This was okay. It didn’t really keep my attention. I tried both the ebook and the audio and I just wasn’t engaged. This may just be a me thing.

I loved the title and cover of this book very much. While the content was perfectly fine, it was not my favourite!

I think the story was pretty typical, but I did love the extended family. I think it would be fun for someone who hasn't had a wedding to have a really extravagant birthday party like this.

Twice a Quinceañera by Yamile Saied Mendez is a heartfelt novel that explores the complexities of family, tradition, and identity. Told through the eyes of a young Mexican-American girl, the story reveals the pressure and expectations that come with turning fifteen, as well as the joy and celebration of this traditional coming-of-age ceremony. Mendez beautifully captures the nuances of growing up between two cultures and the importance of being true to oneself. This is a must-read for anyone who has ever felt torn between two worlds.

3 stars!

I feel bad but this book really disappointed me. I thought it was a romance, but it read more like a women's fiction which is fine except I didn't really care for the main character or her personal issues. She was just a bit annoying and I needed her to stand up for herself. I did enjoy the commentary about being in an immigrant family but I felt like the pacing overall was off.

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

TWICE A QUINCEAÑERA by Yamile Saied Méndez is a fun romantic comedy with heaps of family antics and swoon-worthy hero. Yet, in addition to being a sweet second-chance romance, it’s also a book about accepting and loving oneself.

Book Synopsis: Just a month away from her wedding day, Nadia Palacio finds her fiancé cheating on her. Graduating college, getting her law degree, and marrying him was the plan. Hers and her family’s. But now that’s ruined, and everything’s already paid for, with her money! She can’t get a refund and her Argentinian family is already set to fly in from all over the world, so she lands on the idea of celebrating her 30th birthday with a double quinceañera, aka a Sweet 15, but times two, a treintañera. It all seems like it could work out and she’ll finally get to celebrate her achievements, until she realizes the venue owner is her one fling from college. The one who got away.

My Take: Fun, original concept and I enjoyed the Latin details, which made the family more dynamic and the story more fun. The Argentinian family flying in from all over the world, though, and the Utah setting weren’t elements I could relate to. Overall, the story also felt quite predictable, so while I liked the characters, the novel was good but not great.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5 stars)

😘 Thank you NetGalley and Recorded Books for the advance audiobook of this novel.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars
This book was so fun and well written!! In general, I have found that I have a strong preference for romance books that have a very strong "non romance" story line also and this book provided. I also really love how both MC are really well rounded, fully developed characters- chef's kiss!
The pacing and story development was great. The plot flowed very naturally.
Second chance romance isn't usually my thing but this one did it well.

Marisol Ramirez narrates Yamile Saied Méndez’s Twice a Quinceañera about Nadia Palacio, who wants to throw herself a quinceañera (times two) to celebrate her 30th birthday after calling off her wedding to her cheating long-time boyfriend. But, to her surprise, Marcos Hawkins—the man with whom she had a college fling that became something much more profound and life-changing—runs the venue booked for her wedding/quinces. A successful attorney, Nadia finally stands up to her cheating fiancé and cancels their wedding one month before her wedding day and thirtieth birthday. However, she’s unsure how to break the news to her Argentinian family, flying in from all over the world, expecting to attend her wedding. So, decides to throw herself a second quinceañera, Sweet 15—an idea from a magazine article. Since all her family will be there and the wedding venue’s already been paid for, Nadia can celebrate her treintañera—her double quinces—at a party. It’s a chance for Nadia to celebrate her accomplishments and herself as the first professional in her family with a well-deserved party. What she didn’t expect, however, was to find her college fling at the wedding venue in charge of planning her double quinces and looking just as delicious as back then.

Ramirez’s narration wonderfully complements Méndez’s beautiful novel about a young Latina professional coming into her own, learning to celebrate herself and her successes, and getting a second chance with the man that consumed her heart during their brief college fling. Ramirez’s expressive, vivacious narration vividly brings Méndez’s original and creative story and characters to life in your imagination and draws you into this romance and story of self-discovery with her gorgeous voice and Spanish accent, vibrantly capturing Mendez’s emotional and dynamic writing style. Using accents, dialects, pacing, intonation, and emotion, she gives the characters distinct voices, revealing their personalities, feelings, quirks, and states of mind. Her narration for male and female, and old and young characters, is just right. Ramirez brilliantly expresses Nadia and Marcos’ desire, passion, and love for one another. She also terrifically captures the guilt, shame, and fear associated with their familial relationships and the frustration and anger they also feel. It’s a joy just listening to her lovely, accented voice and—to my ears—flawless Spanish.

Méndez’s active writing style, vivid description, and intriguing story and characters drew me in from the first scene and kept me listening until the ending came much too soon. I love her world-building. Her original story is filled with diverse characters she deftly develops with lively and natural-sounding dialogue—Spanish and English—and animated and entertaining character interactions. Also, her exploration of Nadia’s family/universe and the Latin community’s existence within their small Utah town is fascinating. She smoothly tells Nadia and Marcos’ story by blending the past with the present with interspersed flashbacks of memories of their time together.

