DON'T DATE ROSA SANTOS is everything. Nina Moreno crafts a beautifully written love letter to Cuba through Rosa Santos. I was initially gripped by the premise and the cover, but once I started reading, the Rosa's voice and the nuanced depiction of exile, family, and grief completely hooked me. Though I'm not Cuban, I am Latinx and daughter of immigrants, and I connected deeply with Rosa's desire to know Cuba. Moreno's characters are well drawn out, Cape Coral is the charming beach town I want to live in, and the complicated relationship between the Santos women is everything. I loved this book SO MUCH.

Don't Date Rosa Santos not only reached but also exceeded all of my expectations. I read it while I was cutting the very long grass of my backyard under a very rudely shinning sun and if I didn't have Don't Date Rosa Santos, I don't think I would've actually been able to finish cutting all the grass I did.

Don't Date Rosa Santos is one of my favourite novels of all time. it's an unforgettable, sweet, heart-wrenchingly fantastic book. I wish it'd never ended.

The writing is phenomenal, the characters are lovely and the story is astonishing. I felt like I had after finishing The Lonely Hearts Hotel, When Dimple Met Rishi, Love From A To Z and Next Year in Havana once I finished the book. I knew I was in for a good story when I'd heard how much my friends, especially Rocky from Blonde With A Book, loved it. But no matter how high my expectations were, Don't Date Rosa Santos exceeded them all.

The plot and the characters and the writing blended together so well. The author brings you on the journey of Rosa putting together a festival with the help of her community, and her exploration of her family's history with Cuba, and she does it so seamlessly that I wish I could just tell Nina Moreno that I'm so very grateful she wrote this fantastic book and it exists. I hope we get more and more books from Nina Moreno in the future.

Don't Date Rosa Santos is a sweet story about a girl in a beach town dealing with a family curse, a big decision, and a complicated family. Rosa is an incredible character that teens will instantly relate to. It's the spring semester before college and she's trying to make a big decision about what school she will attend next Fall. Rosa lives with her grandmother, Mimi, and her mom is in and out of her life. Rosa is super close to her Mimi and desperately wants her approval of her decision to study abroad in Cuba. Mimi has not been back to Cuba since she fled there in her youth. Rosa wants to feel connected to her heritage but doesn't know how to do that when Mimi refuses to talk about Cuba. This book also has a sweet romance between Rosa and a cute boy who has just started sailing.

Rosa is trying to outrun the "curse" that seems to follow all the men that the Santos women have ever loved while also confronting her family's past. This book is a powerful look at the Cuban diaspora and the ways that it still effects Cuban Americans today. Teen readers will love Rosa's funny quips, sweet grandma, and quirky plot!

When I heard this book being compared to Gilmore Girls I knew I had to read it. I thought this book was so fun and quirky. I would definitely recommend it!

