This Is Why They Hate Us

By: Aaron H. Aceves

Narrated by: Alejandro Ruiz

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Enrique “Quique” Luna has one goal this summer—get over his crush on Saleem Kanazi by pursuing his other romantic prospects. Never mind that he’s only out to his best friend, Fabiola. Never mind that he has absolutely zero game. And definitely forget the fact that good and kind and, not to mention, beautiful Saleem is leaving LA for the summer to meet a girl his parents are trying to set him up with. Luckily, Quique’s prospects are each intriguing in their own ways.

There’s stoner-jock Tyler Montana, who might be just as interested in Fabiola as he is in Quique; straitlaced senior-class president, Ziggy Jackson; and Manny Zuniga, who keeps looking at Quique like he’s carne asada fresh off the grill. With all these choices, Quique is sure to forget about Saleem in no time.

But as the summer heats up and his deep-seated fears and anxieties boil over, Quique soon realizes that getting over one guy by getting under a bunch of others may not have been the best laid plan and living his truth can come at a high cost.

©2022 Aaron H. Aceves (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLC

This was everything

Quique’s chaotic energy was everything to me. This feels like a book I would have held so close to my heart in high school and I loved every second of it today. It does certainly get heavy at times, but it leaves you with this happy, hopeful feeling and that’s all I wanted.

Funny, relatable, and loving

This was a very heartfelt story. I love the main character because he’s relatable, funny, kind, and bold. The other characters are great as well. This book made me laugh, cry, and had some serious topics in it as well. I loved every minute of it.

Loved, Loved… Loved

This was such a great read. It was well paced with great detail and imagery. While I was reading I learned more about the author which made read from a more personal perspective that allowed me to place myself in the book and walk around his neighborhood and school with him.

Moving coming of age

I hate writing reviews and I rarely read anything other than adult fantasy. Yet here I am because of a tiktok made by the author. Thank you for this story, it was truly amazing.

This is why I love “This is Why They Hate Us”

Honestly I can’t remember the last time I read a book that made me feel as seen as “This is Why They Hate Us” managed to. As a Queer, LatinX man, Quique’s struggles with his mental health and his identity struck a cord in me that I have been searching for in my literature for years. Knowing that this is a debut novel, I’m very excited to see what Aceves does in the future to make me happy/sad cry like this did.

Couldn’t stop listening!

From the voice acting to the sorry itself, this was such a great read! Definitely wouldn’t mind a sequel

Beautifully written, honestly narrated.

Loved this book. will listen to it more than once. I can not recommend this enough. It's about coming to terms and realizing what you want in a relationship and not settling for less.

Characters felt real

Each character felt fleshed out with their own desires, flaws and quirks. This made me care about the ending and made for a beautiful book.

I really like the realistic aspect of the story

I love how each character in this book is realistic. I love the pacing and I especially like the queer struggle not being so dramatic but heavy enough that it could resonate with anyone in this situation

Incredible and Real

I would recommend this book to anyone questioning and discovering their own identity. I wish I had a book like this when I was 17, but even 18 years later it resonated so much. The characters are like able, imperfect but so relate-able. Very powerful and honest