A review by lezreadalot
Finding Joy by Adriana Herrera

4.0

“You have to do the work that feeds you. Find the joy in it.”

3.5 stars. Super duper cute; I feel all warm inside. <3 Desta, an emergency relief worker, travels to Ethiopia for a new project, and slowly bonds with one of his new co-workers while working on a surveying project. Desta has a lot of family history with the country, and is at a pivotal moment in his life, and we follow him through his romance with Elias and as he makes some big decisions. This was just so wonderful and light to read; pretty low angst, all in all. I just love reading romances that don't take place in the West; it makes for a great change. And I always think it's so beautiful, seeing a country through a writer's eyes, and even more so through a romance writer's eyes, while a couple is getting to know each other and falling for each other. It's playful and sweet about the cultural differences, but also gets serious when it needs to. I love that the author touches on Western attitudes towards African countries, and how harm can be perpetuated even when people are trying to do good.

And man, I just really liked this romance. I'd forgotten how good Herrera is at making me absolutely fall for her couples. They're SO good together, and I love that they build a friendship first. I think this is the most slow burn thing I've ever read from her, which, of course, I was super happy about. Elias is so caring and considerate and strong; a cinnamon roll I'd die for. The conflict was a little weak; even though I saw the reasons and logic behind it, I got so frustrated with Desta. Thankfully it doesn't last long. There's some stuff said about the necessity of coming out that I wasn't a fan of, but I'm always picky about that.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Braeden Sinclair, which was pretty good. I didn't really love his narration; there were some parts that needed emotion and I felt like he wasn't giving. But I did like his voice overall. I'm always glad to read from this author, and this was a happy reminder that she has more stuff in her backlist for me to check out.

Content warnings:

Spoiler

grief, past parental death, homophobia

In the place where I was supposed to be finding myself, I would lose myself in him.