I absolutely LOVED this book and wish I could read it again for the first time. Kamilah and Liam's story is amazing, seeing the transition from childhood friends to enemies to lovers not only showed the progression of their relationship but also their progression as individuals. Granda and Abuelo are now two of my favorite fictional characters. I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy and read it again.

Loved this book. Papo and Granda are genuinely the best matchmakers. I am a huge fan of former best friends to lover stories and this one did not disappoint.

This book has me on the edge of my airplane seat. I was so invested in the two characters’ romance and how they would come out on the other side stronger and with their stores intact. The third act breakup had me sobbing in public but that made the ending all the more gratifying. Love!

Overall Rating: 4.25

Thank you so much to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Cana.

A Proposal They Can't Refuse gave me more than I was expecting. I expected a fun and entertaining read about two meddling grandpas giving their grandchildren a marriage ultimatum. What I got was all that and more.

I got a story about family. There are a lot of characters mentioned in this book. Kamilah Vega has a large Puerto Rican family who are all VERY involved in each other's lives, whether they've been asked to be involved or not. Liam Kane's only immediate family member present is his grandpa Killian. This is due to a family tragedy that took place while Liam was a young boy, but the Vega's are like a second family to him. For Kamilah her family is her safe spot even though they don't treat her with the respect she deserves. Her whole family trashes on her constantly and it was frustrating to no end. Yes, she kept secrets, but I feel like I wouldn't be open to sharing what was truly going on in my life or my heart either if they treated me how they treated her. When things came to a head, I found myself not being satisfied with how it was resolved between Kamilah and her family. Yes they had a right to be mad at her but they too had done wrong by her. I felt like she still had to reckon with the majority of blame and her family only accepted about 10% of their role in creating the issues at hand.

I got a story about how tragedy can greatly alter a person. Liam Kane had to deal with immense tragedy at a young age, which altered his life and his relationships with others. His grandpa Killian is also his business partner and knows Liam better than anybody. Liam is holding on to so many emotions and has been for years. The loss of his family plays a huge part in his actions towards Kamilah and his grandpa. He's afraid of love because those that he loves leaves him, and now with his beloved Granda having cancer that will be another member of his family leaving him behind. Liam and Kamilah used to be best friends until the horrible accident and an unfortunate event that took place at prom. I wish we had more details on this prom incident. It is a huge part of why Liam and Kamilah behave the way they do towards each other yet we only get crumbs.

I got a story about following your own path in life and being true to yourself and others, Kamilah made sacrifices that only lead to resentment and feeling trapped. Although the fallout from this fake engagement was horrible it leads to Kamilah having to be upfront with not only her family, but with herself and what she wants in life.

I got a story about love and its different languages. Both Kamilah and Liam have strong personalities. Kamilah's is bold and Liam's is reserved, which translates to how they show love to each other. It's interesting to see how Kamilah and Liam first view each other's love languages at the beginning of the story and how that transforms throughout the story. Liam's love language makes me swoon so hard, particularly during the distillery showcase. *sigh* I do wish we would've got more details on how Kamilah and Liam became who they are by the end though. I wish we would've gotten more one on one conversations between them that were on a more personal level and not about Kane Distillery or El Coqui.

Overall, this was a very entertaining read that I'd recommend to others. I laughed, I cried, I swooned. This story has great dialogue between all the characters. Kamilah and Liam have very entertaining banter as well as Leo and Sofi, Kamilah's best friend. Abuelo and Granda are a hoot and keeps everybody on their toes. I loved that both Kamilah and Liam were right and wrong about each other and called each other out. I loved learning about Puerto Rican and Irish culture throughout the book. I was using Google translate a lot and looking up pictures of food and other things mentioned. Natalie Cana does an excellent job in helping non-Spanish speakers understand what was just said though. This has to be the start to an entertaining series. While reading I could see multiple characters having their own stories as there are lots of storylines to explore, Saint and his daughter's teacher. Leo and Sofi...can we saw tension? I already know there's more to come with the Vega's and Liam. Plus, Natalie can't let Abuelo's matchmaking skills go to waste now can she?