I didn’t read all of Don’t Date Rosa Santos.
But it’s not what you think. The first page of each chapter was missing in my eARC, and this ended up meaning I missed out on reading like, 25 pages of the book. Oops.
I didn’t think it would have affected my reading so much, but I kept getting jerked out of the story with each chapter because of the cutoffs. Because of this, I feel like my rating for Don’t Date Rosa Santos could have been way higher–maybe even a full five stars–but because of the first chapter thing, I couldn’t accurately judge the pacing.
So just know that this was four stars or better, depending on what those first pages might have been like.
Still, Don’t Date Rosa Santos was a book that hit really close to home and featured so many fresh and fun themes, that I still managed to have a blast reading.
I loved Rosa and Port Coral so much.
Gosh, I love Miami.
It’s so vibrant and rich and Port Coral felt so so real and 100% like a place that existed. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Port Coral somewhere a little bit south of Coral Gables.
It’s such a lively community and Moreno really builds up the community and all the people in it, especially given that the characters are all working to save the harbor and keep it from being bought.
Plus, the reader can see how enmeshed Rosa and the community are and I love seeing how it shapes Rosa and how she shapes her community. You can see how much Rosa cares and she’s such an awesome protagonist.
She’s 100% a chaotic bisexual and I totally loved her romance! Plus, she’s going through a lot of growth throughout the book as she struggles with deciding where to go to college. I loved how her character was developed in multiple ways and really found her to be the star of the story.
The romance was adorable! And all the character relationships.
AHHHH. Rosa and Alex are such a cute couple and I totally love their chemistry!
They work so well together and I love the like soft bad boy that’s not too angsty. And Rosa is such a cutie and I love how we got to see her thought-process of sorts as she was crushing on Alex, because it was so real and totally true to see that whirlwind of thoughts happening.
(P.S. Please don’t invalidate Rosa’s queerness just because she’s in a straight-passing relationship! Thanks!)
Plus, the other relationships were so complex and I loved reading the multigenerational relationship between Rosa, her mom, and her grandmother Mimi. Their bond was a huge part of this story and I loooved reading their relationship. It was really layered and complex and insightful and I love how Moreno examined the generational relationship.
This book hit really close to home, being a Floridian.
One of the things that made Don’t Date Rosa Santos so enjoyable for me, even despite the missing pages, was the fact that it felt so close to home and so Floridian.
We don’t get a lot of Florida books, but Moreno really captured the atmosphere with Don’t Date Rosa Santos, and I love that a lot. We don’t get a giant number of Florida books, but Moreno really created something special with this and I loved reading Don’t Date Rosa Santos because of this.
Overall, such an original and great read which I’d wholeheartedly recommend (the full).
I can’t imagine having the full copy would make the book any worse, so like, seriously, pick this up! I know I can’t speak about the pacing, but from the 90% of the novel that I read, it was great and well worth the read.
Definitely would suggest you pick this up if you like cute romance, bi girls, and a wonderfully built Florida atmosphere!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was not what I was expecting. Okay I have to admit I judged a book by the cover, *hides in shame* and I don't even think I read the description before getting the ARC. So I thought it was going to be just about not dating a certain girl. I had no idea it was because her family is cursed so if she dates the guy will die. Crazy, right? Well Rosa just doesn't date because why would you want to kill someone? But then she meets a boy. A boy who owns a boat, even worse for the curse. You get to see her relationship with her mom (who hates the town) and her grandmother (that everyone loves). It was a book centered around family and turned out to be a great read.

Don't Date Rosa Santos immediately caught my eye because of the lovely cover. I got to buddy read it with Lauren, and we had a good time reading and discussing it. I loved how much heart, culture, and personality was in this book.

Rosa was a character who was just bursting of all these different colors. There was so much to her personality and I enjoyed getting to know each and every facet of her. On the cusp of her high school graduation, she is juggling with quite a bit. She has to decide where she will go to college and also help the town raise money to save her beloved marina. She is so passionate about wanting to connect more with her Cuban side. She wants to physically go to Cuba so she can understand herself and her heritage better, but she knows her grandmother and her mother would not be happy with her decision. For most of the book, she grapples with trying to get more in touch with her Cuban side as she feels that she is missing out living in the US. She comes to many revelations throughout the novel and it was all very fulfilling watching her bloom into an even more wonderful young woman. The secondary cast in Don't Date Rosa Santos is vast. I will admit that besides Rosa's mother and her grandmother, I could not keep the other characters straight as there were so many of them. I don't think it was a detriment to my enjoyment of this book, but I did wish I got to know everyone as much as I got to know Rosa.

Don't Date Rosa Santos also has a very sweet romance between Rosa and a swoony young baker named Alex. It wasn't at the forefront of this book, but it was just the perfect addition to this story and meshed so well with the writing. As you can imagine, the themes of kinship and family were at the heart of this story and they were written so brilliantly. I could tell that the bond between these characters was indestructible and I loved that we not only got to see how enriching family can be but also how frustrating they can be as well. For me, that was the highlight of the book. I also loved the history of the curse and Rosa and her family's connection to the ocean. It added a magical element to the book, in my opinion. There was also a really fun treasure hunt! Pacing-wise, I will say that I did wish that the events of the last half of the book occurred earlier so that they wouldn't feel as rushed as they did because they were important to Rosa's story. I almost feel like the book could have done with a few more pages. That being said, this book was still a treat to read.

