A Proposal They Can't Refuse was a lovely romance between two childhood friends who had a falling out but had never lost their attraction to one another. This romance novel encompasses friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, second chance romance, etc. Kamilah and Liam were once very close, having been raised together despite the cultural differences—her being of Puerto Rican descent and him being of Irish descent. However, both their close-knit families have spent most of their lives together since the patriarchs of the family are best friends and the most mischievous characters. When their grandfathers pushed Kamilah and Liam together, sparks and witty banter fly. There was a very sexy scene that was both hot and tender. I really enjoyed the characters and the story.
Thank you to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Fun book to read with a couple you really want to root for! I really enjoyed reading this book and I loved Liam and Kamilah. Great friends to enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine and fake engagement! I really hope the author writes another book about her brother Saint! Even the grandpas are hilarious! Highly recommend this book!!!

Set in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, this debut romance is a heartfelt story about love that’s deeply rooted in family, culture and friendship. Kamilah, a Puerto Rican chef, and Liam, an Irish-American whiskey distiller have known each other since they were children. Once best friends, they’re now estranged- that is until their hilariously meddlesome grandfathers get in the mix. They are given an offer they can’t refuse. They get a chance to follow their dreams, and save their family businesses, with one catch- they have to get married to each other. The problem is that they can’t stand one another. Once they begin their fake engagement, the sparks start to fly and their long dormant love for each other only gets stronger every day. But will past traumas, current lies and family obligations get in the way of true love?

This first in a series will delight readers of multicultural, Latinx and contemporary romances, books set in Chicago, fans of enemies to lovers and fake relationship tropes, and those who enjoy Alexis Daria, Mia Sosa and the TV shows Gentefied and Vida.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me a copy of A Proposal They Can't Refuse.

Sad to say this book was not it for me. I usually give a book two stars when I find it boring, but in this case this book was not boring but infuriating. I found the main character Kamilah to be so unlikable. She is so incredibly selfish and only thinks for herself. I did like Liam but I hate how Kamilah treats him. The whole Halloween part were she gets mad at him for not dancing with her after he had spent the whole night doing what she wanted pissed me off.
I have a large family and I love them, and so I know that a large family can be chaotic, but the way her family treated her and how she treated them in returned was so aggravating to me. The whole premise of the two grandpas forcing / blackmailing them into a relationship they both did not want also was a big no for me. Don't get me wrong I love a fake relationship trope, this one just felt to forced.
They also went from I hate you and I have all this past anger from you that I will not forgive to suddenly being very loving.
All this said I was entertained throughout the book, and was so mad most of the time that it made me want to read it faster and see if the main character got any better.

A PROPOSAL THEY CAN'T REFUSE is the first book I've read by Natalie Caña.

I really enjoyed the visually appealing writing. The way the author describes the landscape of the story allowed me to be immersed in the neighborhood.

This story is a classic "enemy to more" trope and doesn't shy away from tougher topics. Change, aging, familial obligations, and more.

I enjoyed reading this story and look forward to more from this author.

Copy of this title provided by Net Galley

This was a great debut - had a lot of humour that I’m looking for in a rom com. If I think about, I didn’t love how the main characters were treated by their family, but it fit in with the story and honestly he writing was so good I really didn’t care as much as I might have. Natalie Cena’s voice is so great, I’ll definitely Italy be looking out for future releases from her.

I love a fake dating romance, especially when it's orchestrated by two grouchy, mischievous grandfathers like Killian and Papo. Threatening to sell the building housing their two neighbouring family businesses, their ultimatum to push Kamilah and Liam together was definitely bizarre ... but I adored their meddling spirit.

Once childhood friends, Kamilah and Liam had a falling-out and grew apart. Now they are both committed in seeing their grandfathers' businesses succeed—Kamilah planning to enter restaurant El Coquí into the Fall Foodie Tour, and Liam longing for Kane Distillery to win the Best Craft Whiskey Distillery award.

Both workaholics with a heavy tie to their families, I loved the blend of Puerto Rican food and Irish whiskey. And who knew whiskey tasting could be so sensual and romantic. Whew! The chemistry was great.