I found the characters rather unlikable right from the beginning. As this didn’t change as I progressed though the book, it was hard to enjoy their dialogue or experiences as well. I think the overall pacing was okay, but everything else just fell flat for me.

Natalie Cana’s debut, A Proposal They Can’t Refuse, is a warm, touching, humorous romance.

Puerto Rican Kamilah’s made sacrifices, sometimes without her family’s knowledge, to keep the family restaurant going. Irish American Liam’s bound and determined to debut his deceased dad’s whiskey to accolades.

Kamilah and Liam grew up together. Their grandfathers are like brothers - and not above a bit of meddling. They basically blackmail Kamilah and Liam into agreeing to get married. Which forces these friends turned enemies into a fake engagement. Hijinks and feels ensue.

This book is full of so much warmth, along with the love and frustration that families, especially very (overly?) involved families, bring.

You’ll get:
Friends to enemies to lovers
Forced proximity
Only one bed
Second chance
Childhood friends
Opposites attract
Sunshine and grump
Great friends groups
Meddling family members
Steam and undeniable attraction
Humor
Fantastic food and whiskey descriptions
Autumn vibes
Big feels

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse also deals with grief - losing a parent/grandparent

A Proposal They Can’t Refise by Natalie Caña is a smile-inducing second chance romance with tropes of fake dating, forced proximity, one bed & grumpy sunshine. It also has mischievous & meddlesome grandparents I adored. Their grandparents were ridiculous but an absolute treat. This book made me laugh & smile in pure amusement. It also made me hungry whenever they talked about food because it sounded delicious.
The author, Natalie Caña, has a beautiful & refreshing style perfect for romance & gorgeous storytelling. This book was set to a perfectly quick pace that keeps you entertained throughout.
Some of the family & friend actions, reactions! & words were quite harsh, so I got frustrated with them. Thankfully this is a book with a happy ending & I enjoyed how things worked out.
I would love to read more from the side characters. & I hope I get to read more from this author! This was an easy 4 star book for me!
A Proposal They Can’t Refuse comes out May 24, 2022!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read an arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings: This book mentions &/or contains cancer, drowning & death.

I will post reviews to my Bookstagram & TikTok before publication & I will post to Amazon after publication. I will add links to the reviews after posting.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse

Natalie Cana

Publication: May 24, 2022

This was such a pleasant surprise. Yes, I enjoy fake engagement/wedding/relationship. Yes, I enjoy enemies to lovers. Yes, I enjoy childhood best friends. Yes, I enjoy hilarious, meddling old men who are best friends…Put this all together with an Irish male lead with a Puerto Rican heroine and witty banter and food and wine…plus sweet moments and steamy moments and humor and sadness….This book has a nice balance of everything that gives you so many feels!
4 Stars

Oh my goodness! I adored this book so much!! Loved the characters the plot! Found myself laughing out loud within the first few pages. I definitely recommend this book!

I absolutely adored this book! It is the classic fake dating and enemies to lovers trope, but it was done flawlessly. The main characters and many of the side characters were adorable and fun. And I loved the diversity and representation this book offered. Easily a five star.

Friends to Enemies to Lovers? ✅
Forced Proximity? ✅
Fake Dating? ✅
One bed? ✅

This book was set up to be a deliciously good story filled with authentic cuisine and fine aged whiskey. It had all the makings to be a stand out story, including great representation and an author who is clearly bilingual and wrote dual languages really well. There was a lot going for it but a few things didn’t pan out for me as well as I was hoping.

I prefer a story to show me that time is passing instead of telling me. As soon as a situation gets uncomfortable for one of the characters the chapter just ends and then we find out it’s weeks later. I want the scene in the restaurant when Kamiliahs family made her cry. I want the scene of her unpacking the kitchen with Liam. I want the scene of them waking up with each other for the first time. I felt cheated as a reader to miss out on those crucial character moments and just get told about them later on. I want to be in the moment and not sucked out as soon as we are starting to get to the good stuff.

