Don’t Date Rosa Santos Review

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Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno

Publication Date: May 14 2019

Rating: 4/5

Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea-at least, that’s what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you’re a boy with a boat.

But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. Between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about.

As her college decision looms, Rosa collides – literally – with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon?

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GOODREADS—BOOKSTORELINK

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First of all I want to say thank you to Carmen at Tomes and Textiles and Gabi at Gabi’s Book reviews for hyping this book up!

This was such a cute and fun rom-com that definitely gave me happy beach vibes and I really enjoyed how this was so unapologetically Cuban-American rep! While I’m not an #ownvoices reviewer for this, I trust Carmen and Gabi’s reviews and I would definitely check their blogs out to read about their thoughts for the rep in the book!

I thought the characters were really cute and I loved Rosa’s voice in this book. She grew a lot throughout the book and I thought the story progression was just really great. I am definitely a character person, so this was great because of all the family relationships and friendships and romance. It had a bit of everything for everyone and it was just funny and cute but also gave me that dash of melancholy!

Overall, it gave me all the feelings and also Alex was just an absolute sweetheart! I mean, a boy on a boat that also bakes and likes to read?! YES PLEASE! The town of port coral also gave me kind of a Gilmore Girls esque vibe, complete with town meetings and small gossipy people. It was just a great summer beach vibe!

I would recommend this to anyone who wants a light beach read about family, friendship, and self discovery with the bonus of a cute romance! If you like really yummy food, scavenger hunts, curses that may or may not be completely absolutely true, gossipy neighbors, latinx rep, and small-town-big-dreams people, this is for you!