Kamilah was such a bright light for Liam, constantly offering words of encouragement whenever his self-doubt set in. I was a bit thrown off by the pacing, though. Being childhood friends, the details of their past was very hazy to me, making the love they shared in the present feel a bit out of the blue.

But! The final grand gesture scene was give-me-chills perfect. I'd still recommend you give this romance a try!

A Proposal They Can't Refuse is a romance novel. At it's center are a Puerto Rican Chef and an Irish whiskey distiller.
Out to expand on the family's Puerto Rican restaurant, Kamilah needs Liam to get her where she wants to go.
Their grandfathers insist the two get engaged and marry in order to get the resources that they are in need of.
Thus oil and water are forced to get engaged, despite the fact that they have no desire to be together.
I enjoy books that feature Latinx characters plus the addition of the Irishman make for a twist on the standard romance.
Well done, Ms. Cana

I enjoyed this book. The plot was well paced and the characters were enjoyable to read. I would recommend this book to friends and would enjoy reading additional books from this author.

3.5 ⭐️
Mmmmmm I love books with good food detail. Add in the grumpy/sunshine, and fake dating tropes and I’m all-in! Oh, and I forgot it’s also friends to enemies to lovers. With a dose of “My Big Fat {Boricua} Wedding” vibes. The story was quick, easy to follow and the heat was spot on. Not too much, not too little. Maybe a little too little. 🌶
My only complaint is that dang, Kamilah’s family sucks. We all have strained dynamics and snide remarks from time to time (read:literally all the time), but it made me want to skip ahead anytime they were on page.
Overall, it’s cute, it made me hungry and I would definitely recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this delicious eARC in exchange for my unbiased review!

This one was a lot of fun! Kamilah and Liam were childhood friends but then a tragic accident occurs and their worlds are turned upside down. Liam starts shutting Kamilah out so she gives up on the friendship and focuses on her family and her dream of culinary school.
The story starts with Kamilah and Liam’s grandfathers (who are besties) causing problems at their retirement home that require their grandchildren to get involved. It’s evident that Kamilah and Liam no longer get along and Liam would rather not be in the same room with her. Or at least that’s what she thinks.
Than their grandfathers make them an offer they can’t refuse. In order to save the building that houses Liam’s family distillery and Kamilah’s family restaurant, the grandfathers want them to get married, to each other.
I really enjoyed this couples journey and seeing as Kamilah has 4 other siblings I’m hoping I get to find out what happens to them. Here’s hoping for an enemies to lovers for Saint and this mystery teacher 😏

This book had a little bit of everything and rolled together it made this book perfect!

Some of the tropes in this book are fake engagement, second chance romance, forced proximity, enemies to lovers. This combination made for a funny and compelling book.

I was captivated from the beginning and was caught between wanting to read quickly to find out what happens next and slowing down because I didn't want it to end.

Kamilah and Liam have great chemistry and their grandparents meddling ensured I laughed out loud several time while reading this book.

This was a quick and easy read and provided a great escape.

Fake dating, childhood enemies to lovers, and a Puerto Rican bisexual mc! A recipe to my heart. Sadly, it really wasn't.

As much as I loved the framework of A Proposal They Can't Refuse, the execution was flat for me. I expected a lot more depth and nuance in certain subjects. The characters themselves were interesting to a point-both workaholics with meddling grandfathers, but I didn't fall in love with either Kamilah or Liam. Separately they were okay, together definitely more dynamic. Though I did not feel the chemistry for their romance, I didn't feel it was earned considering their history. I wanted much more longing and pining! (I much preferred them as friends if that was an option.)

Pretty okay, just wanted so much more.

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Decent debut. Fake couple trope. Bipoc author. Dysfunctional families. What’s there not to like.
I loved the food descriptions. Then fall out seemed forced and I didn’t really appreciate all the meddling.

Former childhood best friends Kamilah and Liam are roped into a fake engagement scheme by their grandfathers. The only way to save her family’s restaurant and a way to convince Liam’s grandfather to seek treatment for cancer was to agree to this farce. When real feelings catch, and both Kamilah and Liam realize their love for each other has been real for a long time, all hell breaks loose when Kamilah’s foodie tour and Liam’s distillery competition are scheduled to fall on the same day. Will all their hard work amount to nothing? Will their love for each other survive?

