Thank you to Carina, Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: financial struggles, racism (on-page), micro-aggressions, family tensions, parent with alcoholism, parental abuse (briefly mentioned), family abandonment

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f rivals to lovers
-roommance
-forced proximity
-hate how attracted to you I am sex
-so much sexual chemistry
-pining
-a bit of a mystery and maybe a ghost
-a not very thick wall between rooms
-fat rep

Oh my gosh this book. First of all I loved the romance, oomf, so many of my favorite tropes. This book starts out with a bang. Alex and Jeremiah have chemistry from the get go and then we find out that they're rivals to try to save her Grandma's bar. I love how they seemed like opposing sides but ultimately came together. The romance was executed so well. The tension of bumping into each other, how the other person was always there driving you wild with sexual tension. These two tried to fight it and then you know did a not so great job fighting it with some mutual masturbation. This book is steamy, and I love how the sex was used to break down their barriers.

Both Alex and Jeremiah have trauma in their past but sharing their truths brought them closer together and they loved every single part of each other. Also extra obsession with how much Jeremiah was obsessed with Alex's body and that bathrobe. The fat rep here was effortless and wonderful.

I also have to give a shoutout the small town rep, and what this book speaks to about race and community. How family can come in many forms, and the importance of culture in communities and not erasing that. Alex's story was so beautiful about how she came home and the struggles she had with her family and her own acceptance of her worth.

I can't wait to read more from this author

Steam: 4

This story was a big lesson in teasing - the sexual tension is insane - the amount of almost sex moments is crazy. It was quite spicy I have to say.

I liked the mystery and concepts weaved into this story. The difference between Jerimiah and Alex was clear and one would think they didn't fit but they truly did

The family connection was nice to read some of the other members were a delight to read about.

Alex was a bit of a ball of anger and she expressed her emotions with mean words and massive scenes. I rather she was better at talking things out because her reactions caused little unnecessary problems

half of the items that happened in this book could have been avoided if Alex could control her emotions and reactions a little better

She did make progress to be better and that's great characters development for sure

All in All sexy read for sure

A really cute, funny, sexy story. I love grumpy women and giant, emotionally complex men. I wouldn't rate this book as super spicy, but the few spicy scenes were very hot. Some pacing issues but overall a fun, light read

This was not an easy read for me, but I ended up really enjoying the history. Alex is an alpha-female lead. She comes back home to try and save her grandmother's bar, but she doesn't know that Jeremiah, a shy professor who is not really shy from the university and one of her grandmother's tenants, wants to turn the bar into a museum and is trying to convince Loretta to sell bar.

But eventually they find out there is somebody else trying to get the bar and they have to work together to make sure it doesn't fall in the wrong hands.

This is a love story with a bit of mystery and a bit of supernatural that works really well. I was really interested in finding out how the story would end and what would happen, but it took a while to get somewhere and I think that's why it wasn't so easy for me to finish it. But eventually I got to the part where things started happening and that's when I got into the story.

4.5 stars, really. *fans self* Very steamy! Loved badass bitch Alex and adorable (and HOT) puppy Jeremiah. Lopez describes Alex so wonderfully that I could picture her very clearly. Loved her being a curvy girl and that Jeremiah was so into that. The light touch of bruja magic was delightful and whimsical without overdoing it or being jarring.

This had some really great parts and some not so great parts.

I LOVED reading about the Mexican-American representation in this book. The history, culture, food, and family dynamics were really interesting to read about. It was hard for me to read about how racist so many of the townspeople were (very privileged to say that considering people of color experience that first hand).

I wanted to smother Doody-meyer. Lopez can write great villains, that’s for sure.

The spice was 😯👍🏼👌🏼 great. Like jump in at 3% great. I was hooked and kept getting pulled in. Multiple scenes. Mostly all the lead in comes from Jeremiah. Alex felt more like “love ‘em and leave ‘em.” 18+ check content warnings.

Little bit of ghost story magic was great. Sprinkled throughout the book was fun and kept you engaged.

