Scan barcode
A review by laura_cs
Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
5.0
I received an ARC of this title through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you are a boy with a boat, a piece of advice: don't date Rosa Santos.
Rosa Santos' family history is one of tragedy. When her grandparents fled Cuba, her grandfather died in the voyage, leaving her grandmother alone in a new country with a newborn baby. The day before her mother's eighteenth birthday, the sea took Rosa's father, leaving Rosa's mother to scream and curse the sea. Now Rosa is about to graduate high school and leave her beloved hometown to attend college--particularly one with a study abroad program that goes to Cuba. But things start to go wrong really fast: the annual Spring Fest is to be canceled, the marina is about to be bought and replaced with condos, the study abroad program is cancelled, and her mother is back, causing friction in the Santos household. With her lists and help from her friends and neighbors, Rosa is determined to fight back for the Spring Fest and to save the marina. However, her lists do not help her make her college decision any easier, and no planning can prevent Rosa from continuing to bump into the tall, dark handsome young man who has recently returned to town. The only problem? You guessed it.
He's a boy with a boat.
A beautifully written masterpiece, "Don't Date Rosa Santos" is the story of loss, love, finding your happiness, finding who you are, where you belong, and what it means to be a family. Full of a cast of fantastic characters--ranging from Rosa's witchcraft practicing Mimi, to the viejitos who spread gossip through Instagram, to every last one of Rosa's friends and neighbors--and set in a delightful, vivid small Florida town bursting with life, "Don't Date Rosa Santos" is a treat from beginning to end.
If you are a boy with a boat, a piece of advice: don't date Rosa Santos.
Rosa Santos' family history is one of tragedy. When her grandparents fled Cuba, her grandfather died in the voyage, leaving her grandmother alone in a new country with a newborn baby. The day before her mother's eighteenth birthday, the sea took Rosa's father, leaving Rosa's mother to scream and curse the sea. Now Rosa is about to graduate high school and leave her beloved hometown to attend college--particularly one with a study abroad program that goes to Cuba. But things start to go wrong really fast: the annual Spring Fest is to be canceled, the marina is about to be bought and replaced with condos, the study abroad program is cancelled, and her mother is back, causing friction in the Santos household. With her lists and help from her friends and neighbors, Rosa is determined to fight back for the Spring Fest and to save the marina. However, her lists do not help her make her college decision any easier, and no planning can prevent Rosa from continuing to bump into the tall, dark handsome young man who has recently returned to town. The only problem? You guessed it.
He's a boy with a boat.
A beautifully written masterpiece, "Don't Date Rosa Santos" is the story of loss, love, finding your happiness, finding who you are, where you belong, and what it means to be a family. Full of a cast of fantastic characters--ranging from Rosa's witchcraft practicing Mimi, to the viejitos who spread gossip through Instagram, to every last one of Rosa's friends and neighbors--and set in a delightful, vivid small Florida town bursting with life, "Don't Date Rosa Santos" is a treat from beginning to end.