3.5 stars For Me

A second-chance love story between Anamaría and Alejandro, who had parted ways years ago to one day cross paths once again.

This was an okay reading experience for me. I wasn’t extremely invested in the characters. The story was longer than I thought necessary, although I appreciate the author’s attention to detail throughout the book.

I liked the fact that Oliveras shed light to the pressures Latin families place on their offspring. The way she told the story did dive too far back to the past but still allowed the reader to know how significant that weight felt for the male character of this story. Sadly, I felt some of the explanations repetitive. The story was not one that held my attention the way second-chance romances usually do.

This is the second book of the Keys to Love Series. I did not read book 1 prior to picking up this book. This story can be read as a standalone.

ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

I would probably give this book 3.5 stars if possible. I did not read the first book in the series but you didn't need to to appreciate this novel.

Alejandro Miranda and Anamaria Navarro were high school sweethearts until he chose his career as a photographer over life in Key West and she chose to stay home near her family after her father's heart attack. While he travels the world, she becomes a firefighter/EMT and builds her health/nutrition business. Circumstances bring them back together over a decade later when an accident forces Ale to move home to recuperate. Neither has really forgotten the other and their mothers are determined to get them to spend time together.

I always feel like romance novels follow the same pattern and it really takes a good author to make me want to get to the end. I did enjoy this book although I felt like much of the main characters internal dialogue was the same throughout the book. I have been to Key West so could picture the locations and appreciate the family dynamics from growing up in south FL. It did take me a while to read because it felt formulaic but it was a cute, if predictable, story.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was a real representation of first loves, second chances, and both the hard & easy parts of a family relationship. You never forget your first love, but sometimes you need to grow on your own, apart from that love, in order to fully become who you were meant to be.

While I am not part of the LatinX community, I definitely relate to tight-knit families and the pressure that can be felt to not disappoint those you love. I definitely have a meddling (but always with the best intentions) family member or two. Choosing to make your own path in life is scary and sometimes hard for those around to understand.

In the long run though, it is the ultimate reward to having success in what you love or what you excel at. And those that love, will eventually come to the realization too. I think both Alejandro & Anamaria learn this in Anchored Hearts.

While I enjoyed the characters, settings and culture in this book, I found the romance to be a little bit dry and, well, almost boring at times. I can't put my finger on what was missing-it just dragged in places. However, its still a quick read that certainly can warm your heart on a day you are missing the warmth of the beach!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I loved the family aspect of this story and how close they all were and the slow burn romance of our hero and heroine. I adored the ending. It was a little long

Anchored Hearts follows Key West hometown girl Anamaria and her first love Alejandro as they reluctantly mend both their broken hearts after Alejandro left the Keys, and Anamaria, a decade earlier. to become an award winning photographer. However, a recent injury brought him back home and in the care of his meddling family who are hell bent on getting the two back together.

This book was so cute! I was initially hesitant because I heard mixed reviews about Alejandro, but I thought he was charming, if a bit dumb and stubborn as a teen, and had an obvious love for Anamaria. I loved the background of the Keys and both their Cuban families. The sense of community was so damn strong in this book and it was heart warming to feel all the family love.

However, the best of this book was Anamaria. She's a badass lead, and exactly who you want her to be: strong, independent, smart, sexy, determined and in charge of her life.

My only issue with this book was that i wanted more steam! I'm fine with closed door, but the author dangled some steam in front of us and it was incredibly well written and when that door closed I SCREAMED!!!! I wanted a naked Alejandro and I'm not ashamed to admit that!

Priscilla Oliveras' Anchored Hearts delivers exactly what it promises - a sweet, slow burn second chance romance set in Key West with heartwarming Cubano families that are instantly familiar to those who understand love and community. I love that this book kept its Cubano culture front and forward without trying to "integrate" it, letting the reader immerse themselves in the guilt and shared history and pride. There is never any doubt that Annamaria and Alejandro are meant for each other, in our minds, their mothers' minds, or even their minds really... they just need to get over some pretty significant emotional roadblocks stemming from their youth. Really sweet. I'll be picking up the author's previous book, Island Affair, after this. Highly recommended.

Such a beautiful getaway story. This is book two in the series, but can be read as a standalone. Anamaria wears many different hats in her beloved town of Key West. A firefighter/EMT, fitness/ nutritionist, volunteers in the community, just to name a few. She loves the craziness of it all, but keeping busy helps her forget her 1st and only love.
Alejandro, world renown photographer has returned home after several years staying away. His father and Alejandro had a big blow up about him not having any family pride in helping with the family business. He has his own dreams and working in the family run restaurant wasn’t it. Given the ultimate to leave and never return is what Alejandro did. Unfortunately being in a serious accident and needing to recoup, he promises his mother he will come home. Where the tension between his father and him is even more difficult and seeing the girl he loved, left behind and lost is heartbreaking.
Written with a sense of humor, the over protective mother syndrome. A young love to maturing and finding if love is still there or is it just lust, plus working out on different demanding careers. A roller coaster ride of a read.
I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story.

