A Lot Like Adiós (Primas of Power, #2) By Alexis Daria
Hi Mich. It’s Gabe.
After burning out in her corporate marketing career, Michelle Amato has built a thriving freelance business as a graphic designer. So what if her love life is nonexistent? She’s perfectly fine being the black sheep of her marriage-obsessed Puerto Rican-Italian family. Besides, the only guy who ever made her want happily-ever-after disappeared thirteen years ago.
It’s been a long time.
Gabriel Aguilar left the Bronx at eighteen to escape his parents’ demanding expectations, but it also meant saying goodbye to Michelle, his best friend and longtime crush. Now, he’s the successful co-owner of LA’s hottest celebrity gym, with an investor who insists on opening a New York City location. It’s the last place Gabe wants to go, but when Michelle is unexpectedly brought on board to spearhead the new marketing campaign, everything Gabe’s been running from catches up with him.
I’ve missed you.
Michelle is torn between holding Gabe at arm’s length or picking up right where they left off—in her bed. As they work on the campaign, old feelings resurface, and their reunion takes a sexy turn. Facing mounting pressure from their families—who think they’re dating—and growing uncertainty about their futures, can they resolve their past mistakes, or is it only a matter of time before Gabe says adiós again? A Lot Like Adiós (Primas of Power, #2)
I liked this follow up to You Had Me at Hola even better than I enjoyed that first one, as this had 2 flavors I love: friends to lovers and a brief bit of fake dating. Overall, this was really Gabe's story of moving through his childhood feelings of being disconnected from his father to become the person he wants to be and living the life he wants to live. And the sexy times were very steamy, so score one there. I also really loved the little interstitials with their old fanfic chats.
Overall, a really lovely contemporary romance and here's hoping we get more in the series, if for no other reason than we need more of these covers 0062959964 This review talks about adult content, so if you are under the age of 18, please either skip past this review or proceed with caution.
Thank you to the publisher and Goodreads for sending me an advanced reader’s copy of this book. I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway but that in no way impacts my review.
This was my first book by Alexis Daria and it definitely won’t be the last one that I read by her. This book reads like a Hallmark movie with HBO levels of steam. A Lot Like Adiós is a childhood friends to lovers romance that is steamy and fun with Latinx, bisexual, and transgender rep. If I’m liking a steamy book, trust me that it’s a good book because I usually stay away from steamy books.
Everything about this book was pure perfection, but I feel that the elements that stood out the most to me were the pacing, the writing style, and the characters. It was so fast that I couldn’t put it down and I read twice as fast as normal. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next and I was constantly eager for more. The writing style also kept me hooked on this book. Alexis Daria has a way with words that is beautiful. She uses quick sentences with great descriptions that captivated me from start to finish. And as for the characters, they were fantastic. There’s Michelle, the fierce and powerful girl who has a strong connection with her family, and Gabriel, a strong yet thoughtful man who is struggling with his family relationships. They have tons of chemistry that made me root for them throughout the course of this book.
The thing that caught me most off guard about the books were the nerdy histories of the two main characters. If you know me, you know that I love tv shows and fanfiction, so seeing those two elements added in the flashback scenes was a lot of fun for me. I almost wish we’d get a novella that lets us read the fanfiction that the two characters were writing because the small bits of the fanfiction that were included in this book were really good.
Overall A Lot Like Adiós was an addicting and enjoyable read that is now one of my favorites of the year. If you’re into romance, especially ones with some steam, then don’t hesitate to add this one to your tbr.
Also, I’m not saying this in a judgmental way but as an asexual person, I didn’t know people could have sex this much?? Like dang, y’all can be busy with this stuff… 0062959964 A Lot Like... I Don't Give A Damn...
0062959964 So I knew I was going to love this book because of the masterpiece that was You Had Me at Hola, but I do feel like Alexis Daria cheated by following it up with my favorite trope. Second chance romances are my crack. Plus there was a somewhat friends with benefits situation, a lot of steam, and fanfic. If there’s more you want in a book, I don’t know what to tell you.
But let’s rewind for a second. Michelle and Gabe were best friends growing up (can you hear me screaming in the background?) until they had a falling out at eighteen, in the middle of their one and only quasi-hook-up, and never spoke again.
