As her late father’s restaurant fails, Isabella (or Isa) tries to keep up the appearance of success. Her overly critical mother drives her to become a major control freak, and ultimately, isolate herself as she tries to cope with everything on her own. Her cousin Maria presents the opportunity to save the restaurant by attending another cousin’s wedding and meeting the groom, who is an investor. During this family reunion, Isa crosses paths with her teenage nemesis, Valentina Garcia, and they’re forced to share a room, giving them a chance to make amends and grow closer.
Over the course of a week-long wedding extravaganza, Isa follows the clues her father left her in his old journal to uncover secrets that have been held for too long. Along the way, Valentina helps her unravel the family drama that caused so many broken relationships throughout the years.
This is the greatest strength of the novel: the tense family dynamics revolving around money and status. Hope definitely understands the tropes and beats that make a good telenovela, which is what this book felt like. I wish the book had focused more on this aspect, as it was rich with opportunities to delve into a cultural touchpoint that many Latinos are familiar with: “¿Que van a decir?” (“What will they say?”)
The past holds Isa in place as she never forgave Valentina for ripping her quinceañera dress, even though it was an accident, because she knew how much money it cost her parents. Isa has internalized what her mom has told her about the family looking down on them for being poor and everyone else having more money. As she learns the secrets her father held until he died, she starts to realize that appearances are not what they seem.
Meanwhile, Isa starts to get to know Valentina better. Valentina is Sofia’s best friend and wedding caterer, and is totally in love with the bride-to-be. They strike a deal that if Valentina helps Isa uncover the family secrets, Isa will help her sabotage Sofia’s wedding. Naturally, the two feel a spark and begin to gravitate toward one another.
While it hits all the romcom beats, it all passes so fast. It’s hard to believe a decade-long grudge was just forgotten in one night, and they’re instantly flirting. Isa and Valentina finally admit their feelings to each other and kiss after a debacle involving river tubing and surviving an incident on the rapids. But it just doesn’t feel earned; it never felt like there had been much development between the characters to warrant it.
Spoilers after this point.
Everything comes to a head in the third-act breakup, when another cousin, Silvana, who has all the family gossip, threatens to reveal Isa’s true life. Silvana also happens to be hung up on her ex, Valentina, whom Isa just started a romance with. On the verge of losing everything, Isa cannot keep hiding who she is and the truth of her struggles. She chooses to fight for love, and in the process, confronts her mother’s toxicity.
This is one of the most satisfying character developments. In the beginning, Isa’s mother, Mariposa, comes off as a hard woman. But Isa accepts her mother as simply being critical and having too high expectations for perfection. When the truth of who she truly is and what she’s done comes out, Isa finally sees her mother with clear eyes. Even more satisfying, Mariposa does not get a redemption arc. The novel simply ends with Isa’s realization that her mother is a toxic, gaslighting, manipulative piece of work, and she severs herself from that control.
Overall, the strongest aspect of the story comes from the family drama and how Isa grows into a more confident person who no longer cares about status. The romance, while taking the main focus of the novel, was the least interesting thing that happened between the characters.
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