This book is heartwarming. I loved it – but specifically, I fell in love with it more each chapter I read. And that’s saying something – considering these were fairly long chapters 😂

A Latinx, second chance romance, this is the second book of the Keys to Love series (I haven’t read the first one yet and will be fixing that ASAP!). It playfully explores identity, loss of family and love, and how to regain and hold onto what truly matters most to you. Additionally, with the main characters Cuban roots, the author includes Spanish, Spanglish, and clever methods for explaining what it all means if you’re someone who doesn’t know a lick of Spanish (like myself).

This was a beautiful story. I couldn’t put it down.

🆂🆈🅽🅾🅿🆂🅸🆂
𝘼𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 follows Anamaría in her home town of Key West, navigating life, family, a new business venture, and her time as a member of the fire department. Oh, and let’s not forget her heartbreak from thirteen years ago when her high school sweetheart, Alejandro, left her behind to explore the world as he followed his passion of photography.

But Alejandro remembers it all differently. Anamaría chose to stay home instead of going with him, choosing her family and her home town over him – making him feel as though he wasn’t enough. But Alejandro couldn’t return – his father had told him not to. So what was left to do?

Forced to return due to an injury, Alejandro must come face to face with those he hurt and left behind … the question is will he manage to fix any of it? Will he learn from the past or simply repeat the same mistakes?

Anchored Hearts is the 2nd book in the Keys to Love series, though you can totally read both of them as stand-alones.

This story is about family, Key West, and second chance romance. Second chance romance is not usually a fave trope of mine, but this book converted me. Alejandro, a now-famous photographer, left his home right after high school because of issues he had with this father. He has never returned and he has felt a disconnect with part of his family because of his relationship with his father. Anamaria was his high school sweetheart and they had plans for a future, but she couldn't leave. She was too attached to her family and things that were happening at home.

I really enjoyed the way Priscilla Oliveras wrote the book and how she incorporated the Cuban culture and language all throughout. I think with these characters and their story, the culture was so important. It brought the families together. Honestly, it almost seemed like the romance and the connection between our two main characters was secondary, but I really didn't mind.

This is a perfect holiday/beach/vacation read. I loved seeing Anamaria come into her own and learn what she wants out of her life independently from her family AND from Ale. He has some good growth in taking ownership of what happened to their relationship the first time and connecting back with his family. When Alejandro had his art show, it brought me to tears. I won't go into why (no spoilers!), but I cried a lot!

Overall, I loved this story. It reflected the culture of an area and I felt like I was part of the two families. I love this series and hope there will be a third (with the youngest Navarro sibling perhaps??).

*Thanks to NetGalley, Valentine's PR, and Priscilla Oliveras for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Priscilla Oliveras is back with a romance full of heart and family. This second chance romance hits all the right notes. Alejandro and Anamaria were young lovers and life choices and family drama led to their break up. Now they are both adults and the fire is still there. Can they come back together?

I spent about the first half of the book wondering how Oliveras was going to pull this off. Second chance romance needs more than a "just have a conversation" disagreement to really work and pull at the heart strings, and Oliveras brings us that. The attraction and chemistry was obvious but so were the fundamental issues keeping Alejandro and Anamaria apart. I wasn't sure these two should or could be together. In the hands of a different author, we might not have seen the growth that both characters had to do, the bridges they had to mend, before they made it to their HEA. That said I would have preferred a touch more on the page growth from Alejandro with regards to Anamaria. We can see the worries Anamaria has, will this work, how to pursue her own dreams, can she let herself love again and risk losing. With Alejandro, his issues center more on his relationship with his father, and I think those issues are handled all on the page. But his actual realization that he was asking Anamaria to give up everything and just follow him, that took a while, and is sort of summed up as opposed to shown in some scenes. In the end it all works, that's really my only slight criticism.

As in all of Oliveras' books, family is front and center and I love it. We are immersed in two Latinx families, with all the love and closeness, the family dinners, the busy body mothers and grandmothers - it's such a warm and authentic world. Similarly Key West is alive with color and sounds, and I really needed some good Cuban food after reading this. Pacing is excellent, every scene moves the plot and/or contributes to the relationship between the main characters.

Sexy times are on the page. It feels like this one has a little more heat than usual for Oliveras. It is just the right amount, matching the chemistry we see between Anamaria and Alejandro.

