Starred review from August 28, 2017
Oliveras’s outstanding debut tangles romance into family life in present-day Oakton, Ill. Dancer and teacher Yazmine Fernandez left Broadway behind to care for her ailing father, Reynaldo. Single father Tomás Garcias and his young daughter, Maria, struggle to balance Tomás’s advertising career with Maria’s needs. Tomás is sure romantic love does not exist and is convinced his impulsive attraction to Yaz is a mistake. Though strongly attracted to Tomás in return, Yaz is still smarting from betrayal in New York and feels her duty to her father comes first. However, they inevitably draw closer as Yaz helps with Maria’s childcare and Tomás supports Yaz through her father’s illness. Helping each other leads them to reconsider their narrow ideas of the future, and to find love together. The realistic, multifaceted characters have interesting nuances, and Oliveras never stoops to employing contrived misunderstandings, instead creating real obstacles with meaning and depth. Moving familial relationships and splashes of Puerto Rican culture round out this splendid contemporary and bode well for the future of the series. Agent: Rebecca Strauss, DeFiore & Company.
Starred review from September 15, 2017
Debuting author Oliveras takes all the right steps in this sweet romance. Yazmine teaches young dancers and cares for her father while preparing to return to her dancing career in New York. She feels that her career is the unrealized dream of her parents for themselves. Her drive to return to that life keeps her from dating. Single father Tomas doesn't like the comments his daughter's beloved teacher makes about his long work hours, but he can't stop thinking about her. He also needs to keep working to provide the security for his daughter that he never experienced as a child. He and his daughter get to know Yazmine, her ailing father, and her sisters as the couple realizes they should be together. Oliveras' refreshing tale is the start of a very special trilogy featuring a Chicago-based Latina and Latino cast, and it is packed with emotion, humor, and memorable characters. Fans of Samantha Chase will enjoy this heart-tugging love story by a promising newcomer.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)