I felt frustrated similarly with most of their relationship building. We didn’t get a lot of really strong bonding between the two of them. Kamiliah and Liam do the most bonding when they are at the pumpkin patch, but really besides that they don’t have a lot of in depth conversations that would be required for most people to forgive and forget sins of the past. They definitely have passion and attraction for each other which is always awesome, I just wanted a little more emotional connection between these two steamy lovers.

One of the other gripes I had with this story was that for the men, Killian and Abuelo, who supposedly live in a nursing home they sure spend a lot of time just wandering around and not actually where they live. Maybe my experience with nursing homes is different but when most people move there they tend to stay there unless they have supervised excursions. Abuelo and Killian just wander around like lost kittens all the time and no one questions it.

I was really enjoying the beginning of the story and it had me giggling with delight and excitement. This book really had some great potential and I think with a few scenes added it could really be a knockout in the romance genre. I’m definitely interested to see the Saint and Leo storylines because I can see this becoming a trilogy very easily.

What to say… without giving away all the goods! The tension is thick and starts right at the beginning. I finished this book in ONE DAY. I could not be stopped. I really like the distillery elements, something that I have not read about. This book covers a lot of tropes- ex friends to lovers, one bed, grumpy / sunshine, family friends, and fake dating. I can’t wait to see what others think. Thank you NetGalley for this arc,

Kamilah Vega struggles to deal with the gentrification of her beloved Chicago neighborhood. A Fall Foodie Tour can help bring customers into her family’s Puerto Rican restaurant, but she has to convince them to make the updates needed. Next door, Liam Kane works in his family’s distillery and they have the chance to win a national competition. Only the unexpected happens. His grandfather has cancer. Kamilah and Liam face enormous tasks, but the kicker is that their grandfathers are best friends and schemers; they want to see the two get married, or they will sell off the building that houses both their businesses. Kamilah and Liam will try to outsmart them, but will a fake engagement do it?

The beautiful cover drew me to this book! Natalie Cana’s writing draws you in right away, and the pacing of the story is excellent! I loved that this book touches on gentrification, and the effects it has on families. I’m currently experiencing that in my Granny’s neighborhood. It’s heartbreaking to see the place you grew up change, and I sympathize with Kamilah wanting to keep her family’s legacy afloat.

I have to admit that I dislike the marriage ultimatum given to Kamilah and Liam. Their grandfathers meant well, but it rubbed me the wrong way. Kamilah was under an immense amount of pressure and although I disagree with the way she went about things; her family was not always understanding or supportive, and Liam had his own battles to deal with. I found myself not as invested in the romance, and more so drawn to the different family dynamics. The romance itself was slow, and a lot of issues can have gotten resolved by simply communicating.

The way this story intertwined Puerto Rican and Irish culture was lovely. I loved the hints of the Spanish language used and Irish folklore described. Even though I didn’t like their grandfather’s schemes, I loved how this story showcases how influential grandparents are. It made me miss my grandparents even more and reflect on how special they were to me. I definitely had all the feels!

I wouldn’t say I loved this book, but it’s still worth the read! Thank you to Net Galley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC!

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse was a fun romance where two childhood friends turned somewhat-enemies turned to accidental lovers when they are tricked into a fake engagement. In order to both get what they want, they continue to pretend to be in love. But as they keep spending time with each other, feelings both old and new make their way to the surface. This book had all the feels, and I highly enjoyed it.

Kamilah and Liam were childhood friend who had a falling out. Now they are enemies yet their grandfather’s remain thick an thieves. Their families also own separate halves of a building with Kamilah’s half housing her family’s Puerto Rican restaurant El Coquí and Liam’s half housing his Irish family’s Kane Distillery. With an opportunity of a life time Kamilah has entered her families restaurant in the Fall Foodie Tour to bring the success to new heights while Liam has entered Kane Distillery into a national contest. But that’s when they’re grandfathers come in. Both Kamilah and Liam don’t have the blessings of their grandfathers unless they get married. Now Kamliah and Liam have to live an elaborate ruse to better their respective businesses.