Don't Date Rosa Santos is an excellent debut novel! Nina Moreno is a very promising author that I will keep my eye out for. This is the sort of book I definitely recommend to anyone who loves a good contemporary novel with loads of great themes!

Don’t Date Rosa Santos is a story about a 3 generations of women as they deal with a family curse. Being cursed by the sea isn’t easy, especially when your grandfather and father both suffered from the curse. Growing up with everyone in her town aware of it, Rosa avoided the sea, even if she lived in a coastal Florida town. When the marina is threatened, though, she comes together with her community to save it.

This story definitely hit close to home because I can see a lot of myself and my family in it. Rosa wants to learn about her Cuban heritage, but neither her mother or her grandmother want to ever discuss it. The only way she can think of finding out more is to do a study aboard in Cuba, but she knows her grandmother would never want her to do that. I loved the way it reflected the life of many Cuban Americans, hinting on the fact that sometimes we worry that we don’t feel or know enough of what our parents/grandparents went through. Some of us can’t even speak passable Spanish.

I also really adored the romantic interest, Alex. He isn’t the typical alpha male bad boy. He’s quiet and has tattoos. He’s dropped out of college and lives on a boat, but he also bakes and has a close relationship with his family. He supports Rosa in achieving her dreams but also pushes her to do things outside of her comfort zone.

Overall, this was a cute, contemporary read from an #ownvoice author. If you enjoyed To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before or Sarah Dessen’s books, you’ll probably like this one.

Thank you to Disney Book Group and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. A touching book filled with love, culture, curiosity, family and facing one's fears. Rosa was such a lovable character who I was rooting for from the beginning. I loved her adoration of her Cuban culture and desire to do something different. She was an awesome character to watch grow. As she felt her emotions, I felt like I was feeling them too. This was also a perfect read for summer with the small Florida beach town feel. The curse was also a really cool aspect to this story. It was hilarious and tragic all at once. Overall a really fun summer read that hits all the good aspects; love, family, culture and adventure.

Don't Date Rosa Santos is the perfect summer read! It's a YA contemporary that follows Rosa Santos while she's in her last year old high school, planning for the future, and trying to save her town. This novel had it all, the small town beachy feel, the swoony romantic interest, and awesome family dynamics.

"You're barely stopping to consider what you want, because your diaspora dream has always been to grow up and stop questioning whether you're Latina enough or deserving of what Mimi lost."

I really enjoyed reading about Rosa Santos, and seeing her growth throughout the novel. She's a third generation Cuban-American, and is dealing with the struggle of learning about where her family came from, and trying to figure out who she is and what she wants in life. She wants to learn so much about her Cuban heritage, but her mother is flighty and isn't in the picture all the time, and her grandmother refuses to talk about it, since she has so many traumatic experiences from when she was forced to leave the country.

The center of the story focuses on Rosa and her struggle with learning about her family and heritage, but finding love, and trying to save her town are pretty big parts of the story as well. I loved reading about Rosa and Alex's relationship, and seeing it progress. At first Rosa thinks he's attractive, but is worried about getting close to him because of the bad luck women in her family tend to have with men with ties to the water. I also really enjoyed reading about how Rosa was leading the charge to put on the festival that would save her small coastal town from developers. This part of the story felt very Gilmore Girls to me, and I smiled the whole time I read about it.

"I met my culture in the food I ate at our table, the songs that played on my abuel'as record player, and the stories that flowed through the bodega and Ana-Maria's lively home. But I couldn't find my family in those stories. I couldn't find me."

This was such a great book that I didn't want to put down, but the writing was a little too flowy and flowery for me, and took some getting used to. I also think there were some issues with my ARC with formatting, so the story jumped around a little bit which took me out of the story from time to time. Overall these issues really didn't affect the rest of the story once I was able to get past them.