Such a great debut rom-com! I loved the cultural fusion, the families, the restaurant and whiskey distillery roles in the story. And of course, I loved the chemistry between Liam and Kamilah, as well as their personalities—spunk, fire, hard-working and determined, stubborn. There was definitely a spicy scene that involved the distillery tasting table. Plus, you know I love a good fake dating romance, and this definitely fit the bill!

So many feelings with this one.

Kamilah and Liam are forced into faking an engagement when their respective grandfathers threaten to sell the land on which the restaurant and the distillery stand unless the two get engaged. Kamilah dreams of making the family restaurant the heart and soul of the Puerto Rican community again. Liam dreams of taking over the distillery he and his grandfather run together.

Let’s start with the good stuff: I enjoyed the antics of the two grandpas. They were meddling, pushy, and endearing. I loved the thought of them constantly getting in trouble at the retirement center and the grandkids having to bail them out. Though I will say they became almost too manipulative at the end.

Then there was the integration of Spanish into the story. The movement between English and Spanish felt seamless. I really appreciate the author not giving verbatim translations. She made it all part of the conversation. Also, the food descriptions had me drooling.

The slow relationship growth between Kamilah and Liam was incredibly sweet (with a little bit of spice). Their past friendship serves as a solid base to a more intimate understanding. I really enjoyed their idea sessions which showed how well they complement each other.

Now for my not so favorite part: The Undoing. A fallout was inevitable and there were some great discussions within the respective families after. But, I still found myself a little frustrated at the lack of consideration for Kamilah’s choices and feelings. Her brothers and parents walked a very fine line between tough love and bullying throughout the entire book. This along with a few loose ends made me want more from the ending.

Overall, I did like this book. The genuine relationship between Kamilah and Liam saved this book from spiraling.

I landed on 3 stars for Natalie Caña’s A Proposal They Can’t Refuse. I knew there were going to be some family hijinks, because the blurb promises that Kamilah and Liam are forced into a fake engagement because their grandfather’s are threatening their dreams. I wasn’t expecting the heavy-duty unhealthy family dynamics. Caña writes an engaging story with well drawn characters. I had a hard time putting it down. But I screamed a few times because the there were moments where family members seemed to genuinely dislike each other.

Kamilah Vega and Liam Kane were best friends as children. Their grandfathers were good friends and together they owned a building in the Paseo Boricua neighborhood in Chicago that housed the Vega family’s restaurant and the Kane Whiskey Distillery. Their friendship fractured when they were young teens. Liam suffered a trauma and began pushing everyone, including Kamilah away. Now they avoid each other. Kamilah has been trying to talk her parents into updating the restaurant to compete with the new restaurants being brought in by gentrification. Kamilah sees the Puerto Rican community being pushed out and the neighborhood becoming white washed. She wants to adapt, her parents would rather go out of business than change. Her grandfather still owns the restaurant, and if he agrees to let Kamilah make changes, the parents will go along.

Liam has been working towards raising the profile of Kane Whiskey and feels like he is on the verge of accomplishing that goal. Grandfather Kane however, has been diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer and has decided not to seek treatment. The Kane and Vega grandfathers have decided to force their grandchildren to marry and use the things Kamilah and Liam want as leverage. Kamilah and Liam decide to fake and engagement to get what they want without actually getting married. Lots of lying and manipulating is happening on all sides. Please don’t think that Kamilah’s parents and brothers are innocent victims in this. They take every opportunity to tell Kamilah that she’s wrong and incapable.

I really liked Kamilah and Liam opening up to each other, the food descriptions, the whiskey descriptions and the non-familial friendships. I likes Kamilah and Liam’s friends a lot. In fact, by the end of the book, the only person I thought had any moral high ground was Kamilah’s friend Sofi. I would have liked to have seen Kamilah apologize to Sofi, instead of to her parents. All families are dysfunctional to some degree, but the Vegas and the Kanes felt more dysfunctional than loving. By the end, I was no longer inclined to be charmed by the grandfathers.

All of that said, I would definitely read another book by Natalie Caña. If she can keep me reading through that toxicity, I’d like to see what she can do with a family that doesn’t secretly hate each other.

CW: cancer, grief, abandonment, shaming, trauma, past death of parent and grandparents, off page death of character.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Mira Books via NetGalley. My opinions are honest and voluntarily given.