Fake dating is one of my favourite tropes. But it seemed like more people in this novel new that Kamilah and Liam were only in it because their grandfathers were making them than a fake dating scenario would require. The book also felt very clunky in the beginning. Like the author had one scene flushed out well and everything else was playing catch-up until that scene. There was mention of a fight on prom night which spurred the childhood friend ship breaking off but every time it was glossed over and referred to “what happened at prom”. As far as I could tell one participant wanted to take it farther and the other didn’t. To me that doesn’t seem like enough of a fight to warrant splitting up as friends.

I also found Kamilah not relatable. It’s a big plot point that she pauses her family like a shield. But she also doesn’t think of the way her actions will effect them. When she doesn’t take the offering off a scholarship to go to her dream school in Paris Sofi also isn’t allowed to go to Paris. She enters her family’s restaurant in the Foodie Tour without asking them if it’s OK. Actions have consequences and unfortunately Kamilah has to find out in the worse possible way.

Overall I did enjoy the book because fake dating is definitely one of my favourites. I felt like I was learning Spanish with all the phrases that were being used. And although I had my problems with Kamilah as a main character I loved Liam’s character and felt like he did the best he could for his grandfathers remaining days.

These characters were so lovely and interesting. I had a really fun time with this writing and this chemistry between our characters. This was so heartwarming and I had a really fun time with it!

This was a delicious romance novel! I loved the way that Puerto Rican culture and food are represented. I loved how cute and flawed both the hero and heroine were. I especially loved that so much of the story hinges on two meddling grandfathers. There is pain here because there is off and on the page cancer-related death but I loved seeing Kamilah and Liam work together. I am also a sucker for a grumpy hero and stories where food is integral. The only thing that did not check my box was the miscommunication and was so relieved when everyone finally sat down and had much-needed conversations.

such a sweet and funny premise, and a lovely friends to strangers to lovers story! we follow Kamilah and Liam in a dual-pov story about two friends who agree to get fake-engaged to appease their scheming grandfathers. along the way, they learn more about each other and what they individually want out of life.

overall, i did really enjoy the story! stories centered around food and family always give a great opportunity to dive into the character's backgrounds. however, i felt like their big fight in the third act was so intense and life-altering for one of them that i couldn't imagine a way that they could forgive and forget so quickly afterwards. i did enjoy the conversations about grief, family obligations, and fear of the unknown.

*thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing & netgalley for the eARC!

*Received a copy for review. *

Best friends to enemies to lovers; marriage contract ; familial blackmail; forced proximity;
I love a good romance that revolves around food & family legacy & distilleries. This book is all three. Liam & Kamilah have been connected since birth. Their grandpas are best friends and their family businesses are next door to one another. They were best friends with the potential for more until tragedy struck Liam and he pulled away from everyone. With some meddling from their grandpas, they are pretending to be engaged and both in over their heads.
I loved the families in this story. The grandpas have woven their families together and are determined that Kamilah & Liam end up together. They are also huge troublemakers.
Liam is suffering from all the loss he’s experienced by being a grumpy Gus. He refuses to engage with anyone because the potential for pain is too much.
Kamilah wants to Make her grandmas restaurant a success again but only her way.
These two crackle on the page. There is so much history that it takes some time to really connect. I just loved all of them so much. It was a beautiful story about loss & family & learning to let go of fear & pride. I just loved it.

This was an overall nice read, but the romance felt a bit lacking. Kamilah is our heroine chef who is trying to convince her family to adjust to the changing neighborhood, and her neighbor Liam is the distillery owner next door. They’ve grown up together and we’re lead to believe they really cared about each other in the past but had a falling out, and now they are forced to fake an engagement. I loved the setting (born and raised in Chicago) and think there was some interesting perspective on gentrification and growth and development in neighborhoods of big cities. However I feel like there was more dialogue/growth/hashing out with their respective families than our love interests have together. It felt like they had one net-positive day together and everything else was very tumultuous. Both our characters have difficulties in their past they have to get through in the book, I just wish there was some more sparkle, sweetness or tension to their romance.