You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria | Mini Review

November 05, 2020

After a messy public breakup, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodriguez finds her face splashed across the tabloids. When she returns to her hometown of New York City to film the starring role in a bilingual romantic comedy for the number one streaming service in the country, Jasmine figures her new “Leading Lady Plan” should be easy enough to follow—until a casting shake-up pairs her with telenovela hunk Ashton Suárez.

After his last telenovela character was killed off, Ashton is worried his career is dead as well. Joining this new cast as a last-minute addition will give him the chance to show off his acting chops to American audiences and ping the radar of Hollywood casting agents. To make it work, he’ll need to generate smoking-hot on-screen chemistry with Jasmine. Easier said than done, especially when a disastrous first impression smothers the embers of whatever sexual heat they might have had.

With their careers on the line, Jasmine and Ashton agree to rehearse in private. But rehearsal leads to kissing, and kissing leads to a behind-the-scenes romance worthy of a soap opera. While their on-screen performance improves, the media spotlight on Jasmine soon threatens to destroy her new image and expose Ashton’s most closely guarded secret.

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One of my favourite things about this book was the characters. Both Jasmine and Ashton were really charming in their own ways and I loved watching them both grow throughout the novel.

Jasmine falls in love and trusts too easily. I loved seeing her come to terms with this throughout the book and I also loved the supportive relationship she had with her cousins. Ashton is the opposite, he is really guarded and hardly ever trusts anyone. I loved how both these characters ended up bringing out the best in each other and seeing their relationship blossom throughout the book was really nice!

The setting of this book was also fantastic! I love books that revolve around fame, so I really enjoyed the TV show setting of this one.

I also really liked the scenes from the TV show that we are shown throughout this book. They always tied in with what was happening with Jasmine and Ashton in 'real life' which I really loved. It definitely helped create romantic tension between the characters!

Overall, You Had Me At Hola is a fast paced, fun rom-com with charming and loveable characters that leap off the page. I think if you like reading adult romances, then you will really enjoy this one.