I knew this was going to be a fun summery read, but I was surprised at how emotional the story was. I was not expecting some of the events that took place in the novel. I literally had tears streaming down my face while reading.

I highly recommend this novel to everyone. It was such an amazing book with great representation, and a great portrayal of family dynamics.

This book was a beautifully quiet book about family and culture. I loved Rosa and her voice! This book is definitely something I can see my students relating to. The discussion of where Rosa wanted to go to college and why is something I see my students face all the time. The fear of choosing wrong and choosing because of family and not their own desires and future. I can't wait to put this book in my classroom.

As a book, I had a few issues with this one. The plot needed a bit more focus; I felt like there was a lot going on (a "save the town" plot, a curse plot, a romance plot, a "what college should I go to" plot, a grandmother-mother-daughter drama plot, a grief plot, a brujeria plot, a sailing plot... a lot) and a slightly too large cast of characters. But the story made me feel ALL THE THINGS about Abuelas, and diaspora, and feeling not enough Latinx for any many and varied reasons. I cried basically throughout the entire last 50 pages, which felt not only relatable and emotional but a little bit magic, too. This is an important entry into modern Latinx lit, and I'm looking forward to reading more from Moreno.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of Don't Date Rosa Santos.
All thoughts and opinions are my own. .

This was a great book! I just wish there was more of it! I was rather enjoying the path it had taken and the sense of humor of the author was simply refreshing! Rosa was a well developed character, whom I appreciated. Her determination to save her town, prepare for college, and explore her heritage in Cuba make her admirable. My favorite parts, though were her distractions courtesy of "a boy with boat". (I was not as interested in the travel section of the novel, but I understand and respect the closure it provided.) I would definitely read from this author again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nina Moreno for the ARC!

TL;DR – This book will make you wish you had an abuela. The Cuban culture is so authentic throughout that it makes my heart hurt.

My ethnicity is a mixed bag. I’m a quarter white, half Chinese, and a quarter Hispanic. The grandparent I grew up closest to is my mom’s mother who was born and raised in Panama. Rosa’s abuela, Mimi, reminded me so much of my own grandmother. I could see her doing and saying so many of the things that Mimi did. There are more similarities as well that I’ll address later on. Seriously though, this book made me feel so much more Hispanic than I actually am. During and after reading I found myself gesturing at things to my husband with my lip/chin. I never do that!

First, I just want to say that I absolutely adored this book. It was so close to being a five star read for me! I thought Rosa was a really enjoyable character right off the bat and I loved her dynamic with all of the other characters. She was so interesting and really felt alive for me. I also loved the dynamic and tensions between Rosa, Mimi, and Liliana (Rosa’s mom). All three women were incredibly strong in different ways. I enjoyed that the author was able to portray that differing strength in women. Women can be strong, even if they’re not all strong in the same way.

Secondary characters were amazing! They all felt like they had depth to them and I felt they contributed to the story in an important way. I especially enjoyed Rosa’s best friend and the viejos. Please, I would follow their Instagram in a heartbeat!

The atmosphere of the book also felt so real. The weather was almost another character and I loved how that played into the slight magical/mystical thread throughout the book. It was all very fun. The weather also contributed to the raw emotions that came out at times. There are a few scenes throughout this book where the emotion is just so heavy. Despite that, this isn’t a heavy book and I wholeheartedly recommend it as a Summer read.

***Slight spoiler ahead***
This book hit me especially hard because my grandmother just passed away last month in a way that was similar to Mimi. It was kind of sudden and like Liliana, my mom was the one there performing CPR on her own mother until the paramedics arrived. There were some other similarities as well that I won’t go into. It just felt eerily similar to me. When Rosa was dealing with Mimi’s death, I felt it so hard. I saw myself in Rosa and parts of my mom in Liliana. The emotions felt so real and it’s obvious that the author has lost someone close to her. I still forget some days that my grandma isn’t around anymore. I hope, like Rosa, that I can one day make that pilgrimage back to my grandmother’s homeland. The sacrifices that she made to come to America amaze me every day and I would literally not be here without her. I love you, Llaya.
***End Spoiler***

Anyway…I highly, highly recommend this book. I appreciate the call for diversity in YA, but a lot of times I think it’s done poorly or in a way that’s inauthentic. That is NOT the case with this book. If you want to read diversity in YA, then this is the kind of thing you should be reading.

