and I really enjoyed the reflective format and use of second person. The concept of this book is not particularly ground-breaking - a narcissistic man in a position of power appropriates a woman's story for his own gain - but it's told in such a tender and personal voice that it still has a lot of impact.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for my honest review.

4.75

This book truly made me think and feel. It's a book that brings you on the journey of a young woman who is realizing that she might have had a not so healthy relationship with a famous author years ago while also recounting the events of the past. I think this book is very powerful in the sense that, you feel a lot, and you really feel for Tatum as she realizes in the "present" that she was used (for reasons we find out at the end) and still felt a sense of admiration for the person throughout her life until she truly broke down finding that she didn't admire the broken man she had "fallen for". This book is a journey that feels so real that for a second or two, I thought I was reading a memoir and not a fiction story, even though that is the point of the book and it's supposed to make you feel that way. I do think that a lot of people will relate to or at least empathize with Tatum and her journey.