A Proposal They Can't Refuse is the debut novel of author Natalie Caña . A romantic comedy between a Puerto Rican chef and Irish American distiller that had me laughing and crying and all the feelings in between.

I loved everything about this one, the banter, the family dynamics, the seamless flow between English and Spanish during conversations, and all the emotion. Right from the start I was dying to know how these to went from friends to prickly acquaintances. The romance lands somewhere in the middle of the friends to lovers and the enemies to lovers tropes. Kamilah and Liam both care more than they want to about each other and cover it up with snark and attitude. Family is the main theme of this wonderful romantic comedy. Both Kamilah and Liam are so proud of their heritage. Puerto Rican and Irish pride pour from the pages. Their business' both reflect their native legends and folklore, some I had heard of before and some that were new to me, and I loved learning those little gems of their family history.

Kamilah is such a vibrant personality who is trying her best to keep her family's restaurant alive, even though she's fighting those around her every step of the way. It was a bit painful to watch every time see told a lie or omitted the truth because you knew that it was going to come back to bit her in the butt, and it did catastrophically. She may have been not her best many times throughout the book but she cared and loved fiercely even if she tended to be selfish and immature when it came to those she loved, she always had the best intentions at least.

Liam stole my heart from the moment he showed his vulnerability. That poor boy was hurting inside and put up all his walls and grumpy attitude to protect his already very bruised heart. His backstory with his dad absolutely gutted me. 😭 He may have been depressed but it didn't stop him from having a close bond with his granda. He also cared so strongly for Kamilah from the start and was quick to defend and support her. He may have not said the words, but you could tell how much he cared in his actions.

The two of them together had some fantastic banter between them, and I loved all their interactions. Whether they were having a spat, helping each other, or being intimate, there was so much passion between them. The intimacy in the book is a slow burn , with an only one bed situation that results in spooning on night one. It then somehow manages to be steamy but not at the same time, which I know makes no sense, but the foreplay scene is hot, heavy and descriptive but the actual main event is fade to black.

A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Caña is a wonderful rom-com with family, meddling grandfather's, a fake engagement, comedic friends, heritage, banter, fall goodness, love, and forgiveness. I was beyond satisfied with the story from beginning to end and look forward to the next book in the series and anything else the author imagines up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A Proposal They Can't Refuse follows Kamilah and Liam, childhood friends to adult enemies, who are forced by their meddling grandfathers into entering a fake-engagement in order to save the building that houses their businesses from being sold.

I cannot begin to describe how much I loved this book. It hit every! single! one! of my favourite romance tropes and then sprinkled in a few more. First, MEDDLING GRANDFATHERS??!!! Just absolutely, chefs kiss. Killian and Papo are so fun as a duo and also individually in their relationships with Kamilah and Liam. Their dynamic and mischief is so perfect. The childhood friends to adult enemies aspect of the story is incredibly well-paced and believable, I love the callbacks to moments from the past, as well as the tension and pining that occurs between Kamilah and Liam. They are sunshine/grump hall of fame. Lastly, I love the world that Caña built. The community, and the various characters (clearly setting up for more books, let's fucking go!!!!) all add depth and nuance to the that fully immerses you into the story. I can't wait to read what comes next.

Overall a really fantastic debut book that is perfectly romance-tropey and brilliantly written. If you like Mia Sosa and Abby Jimenez, this is the book for you!

This debut adult romance had my heart in strings. A Proposal They Can't Refuse has not only fake dating, but a fake engagement planned by Kamilah and Liam's grandfathers. You read that right. I love how they're basically blackmailed into a fake engagement from everyone else. Except it's not like there's nothing for them to work with. Former childhood friends/maybe crushes, their interactions now are just full of snarky banter. But this fake engagement will have them pivoting real fast.

Suffice it to say, if you're in it for family drama and fake engagement shenanigans, add this to your TBR right now. Because it delivers tension and sparks galore. At the same time, Caña delivers a nuanced story about the gentrification of a neighborhood and this conflict between traditions and transformation. Between authenticity and adaptation. Watching Kamilah and Liam both struggle with this idea of the past having a hold on us, made me adore A Proposal They Can't Refuse.