Overall Rating: 4.5
Language: Mild
Violence: None
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild

Note: I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so gosh darn cute. It was everything I didn't know I needed.

The culture, the language, the family, the romance, the curse! Everything was so cute and I loved it!

My little Latina heart was filled with so much happiness while reading this book. We don't enough cute Latinx contemporaries. We never just get to see some cute Hispanic kids just falling in love without the backdrop of racism, immigration or something equally serious or tragic in the background. NOt that this is bad, it's just that we never get any light and enjoyable stories, just for the sake of being light and enjoyable. We also rarely get any Latinx contemporaries where the culture is so ingrained in the story and in the characters in a way that is not stereotypical or superficial.

Seriously though, a part of me kind of hates when Latinx characters are added to books. They always have an accent, have like five siblings living in cramped quarters, call everyone 'chica' or some sort of Spanish nickname, and are usually nothing more than background characters to further the plot of the usually white main character. 

So, you can imagine how happy I was to read this book and love it. It was like a breath of fresh air and y'all should totally read it.

This is a contemporary romance and it's also about a curse. I was so curious to see how this so-called 'curse' was going to play into the story and I was not disappointed. I loved how it was less so about an actual bewitching and more about the complex yet beautiful relationship between the three generations of Santos' women.

One of my favorite things about contemporaries is how they, more than any other genre in YA, take the time to explore families and the beautiful and messy ways they interact. They give you all the sides to the story and give you flawed characters you can understand and root for. 

I think this book did a wonderful job in that regard with Rosa, her mother Lilliana, and her grandmother Mimi. 

The book also did a wonderful job with all the secondary characters and their relationships with their families. Family is very important in Latinx cultures and this book illustrated that perfectly.

Speaking of culture, this was one of my favorite parts of the book. The unapologetic use of Spanish in such natural and relatable ways was amazing. And the food! Tres Leche is honestly the best thing ever. I also appreciate all the other foods mentioned that I knew so well. And even the ones I didn't as honestly, not all Hispanic cultures are the same or have the same foods.

I also totally loved the writing. I didn't expect to like it so much. It was fluid and beautiful and engaging. I can't wait to read more from this author.

Lastly, the romance. this is a contemporary romance, after all, so let us hop to it. 

There is nothing much to say other than that it was super cute. That said, it felt a bit rushed to me. It was like, despite loving it and wanting them to end up together, I wasn't fully convinced, you know what I mean. Still, it was really cute and I overall really did like Alex and Rosa together.

In the end, this book was super cute and I totally recommend it. If you want some Latinx culture in your literature, some good writing and interesting characters, some romance and complex family drama, and also a curse for good measure, then I'm certain you'll enjoy this one!

This was book was very cute but also spoke about some very important topics including finding yourself and learning about your roots. I think that this is going be a hit for YA readers and a lot will see a bit of themselves in Rosa and her journey.

This had POC and LGTBQ+ representation here and it was done pretty well. Also, all of the food descriptions made me so hungry and I ran to google to see what some of these were.

I did think that there quite a bit of characters to keep up with and I thought that the romance was a but underwhelming.

All in all, I think that so many readers will love this one and will feel seen while reading.

I just loved this book. It really had a Gilmore Girls vibe to it. A small town full of great personalities (my favorite was the Instagramming viejitos). Rosa working to navigate her relationship with her loving-but-absent mother and find her heritage in her steadfast grandmother, while at the same time trying to figure out her own future. Rosa’s determination to bring the town together to save the place she loves. And her conflicted emotions when she meets Alex – a boy connected to the sea.

