American Sweethearts

Dreamers, Book 4

By: Adriana Herrera

Narrated by: Sean Crisden

“Inclusive, optimistic, and scorching, this romance sends the series out on a high note.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Award-winning author Adriana Herrera delivers hot romance and social justice in equal measure in this sexy contemporary listen.

Juan Pablo Campos doesn't do regrets. He's living the dream as a physical therapist with his beloved New York Yankees. He has the best friends and family in the world and simply no time to dwell on what could’ve been.

Except when it comes to Priscilla, the childhood friend he's loved for what seems like forever.

New York City Police Detective Priscilla Gutierrez has never been afraid to go after what she wants. Second guessing herself isn't a thing she does. But lately, the once-clear vision she had for herself - her career, her relationships, her life - is no longer what she wants.

What she especially doesn't want is to be stuck on a private jet to the Dominican Republic with JuanPa, the one person who knows her better than anyone else. By the end of a single week in paradise, the love/hate thing JuanPa and Pris have been doing for 16 years has risen to epic proportions. No one can argue their connection is still there. And they can both finally admit - if only to themselves - they've always been a perfect match. The future they dreamed of together is still within reach...if they can just accept each other as they are.

Dreamers:

• Book one: American Dreamer
• Book two: American Fairytale
• Book three: American Love Story
• Book four: American Sweethearts
• Book five: American Christmas

©2020 Adriana Herrera (P)2020 HarperAudio

A win for me

I'm an avid Adriana Herrera reader(sometimes I like her work, sometimes it's a hit or miss). I was particularly interested in this series of queer black and brown men and their paths to love. Sometimes her books have so much social justice in them, I often feel it takes away from the romance aspect(or maybe she just forces too much on the characters for me to escape). But this one had just enough issues to bring up that didn't make me feel miserable wanting for the next time for them to be together on the page.

I will admit this book had something the others books didn't have. That both the main characters were read as Black/Afro-Latinx visibly and unlike some of her others books didn't hyper focus on making white people feel good about their guilt for their privilege.

JuanPa and Priscilla have known each other since they were kids. They've been off and on(sometimes as cuddle buddies, sometimes in failed attempts at relationships) for almost 20 years. They always worked well when they were enjoying each other in the sheets but were always resentful of the past they left behind.

The beautiful DARK SKINNED Priscilla was the Afro-Dominicana I was hoping I'd see this author write. I wasn't sure I'd like her at first because she was a cop(I don't typically like cops in romance) but she humanized it a little more for me because as a Black person, I naturally fear cops. It was always the plan to attend the police academy together, but at the last minute, JuanPa decided on grad school and she continued on her parents dream of her becoming a cop.

The job did a number on her mental health, and it was obvious it was a boys club that was very much hard to pentrate as a Black woman. Maybe because I related to Priscilla so much was to why I liked her character. Finally a Black Latina that LOOKS LIKE ME. She was always described as dark skinned so I always felt seen. But she had a side hustle of sex positive workshops for people who are marginalized(disability, of color, over 60, trans, etc.) and as a Black Dominican woman, she feared her family finding out.

This is very accurate of a Black Dominican woman(I'm Cuban not DR but there's some similarities there) as you're expected to either be chaste/virginal or fast/whore. This kind of education is necessary for all of us, but I know for a fact, in DR communities, it's so taboo of a topic, you'll get shamed for bringing it up. This sex positivity is so necessary and it was a platform she was building(blog, podcast, online workshops) that she hoped could grow if she ever found the time to do more with it.

JuanPa is our cute bi cutie from past book(aka Draka wannabe XD) and while I'd found him obnoxious in other books, he really florished in his own novel. He worked in sports(I think sports journalism, I was reading at 1.75 speed and it was 5 am so i don't remember) and for as long as they'd been attracted to each other, they'd gone back and forth. He admitted in their youth he expected all the emotional labor to be on her, so over time he tried to be better and show her changed behavior that if they tried this time they could work.

They reminded me of past relationships I enjoyed being in more(I've IR dated but I do think the PoC partners I always had more fun with). They clowned each other alot, shaded each other alot and teased each other, which made them come off as super super Black. I struggle with clowning or roasting my friends who aren't Black because they don't know the vernacular to know it's harmless. So I really liked that it felt like me and my friends, or the small group of Black people at my job when we code switch the moment we're around each other.

JuanPa was a clown sometimes but he was sweet and did things as a friends with benefits some boyfriends don't even do.

I was so glad to see two Black people who identified as latinx as a couple because I'm always shouting from the rooftops I want to see more Black Latinx love in romance and people just aren't writing it. It's like a Black love romance and a latinx romance wrapped into one. Folks that use AAVE with Spanish, Spanglish and English was so me. I can't shout how much I felt so seen.

I also loved the lovey times. Since they were both queer, Priscilla pegs him and it just is the natural flow of the love scene how they come in and out of everything. This is probably going to be a hard book to top this year for me(and I read a lot of Alexandria House books so I'm up for the challenge!).

This is why I don't like to stop reading an author just because one or two books of theirs don't resonate because you never know if the next book will. This was amazing, please write more Black Latinx folk together book world!