Book Review: You Had Me at Hola

You Had Me at Hola

Alexia Daria

Overall: 4.5/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 5/5

This is a round up to five stars kind of book for me, the kind that I recognized had a couple of hiccups but that just had me thinking for the whole day after finishing it to the point that I'm just like points for vibes. You Had Me at Hola is a contemporary romance about two actors who primarily film telenovelas and soap opera trying to make their big break into a streaming service show for a broader audience. When their chemistry is a bit off, they decide to spend some time together to get more comfortable. They end up actually having a ton of chemistry but really struggling in the whole work-life balance. 

The ultimate goal of reading contemporary romances, at least for me, is getting that falling feeling like in your chest where you're like wow this really HITS. This one gave me that a couple of times where I was feeling like there's nothing I need in my life more than to be a famous actress falling in love with my co-star on and off screen. It also convinced me that I could never be a famous actress though cause of everything that goes into staging those kinds of scenes. Props to them for filming that and getting it all to work out so well on the pages. This book is unique because we have the simultaneous scripts of their show running in the background while we see their story play out. There are a bunch of parallels and it's really fun seeing it all come together. 

I loved Jasmine as a character because she's everything you hope you would be when a super attractive man shows up and your whole job is to play it cool. I think that we overplay the idea of the suave and easy-going actor a little too much and that Ashton's awkwardness counterbalanced with her rationality was a refreshing and appealing mix. I can't stress how much I love the awkward uncomfortable male protagonist though, I don't look for it exclusively but I can't help but root for someone that's so simultaneously talented in pretending yet stressed out when he has to pretend. 

So yeah, I loved it but I did have a few problems with it. The biggest ones being with the start and end, there was way too much exposition just forced on us in those first and last pages. I was just supposed to digest all of the information on the tragedy of their pasts rather than seeing it through dialogue or rehashed traumas. And the epilogue when we got a flash-through of all their amazing successes and stuff was a bit irritating. Still a 4.5 for me, but could have eased us in and out of it a little better. 

But definitely read this book! It's the perfect summer romance, it's light but serious and has a good message but isn't too much to be considered like analytical or anything.