I think this cover is beautiful! However… after having actually read the book now, why don’t the characters look how they’re described? Jeremiah is supposed to be way taller. Cover Alex doesn’t have any tattoos, isn’t wearing her rings, and I’m pretty sure it said she had long hair… I guess overall it’s not a huge deal…still a beautiful cover even if it’s inaccurate.

Towards the end I started to pick up on exactly how toxic Jeremiah’s life had been. I was concerned with his attachment to Alex and his desperate desire to be loved, I feel like that’s what drew him to Alex. She wasn’t nice to him and that’s what he grew up with. I don’t feel like their connection got deeper than the physical side. The potential was there but wasn’t expounded on. Not much internal emotional realizations. Especially from Alex. She is in denial of her feelings to the end. When Jeremiah thinks on his feelings, all of it goes back to his childhood traumas. I just didn’t feel the connection.

I wish there was more at the ending to elaborate how everything played out (no spoilers). I really wanted to see that comeuppance.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Carina Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin) for this digital ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for a digital arc in exchange for my honest review!

I really enjoyed this book. A plus-sized, badass, avenging angel heroine? Check. A large, loving family who against all odds continues to love and fight for one another? Check. Two leads who are complete opposites in so many ways, except for the fact that they will fight for what’s right and for what they love, including each other? Check. This book is romantic, fierce, sexy, and enlightening, with just a pinch of the supernatural thrown in. I loved it.

I discovered Angelina M. Lopez last year and enjoyed Lush Money, so was excited to see she was coming out with this and it sounded intriguing.

I loved that she wove real history of the Mexican train workers in the Midwest in the story. It made it interesting and it's good for people to learn something about other cultures they aren't taught in school, while also enjoying a fictional story.

Alex (Alejandra) is back from being away for 13 years, essentially trying to get back what she loved after being gone for so long. I love strong female characters and she definitely fits the bill. She's such a badass. She's has some bad press she's used to her advantage and she's hoping it'll help with the family's restaurant.

Jeremiah has no family, but he loves the area and being a tenant above the restaurant for a year, he's fallen in love with Alex's family and he wants their history not to be erased when a big company is trying to buy the restaurant and run by a jerk who's white ancestors started the town and pretty much want to reclaim it.

Even though the book starts off with a bang (literally), it's only out on convenience. Alex and Jeremiah start off as rivals, but they have to work together to help her family for the better and over time, start a comradery that develops into more. They learn over time to trust each other. You can feel the tension building between them in every scene together and when they finally give in, again, it's super hot. Jeremiah is a cinnamon roll Beta with an Alpha streak and it was very fun reading these scenes.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the familial elements. found family and finding your way back to family plays a big part in this book. I loved learning real history. I loved the little bit of mystery and fantasy elements.

I can't wait for more from this series.
5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press/Adores. I voluntarily reviewed an early copy of this book.

Title: After Hours on Milagro Street
Author: Angelina M. Lopez
Publisher: Carina Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin), Carina Trade
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Revi"w:
"After Hours: on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez

My Assessment:

"After Hours on Milagro Street' was quite a read full of secret family lineage, with hidden treasures, a haunted bar, love letters, and omg twists and turns all over the place' including some sexy moments from the two main stars [Alex and Jeremiah] of the story. This was an excellent Mexican-American cultural read of the Mexican immigrant experience... What will happen when Alex returns home to run her grandmothers Loretta's bar? I enjoyed how this author gave the reader a good read of love and family along with a good mystery and magical realism weaved into the story, hurt, loss, pain, and less, not leaving out the romance. Be ready for some complex and realistic characters that brought quite an interest and even some dysfunction to this family story. Also, there will be 'racism, alcoholism, and mentions of an abortion [of the past]' from this read. Pick up this read to see how well this author brings it out to the reader, where you will find an alpha heroine, a big family, ghosts, and even some hot sexy sex scenes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Carina Press/Adores for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book started off with a bang.

Literally. *wink wink*

From the first chapter where Alex, our feisty, firecracker of a heroine meets Jeremiah, our big yet adorable bespectacled hero, I already knew that I was going to love this book. Thank heavens this delivered until the very end.