Thirteen years later, Gabe is now the co-owner of a successful gym in Los Angeles on the verge of an expansion to his hometown of New York City, and he finds out his business partner contacted a freelancer to help out with the marketing side of it without his knowledge. Of course the freelancer turns out to be Michelle, who used to be a big shot in the corporate marketing world.
Gabe feels obligated to reach out to her himself, and is surprised to find that she’s willing to take the job - if he’ll stay with her while he’s in New York so they can finally “hash out their issues”. If you know what I mean. 😏🔥
It was so lovely seeing flashbacks of Gabe and Michelle’s message exchanges when they were teenagers, especially because they were writing a fanfic together and their plotting actually mirrors some of their relationship, very much in the vein of You Had Me at Hola with the telenovela’s plot mirroring Jasmine and Ashton’s storyline.
Michelle is such a badass and Gabe was the perfect counterpart for her. This book had all the best tropes in all the land and I loved it so much.
Also, I would kill for Ava’s book. 0062959964 Another 5 stars from me? ABSOFREAKINLUTELY.
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'You Had Me at Hola' was one of the most entertaining rom-coms that I've read last year. Hopefully this one will be as entertaining as its companion novel.
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I didn't know Michelle was going to be the same character from 'You Had Me at Hola'. She seemed so interesting then and finding out this is going to be her books makes me 10 times more excited to pick this up. 0062959964
1.5 stars ✿
I wish that I could wake up with amnesia and forget about the stupid little things book. 0062959964 “Stop seducing me at the zoo.” Yes, Gabe, stop seducing Michelle at the zoo. You wanna know where else they seduce each other?
Second chance is a top-tier romance trope. Aside from forbidden love, it’s a top trope for me.
I once heard that authors draw inspiration from their own sex lives to write sexy scenes. If that’s true, Dariaaaaaaaaaa…..
Michelle and Gabriel were too cute!!! Too much! Michelle and Gabriel were best friends in high school, I’m talking writing fanfiction together kind of best friends, but he had to leave to follow his dreams and it wasn’t really pretty. He cut ties with Michelle and even his family, but he does achieve his dreams and gets his own business. His partner Fabian hires Michelle for a marketing campaign, and that forces them to meet each other after all these years. Michelle insists that Gabriel stays with her, and that’s when the show escalates.
Both the MCs are good-looking. I know that because it was mentioned A LOT in the book. I’ve said it before, I want more books with average-looking MCs. Gabriel and Michelle’s chemistry is undeniable. In fact, Gabriel is usually instantly turned on just by seeing Michelle. Sigh, I crave that kind of power over another human being. Michelle, herself naturally exudes a lot of confidence, even though she opens more about how that might not always be the case. I like both of their characters a lot.
Michelle and Gabe were HOT. Unfortunately, they kept lying to themselves about their true intentions. How are they going to be finally honest which each other? How do their individual careers play a role in this decision?
Gabe also has a lot of emotions to deal with when it comes to his family. Sometimes some families just don’t understand you and you just have to break apart in order to do what you want to do. I think this is an important subject to explore especially with how complex it can be when it comes to immigrant parents. Will Gabe be able to mend his relationship with his parents? Will his parents ever accept him for who he is?
This book also had a lot of humor, from parents seeing their children buying condoms to showing up to parties half-naked so you don’t get your clothes wrinkled. We need more books that have some parts of you shaking one minute *wink*, and laughing out loud the next.
I was so happy to see Jasmine and Ashton from the last book. I love how close the primas are and can’t wait for Ava’s story.
0062959964 DNF at 20%
The dialogue is so cheesy, I’m getting second-hand embarrassment. I love myself too much to read on. 0062959964 This was underwhelming.
This took me way too long to read. It felt like I was reading it forever.
The story wasn’t compelling enough, nothing about it made me eager to pick it up once I put it down.
I was expecting for it to consume me, but it didn’t. Instead, I kept waiting for it to get interesting, but it was lukewarm throughout. And lukewarm gets boring.
It had interesting tropes and elements but I could not fully invest myself in this story.
I much preferred You Had Me at Hola. 0062959964 LOVE GABE AND MICH!
Petition for Alexis to publish CELESTIAL DESTINY <3 0062959964