It’s not quite starting over, but moving out of NY to open his food-truck business in Ithaca sure is a new chapter in Ernesto’s life. But he has the support of his family, and a certainty that his Dominican food will be different enough to make his dreams, if not come true, at least have a better shot at growing past the already crowded confines that is New York City. And, despite a few rough patches, it actually is working. For his business, as well as his dating life. At least the none-to-subtle flirting from Jude the librarian would suggest so. The only fly in the delicious Caribbean flavored dish is the lady from the town council whom seems dead set on making sure Ernesto takes his food truck out of the city at her soonest convenience.

This is exactly the kind of story that I normally love, but I have to say, it was a bit of a slog for me. I never really connected with any of the characters, and as such I wasn’t very invested in what happened to them. Both on the job front, as well as with their relationship. But I’m not sure I can say it was a bad story. It has elements that I can see others enjoying, like a passion for food that makes this a horrible book to read while hungry, as well as a wide and varied cast of characters. I just had a hard time moving past some of my own personal dislikes in order to fully enjoy them myself.

On the more it’s-me-not-you front, this book definitely is one of those “OMG look how fucking gorgeous we all are!” kinds of stories. Which I find, at best, boring. I know it is a Romance staple, and I know other people view these kinds of stories as fantastical and aspirational fluff, but I have found myself less and less able to care instinctively about characters who go around remarking how “model perfect” everyone around them is–especially the MCs. It makes them all feel fake and unreal to me. This also ties into that annoying habit of Romance to make doubly sure that only The Pretty People get paired off…but that is a basket of fish for another time.

I also disliked how…I guess, simple?, the bad guy was. White Bitch Misty, for all that I don’t doubt she is a true representation of many people in real life, is not a very compelling character. It felt like the author went “who would get pissy about a Caribbean-inspired food truck moving into town?” and settled three seconds later on an uptight bigoted white lady. Which, fair play, seems like a good fit. But it never felt like the author got past that first thought. And while I have no doubt she mirrors real life, in fiction Misty was just so damn boring.

There was so much in this story that is intent on instructing its readers about how shitty we treat minorities in this country. Which I don’t mind. I just wish it had also used some of that same energy to make characters I cared about on the small scale as well as a part of a bigger picture.

Like, I never felt at all connected to Ernesto as a person, outside his love of cooking and his family. Which are pretty vague things.  But you know what I know without a shadow of a doubt? That his family is from the Dominican Republic. And I know that because the story wouldn’t let you go more than five pages without explicitly stating it. I know facts about him, but that connection, that spark between a character and a reader that lets you slip into their story and forget about yourself, was missing. Instead I was left increasingly pushed out of the story by the feeling that the author thought I had the reported memory of the fabled goldfish.

And if that bit of information came into play in a big way–say, at the end of the story it turned out that the Dominican Republic figured out faster-than-light travel and everyone who was born there, or was related to someone else who was, got first crack on the new spaceship they were building, then fine, I’d totally admit that maybe the constant reminders were useful. But, sadly, there was not spaceship. And I was left wondering why exactly the author had the characters bring up this fact so often in conversation. Is it a culture thing? Something that because of my background I wouldn’t get? Or is it (and I’m almost positive there is an actual term for this) something that I only pick up on because it is out of the norm for me and my reading habits? If it is, I’d…well, I would still think it was not the greatest writing choice, but I’d at least understand where the characters were coming from and why I was responding to them in this way. As is, though, it came off as if the author thought I had severe memory problems.

But maybe that is just me. And these were all just little pet-peeves that joined together to create an environment where I couldn’t connect to the characters and so the story suffered as a whole on my reading. I don’t know. I do know that there are people out there who really like this (though I make a point of not reading reviews before I write my own, so I’m not exactly sure what specifically they enjoy), so if they happen to say something to inspire you to pick this up I’m hardly going to say a word about it. This just did not connect to me at all, and I’m really sorry about that. Had I ended up caring about these characters I think this could have been a story I loved, but mostly I just feel dissatisfaction.

RATING: