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You Had Me at Hola: A Novel: 1 (Primas of Power, 1)

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I grew up watching telenovelas. In a Hispanic household, they were a huge staple of weeknights in my younger days, and gathering around the TV to partake in the entertainment was just the thing to do. I remember bits and pieces of titles such as Maria La Del Barrio, Esmeralda, Pasión de Gavilanes, and La Mentira. These stories were often over the top, but also rather entertaining. To this day, I'm fond of Portuguese telenovelas—such as O Clone—even though it has been years since I've dedicated the time to watching them. But as soon as I caught a peek of the synopsis in You Had Me at Hola, I knew that reading it would be my chance to enjoy a little bit of that history.

These two don't get on the best start. Ashton is awkward and shy around a new crew, new actors he isn't familiar with. So he comes off as being distant and like he doesn't want to share time with his costars. Yet he can't help be instantly attracted to Jasmine, his romantic interest in the show. But attraction is one thing, he can deal with that. He cannot even think about a relationship with her. Ashton has secrets, big secrets, and the media spotlight surrounding Jasmine which follows her everywhere is not for him.I never see Ashton’s son as a big obstacle for their relationship and the angst part between them were a little unrealistic. They may talk with each other like normal adults. The characters were complex, and also easy to relate to them. They were amazing, funny, charming and real. But this story is the perfect example of how love is not made of big gestures and great gifts, but by simplicity and being there for the other person. Meaning, you should always feel free to freak out in front of your loved ones, no matter how scared you are to expose that part of yourself. I wish we had more. I think that’s very minor complaint. I wish we had moments with Jasmine and her parents who didn’t really understand her and got to explore how she couldn’t really be herself around them. I think that arc would’ve been exciting to read about - for me, that is. When she would read the regular narration parts of the story. And then she suddenly turned into William Shatner!

Soap opera actress Jasmine Lin Rodriguez has just landed the lead role on a Latinx romantic comedy show, to be streamed on a Netflix lookalike, so you know it’s a big deal. She’s paired up with a famous telenovela star in his own right, Ashton Suárez. They get off on a bumpy start after he accidentally spills coffee on her during their first meeting, and try as they might to create some chemistry between them while filming, something seems to be missing. So they agree to work on their lines behind the scenes, and that’s when things really heat up.

I really enjoyed this book and read it within 24 hours, I loved it that much. This book has the story within a story trope, which I really love. I loved the characters, particularly Jasmine, I felt I could relate to her and how she was actively trying to achieve her goals. Ashton, the main male character, was also very developed for me, as he had so many layers and walls around him and it made him seem very real. The romance between the two was also great and I loved how it began, as it’s something you hear happen so often in the media.

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