A Proposal They Can't Refuse: A Rom-Com Novel

I absolutely loved this book! Everything about it and I do mean everything! As a Puerto Rican I can relate to the familia life and expectations. And the food mentioned made me soooo hungry! lol.I loved Kamilah she’s caring, feisty and loyal to her family. She’s clumsy, funny and a little oblivious but she means well. I loved her dearly.Liam was a grump, shy and such a love sick puppy! The way he interpreted love and the things he went through in life though? So sad!Look y’all this book is funny, emotional and very boricua coded and I loved it so much I recommend it 10/10 🐸

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie CanaKamilah Vega wants to update the menu and food at her family’s Puerto Rican restaurant in the rapidly changing neighborhood. She feels if they don’t modernize, they could lose the business. The building is connected to a distillery next door where her once best friend, Liam Kane runs the current day-to-day business including the tours. The grandparents of both decide that Kamilah and Liam should get married for the future of the businesses as well as them doing a little matchmaking.Kamilah and Liam went their own directions years ago and don’t actually get along. But they want the businesses so agree to a fake engagement as they modernize.Best laid plans don’t usually go as expected. Romance grows but so do lies and anxieties.I have a hard time with arguments, and angst. You can’t take words back. I thought parts of this were heartbreaking. Discussing with my bookclub, parents said they wouldn’t have wanted the children to take on the burden they did. We all liked the story and ultimate reveal, forgiveness and learning opportunities. Everyone expressed an interest in reading the next two books in the series.

This book was the perfect reflection of the love of family and friendship. It imbeds itself into you like a hug. I found myself laughing when the characters laughed, agreeing with their debates, and cherishing the strong love and loss they all felt at different moments. The imbedded Spanish phrases and Irish sayings just brought you closer to the characters and made you feel like you were in the room. Natalie Caña killed it.I will also say that if you’re interested in audiobooks Valentina Ortiz gave this story a whole new life. When I love a story and don’t want to put it down, I tend to swap to audio so I can take my book on the road with me. I found myself tandem reading with the audio just to hear how Valentina brought the characters to life even more.

4/5 ⭐️ | 3.5/ 5 🌶️The Spanish dialogue in this book reminded me so of much of my Boricua family. I truly enjoyed reading a novel with a Puerto Rican FMC that takes pride in her culture! The message of family coming first before yourself is so prevalent in my family. Sometimes we all need to recognize in order for us to be there for our family we must put ourselves first at times, and that is fine.I LOVED the ex-friends to lovers trope, and this was my first novel to experience it.

Daughter-recommended books are usually pretty cool. I loved reading this one. The enemies-to-lovers scenario worked well. Kamillah was irritating because she always was not telling the truth because she felt the lies would make the people she loves feel better. She has some many fine qualities, but truthfulness was not one of them. As we dive deeper into the story, we find that her parents were also not truthful. The dynamics of Puerto Rican culture were fascinating.Liam is a great character. He has some many talents. His Irish roots charm us and his dedication to detail with his family's brewery commands respect. He has been in love with Kamillah since they were kids, but does he tell her? No. While I understand the behavior, it might have been a more interesting story for me if the united lovers battled together against the world.The meddling grandfathers who keep getting in trouble at the retirement facility were hilarious. They were both quite sweet. This was a fun book to read. Enjoy!