This book has a couple who couldn't be more different but has THE MOST explosive chemistry. Every banter, heated eye contact, and the smallest of skin touching exuded so much tension that made me want to root for their relationship more and more. Not to mention that Jeremiah was so gone for Alex even when she was showing resistance. I love watching a persistent hero slowly crumble a heroine's walls.

And the steam??? I have no words besides I just wanted to melt to the floor and stay as a puddle for as long as possible.

In all seriousness, I love it when a steamy scene clearly isn't just there for the sake of steam (although to be honest that isn't bad at all...but I digress). The steam here (at least the latter ones) is clearly laced with intimacy that I physically felt my heart warm up reading them.

I also appreciated that this story showcased the colorful history and culture of Mexicans in the US. The strong family ties in this book was such an emotional roller coaster to read. Plus the whole plot surrounding the history of their bar added a new layer of mystery (and even eeriness) that was mostly interesting to read.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. This is perfect for those who are in the mood for a sweet and sexy romance with a little something more.

A solid 4/5 for this one with the urge to pick up more of this author's works!

Many thanks to NetGalley for graciously providing this ARC! All comments and opinions are my own.

A lively story about sex, romance, gentrification, family pride and ghosts, After Hours on Milagro Street is a lot of things, including a fine and quick-witted romance.

Alejandra Torres has returned to Milagro Street with everything she owns strapped to her back and a lot of attitude. She was once voted “the best bitch in bartending” for her work behind the plank in Chicago; now she’s at her grandmother’s bar in Kansas, a little place named Loretta’s, hoping to make a fresh start.  That means a make over for the bar in the run up to her grandmother’s incipient retirement and trying to save the bar financially, in spite of the fact that Milagro Street is dying and wilting and has been since she was a kid.

What Alex didn’t foresee is one nebbish Assistant Professor Jeremiah Post, who occupies one of the rooms over the bar and has become a fond member of the Torres family during Alex’s absence over the past year. He loves the bar, likes her family, and doesn’t think Alex’s hotshot ideas for saving Loretta’s are any good.  The two are immediately at loggerheads – and immediately have sex in the barroom, minutes after meeting.  That definitely doesn’t ease the conflict between them, as Alex is determined to have her way and Jeremiah is determined to preserve the bar as is. To wit: he makes a counteroffer on the bar through the local historical society, which wants to turn the place into a museum.  Between the ghosts haunting the building and the menace of Alex’s childhood bully, who wants to reclaim ownership of a building that was once his family’s property, Alex and Jeremiah have their work cut out for them.  And now that they have an enemy to unite against, will they get their act together?

Lopez combines spice with memorable characters in After Hours on Milagro Street, which also gives readers a memorable mystery and a solid combination of romance, drama, humor and the supernatural to wallow in.  The end result is a cracking, engrossing, romantic story.  As always in a Lopez novel, expect family drama, and lots of it.

I loved nerdy, awkward and yet completely confident and comforting Jeremiah right from the start.  Alex is confident, smart, aggressive and sometimes immature, but also incredibly cool; properly complex.  She’s both dislikeable and likable at alternate times but generally grows better and up.  Together, they’re dynamite aflame.

I loved the way Lopez brings this little town in Kansas to life.  I was kind of iffy on the ghost story for a chunk of the book – to be honest, the search for a missing will should’ve been enough to keep the mystery side of the plot flowing.  Yet I didn’t find it problematic and often enjoyed where Lopez took me.

Even with those quibbles, overall, After Hours on Milagro Street is a delightful story with a steamy romance that kept me turning the pages.

Buy it at Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
Visit our Amazon Storefront

Listen.. the heat in this book was so good. I normally am not a fan of potential gentrification plots but this one had amazing appeal for me. I love Angelina Lopez's books so this one, was just as good as her others (steamy but def not as steamy as her other books). Jeremiah was so loveable. Alex was also my kinda person.

𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙤 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙩
𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙖 𝙇𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙯
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ummm Where do I begin?! Alejandra(Alex) is a BADASS Latina who after escaping 13 years ago, goes back to her hometown of Freedom Kansas. Her Granmo runs a bar that’s not only haunted but crumbling. The book starts with a bang. Literally. IYKYK Our man in question? Professor Jeremiah Post. Handsome nerdy, smart and trying to buy the bar to help her Granmo.

Alex has put up walls she’s not letting down anytime soon, but Jeremiah wants to tear them down. I adored this opposites attract duo. They just felt so right together. “El Guero”with the voluptuous & deep bronze Latina. The way he worshipped her and her body? Yes!!!! It was amazing!

Rivals to lovers
Opposites attract
One Bed
Found Family
Family dynamics
Hot and steamy

Thank you to Angelina Lopez for a copy of this amazing book!!!
After Hours on Milagro Street comes out July 26th

After Hours on Milagro Street shed light on the long history of Mexican Americans in a small town in Kansas. In spite of that long and productive history, they are still looked down upon by the rest of the community. This novel is about the return of Alexandra, “The Best Bitch in Bartending”, who needs to get her professional life on track and wants to do so by revitalizing her family’s restaurant/bar. Alex has to navigate all the family drama/baggage from the past, unscrupulous local politicians and sharing space with a sexy professor who rents a room above the bar. I loved the plot concept and all the plot building blocks. Unfortunately, Alex was pretty hard to relate to and not very self aware. She is smart and competent but so wrapped up in her perception of past wrongs that I found her mostly in relatable. So…. Pretty good story but I didn’t love the whole package.

I’ll admit, the beginning of this book was a bit rocky for me and I almost DNF’d it. It’s an enemies to lovers, but the hatred Alex has for Jeremiah at the beginning of the book is such a turn off. She’s needlessly mean and it made me uncomfortable. I’m okay with enemies to lovers but I like for there to be a reason for the enemies part.

Alex and Jeremiah quickly turn around and become friends and from there on the book gets much better. I loved the aspect of the history of Mexican-Americans and seeing the world from Alex’s POV. The treasure hunt plot point was really fun too and was effective in driving the plot forward.

I was quickly sucked into the story and was cheering on Alex and Jeremiah and their family. And the steam? Off the charts, so that’s a bonus too.

This book is a quick, really fun read. The chapters are short and we don’t ever get super deep into the characters chemistry, but overall this is a really fun read once you get into it.

Thank you Netgalley and Carina Press & Carina Adores for sending me a digital ARC in return for my honest thoughts.

I loved both main characters in this book so much and the storyline was also compelling and kept me coming back for more. I was especially pleased to see natural and not put on dirty talk from the hero during the love scenes. This is one author I will definitely be reading again.

I enjoyed the setting and characterization. I love romance series that follow siblings as well. This was fun and sexy but also thought provoking. The main character was also a breathe of fresh air in the romance genre. I didn't love the over-wrought descriptions of everything. They really took me out of the story. However I think this is a great romance overall.

This book is so many things...a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, a bit of finding yourself. I found Alex a bit hard to connect with - but overall I got used to it as I progressed in the story. 

It had a lot more depth than some of the romcom's i've read recently - which was a nice change. TBH if you're also looking for a little change of pace compared to a usual light hearted romance - I would recommend this for you! 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I absolutely loved this book! Alex's hard exterior took a minute to adjust to, but her layers were so deep and her heart so beautiful! The ending gave me goosebumps. It was a surprising little twist. 5 stars!

Jeremiah and Alex are great together. I enjoyed the book in the beginning
Alex blowing into town has rocked Jeremiah to his mild-mannered core,
But when an old enemy threatens Loretta’s and the surrounding neighborhood, Alex and Jeremiah must combine forces. It will take her might and his mind to save the home they both desperately need.
So I love when a book has a bit of Mystery and romance. I felt the book started of strong but fell flat along the way. Or maybe I was a bit confused. Few things just did not make sense and secrets that were revealed well they were just ok. But I did like it. And I encourage everyone to give it a chance. I love the Rep in this book.