We also can see where the next one in the series is probably coming from, and I'm ready.
Highly recommend this! As with Island Affair, this is a great beach read, take a vacation and enjoy a romance in Key West.

I didn’t know this was a book in a series until after I read this one. I don’t think I missed anything important as I still loved this book! I thought it was really entertaining and I’m going to go back and read the first one.

Anamaria and Alejandro were high school sweethearts—until Alejandro's father kicked him out for refusing to come work at the family restaurant. Twelve years later, Alejandro is a successful wildlife photographer who returns to Key West to recuperate after a work-related injury. Anamaria wants nothing to do with him—she still resents him for choosing a life of adventure over her. But their interfering families have other ideas, and circumstances keep forcing the two together. If they renew their romance, will Alejandro stick around this time?

As usual, this author's work immerses the reader in Latinx culture. This is a low-angst story with a strong heroine who gives the hero the kick in the butt he needs to make peace with his family. If you like second-chance romance and interfering relatives, this book is a good choice.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

If you like second chance romances with a taste of Cuban-Latinx culture in the beautiful setting of the Florida Keys like I do, then you will live Anchored Hearts. Anamaria, was young, lost and hadn’t found her passion yet when she said goodbye 12 years ago to Alejandro who went off seeking his passion in photography while nursing a broken heart. Now he’s back with a broken leg, an incredible portfolio of work and unresolved feelings toward his family and Anamaria. Meanwhile she is an EMT and Firefighter as well as an emerging fitness business owner who doesn’t have time for a broken heart or anyone in her life who doesn’t understand the importance of her home and familia. However the electricity between the two sizzles and with the help of their families they can’t seem to stay away from each other. Funny, romantic, and endearing.

3.5 stars I did not enjoy this one as much as the first one, but it was still good. I love a second chance romance and that is just what this is. Anamaria and Alejandro dated in high school, but went separate ways after that. Alejandro wanted to see the world, while Anamaria felt she was not in a place to leave Key West yet. Now they are brought back together and of course the sparks fly again. I felt like some parts dragged a bit with descriptions and then another guy was entering the picture and I thought something might happen with that but no, nothing. Then there was another girl in the picture and then that also went nowhere, so what was the point of those characters? Alejandro overhears his brother and dad talking but that did not go anywhere either so it just seemed there were too many other topics that did not add to the story. But overall it was a sweet romance and I loved the ending and I had a big smile on my face.

This was a really fun read! All of the characters and the world were really fleshed out, which I enjoyed. Not sure if it’s just the ebook version, but I found a few too many grammatical and spelling errors, and it took me out of it a little bit. Otherwise I loved the family dynamics and the importance that their culture played to the characters. I wish we had gotten a little more info about what happened in the 12 years since they’d seen each other, but I definitely enjoyed how their reunion played out. Definitely want to check out the other books in the series. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I first became a fan of Priscilla Oliveras after reading Island Affair, but after reading Anchored Hearts I have a deeper appreciation.
Anchored Hearts is a perfect beach read full of second chances, feel-good family moments, and passion. Anamaria and Ale's dynamic was deep and meaningful, and I loved how we got the full picture from start to finish. We see how their relationship never really died and that is something very beautiful. While I loved the plot and characters, and am grateful to see some characters from Island Affair again, I loved this book for so many more reasons.
Island Affair scraped the surface of being Floridian and Cuban, but there was something so touching about Anchored Hearts that really brought Cuban culture to light. I am proud to be Cuban and to see the culture being represented is so exciting and fresh. Oliveras mentioning of Operación Pedro Pan and how families had to be ripped apart and ultimately leave everything behind was so impactful and a reminder that representation matters.
This story, while fun and cute, had so much meaning to me and I am grateful that Oliveras represents Florida, Cuban, and Latinx culture. I cannot wait for this series to continue, fingers crossed for an Enrique book next.

What a fun and engaging book.
Sad I haven't read the first book to the series but I don't think it affected my reading any.
I loved these characters. So full of life and became real to me.

I’ve been on a work induced reading slump this month and I tried to get into this book multiple times but it just didn’t work for me 😢 I enjoyed the first book Island Affair but unfortunately Anchored Hearts didn’t reel me in. I made it to 25% and it still wasn’t able to hold my attention and I wasn’t invested in the storyline at all. I think this one will be a hit for many readers but it was just not for me personally. I blame my reading slump. 😖

Check out the great reviews this one received on Goodreads!

Thank you to the publisher and @netgalley for providing a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Priscilla Oliveras had written such a charming book that feels like the perfect escape to Key West. I really loved the latinx representation and the chemistry between the main characters was sizzling.