I laughed. I cried. I really enjoyed this read.

I am always on the lookout for books that will appeal to my Latinx students. Don't Date Rosa Santos is one that girls will fall in love with. This is the story of family, of friendship, and of love. It is a story of hope and dreams and fears of disappointing those who mean the most to you. It is the story our students need to read and connect with on a personal level.

I got this book off of Netgalley. The title seemed like something my students would like. I had prepared for a angst-filled teen romance novel, and I was surprised to get so much more. Rosa is a teen in Florida who has only ever wanted to go to Cuba to see where her family comes from. Cuba is, of course, off-limits because of the communism. Rosa has found a university that she wants to attend solely because it has a study abroad program to Cuba. Rosa lives with her grandmother who is the town’s bruja and very much a force to be reckoned with. Her mother is off galevanting around the country painting for a living and stopping in every now and then. The Santos women have been cursed by the sea. Mimi left Cuba with her mother in her arms after losing her husband to the sea. Liliana was a young girl with a baby on the way when the sea took her husband and didn’t give him back. Rosa and the Santos women have nothing to do with the sea, but what elese can get them to Cuba? Rosa has some hard lessons to learn about family, culture, and what life means to a Cuban “nerd” who has her whole life ahead of her. Throw in a cute boy with a bakery and a boat....this was a much more complex story than just a teen romance.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

There are always a few books every year that, from the very first page, you know are going to land among your favorites of the year. Don’t Date Rosa Santos was one of those such books for me. It’s a gem of a YA contemporary that deals with identity, history, family, culture, and home, set against the whimsical backdrop of a tiny Florida beach town. Add in a swoony romance, a generations-long curse, a deeply likable and relatable MC, and some excellent representation, and I was SOLD.

Let’s first talk about Rosa, our main character and the sweet baby angel overachiever of my heart. Rosa is one of those characters who I read about and was immediately like, oh, yep, this is a real person I completely would be friends with. She reminded me SO much of high-school-Madalyn. At the start of the book, Rosa is facing two huge projects: deciding where to go to college, and saving her hometown’s annual festival, Spring Fest. She’s intensely driven, a little type A, and a lot magical in the way that all cool women are. She is intensely loyal to her family, friends, and home. And even though I don’t share Rosa’s Cuban background, I empathized deeply with her feeling of having one foot in two different worlds and never quite feeling like “enough” to belong in either of them.

So much of this story is a love letter to the idea of home. Port Coral is Rosa’s home, but she also feels intensely connected to Cuba despite the layers and layers of family secrets and shame and history that country holds for the Santos women. That being said, I thought Nina Moreno NAILED the small Florida beach town setting with Port Coral. My parents live on a tiny Florida island, and that very specific vibe was so present throughout the story. Port Coral is very much a community where everyone supports one another and they work toward common goals together. The portrayal of Cuban culture in Don’t Date Rosa Santos is one that I know many of my Cuban American friends hold dear. Family also plays into the idea of home, and the women in Rosa’s family were all incredible. Mimi in particular has my heart forever, but I also loved exploring the complicated dynamic between Rosa and her mother. Of course, friends often function as found family, and especially so for immigrants. Rosa’s best friend, Anna, and her family were a pleasant surprise I didn’t expect going into this story. All of Rosa’s friends felt true to life and exactly like a real group of teenagers.

Though it’s not a central part of the story, per se, I loved Rosa’s romance with Alex. It was romantic and swoony and allowed Rosa to reckon with a few of Rosa’s deep-seated perceptions about herself and her relationship to the world around her. I appreciated the way the “curse” of the Santos women played out, too.

Nina Moreno’s writing is lyrical and lovely without feeling too over-the-top. I’m so impressed that Rosa Santos is her debut novel, because she was able to capture a lot in this relatively short gem of a book. It’s a love letter to Cuba, to children of diaspora, to family, and to home. I cannot wait to read more from Moreno in the future!