Méndez wonderfully evolves her fascinating, relatable, fallible, and likable characters. Nadia had lost herself a long time ago, trying to be what and whom everyone else tells her she should be—what they want her to be. Breaking up with Brandon was the first step in making changes that would free her to live on her terms and be her true self—make herself happy! Nadia realizes how she views herself and whether she is content with her life is more important than feeling pressured to earn her family’s approval or anyone else’s. Marcos discovers that dreams change and that he might have been wrong about some of the things he believed about his family and himself for too long. Running away is no longer what he wants for his life.

I love how Nadia and Marcos never stopped caring, longing for, or thinking about each other after all these years. And the attraction, chemistry, and connection between them are still just as strong after all this time. I love their sweet, sexy, funny, and emotionally intense interactions. Twice a Quinceañera is a perfectly written second-chance romance that picks up after two former lovers have had time to mature into the people they’re meant to be. I love that Nadia and Marcos dealt with their college break up as early as they did without a lot of drama. But then I knew the other shoe would drop, and it finally did. I am relieved they dealt with this together without silliness and drama.

Twice a Quinceañera is a delightfully funny, sweet, sexy, steamy, and emotional romance about discovering how to love and celebrate yourself and your accomplishments instead of waiting for others to do it for you, second chances, soulmates, and making peace with who you are and where you are in your life. The novel explores grief, loss, family, forgiveness, facing your fears, insecurity, self-acceptance, self-discovery, self-esteem, and self-love.

CW: Emotionally abusive romantic relationship, death of a parent, emotional trauma, caring for a parent with early onset dementia.

Advanced review copy provided by Recorded Books via Netgalley for review.

this is a super cute Latina young adult book. I really enjoyed the diversity and the story line. I loved our mc and couldn't get enough of this one.

A cute, warm hearted rom com that touches on the importance of family and second chances. Enjoyable but not memorable.

I would want to read this book but my time to listen to this book expired and I didn't get the chance to. So I am not rating this book for noting being able to read it but as a thank you for giving me the chance (but I failed)

3.5 stars!

Not knowing much about the premise of this book other than the fact that it featured a Quinceañera, but it sounded like a fun read, and I always enjoy reading about other cultures and traditions.

Nadia was such a great character, and I really enjoyed this book! I love characters that have flaws and are handling difficult situations which make them so relatable.
I had both the physical and the audiobook, which was narrated by Yamile Saied Mendez.

*many thanks to RB Media and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

I love the idea of a treintañera. I think that part of your life should definitely be celebrated. I enjoyed this book. Nadia is such a great character. I loved all her family and their support. The romance between her and Marcos was so sweet but not the main focus. It was more about Nadia growing into herself and loving herself. Also her being honest with her family about her life. She had so much growth throughout the book. I would read more by this author. Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

The narrator was great on this one.
The one issue I have with this is when Nadia goes to the wedding venue to change her wedding to her double quinceanera its confusing to me why everyone there is so hesitant. Like one, his mom always wanted to do them but if your business is lagging why not jump on a new idea to engage single women. Like you could bring in a whole new demographic and you're just going to scoff at it.
I like the two main characters and how they both worked through their issues. I did feel a lot of things were hinted at in this book that wasn't resolved. Like why reference the sister's marriage and how it wasn't as magical anymore several times if you weren't going to resolve that. The book did feel like it wrapped up a little too quickly but I still liked the development to get there.

This one was not what I thought it was going to be. The premise was nice, but it just didn't execute well. I enjoyed Furia so I thought I would like this one too, but it just wasn't for me. Doesn't mean it won't be the perfect book for other people though.

I loved this book! It was such a breath of fresh air. I loved the family dynamics and the story line had me hooked! Definitely recommend this book

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Nadia has it all: the dream job, a loving family, about to turn 30, and her dreamy fiance -- until she doesn't. Nadia discovers that Brandon has been cheating on her one month before her wedding. Distraught and overwhelmed, she happens across an article about women who have opted to have a "Treintanera" to celebrate their 30th birthday instead of the more traditional Quinceanera. She determines that it is too late to have her family who is coming from Argentina cancel their travel, so she plans an epic party to celebrate all of her achievements.
Everything is going well until she realizes that she knows the event planner, Marcos from her college days. A clumsy romance ensues, but the story really picks up once her family arrives in Utah for the "wedding" that she has neglected to tell them has been cancelled.

3.5 stars - it was a cute book with an interesting story line but I found it hard to like Nadia.

Twice a Quinceañera

Genre: Romance
Format: audiobook
Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you so much to net gallery for providing me an early arc of this book. All opinions are my own!

I absolutely loved this book! Yamile Saied Méndez wrote a fantastic second chance rom-com mixed with female empowerment. Nadia Palacio was such a strong main character and the audiobook did her justice. If this book was made into a movie, I would be there front and center! This book is great for readers that want a good time, laughs, and character development mixed with a cutesy romance.

Follow @alexlivesathousandlives for more book reviews!

Many thanks to Netgalley, RB media and the author, for the ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Twice a Quinceañera is so much more than a second chance romance. It is a book of self discovery and self worth. Nadia is successful attorney just a month away from her wedding. The wedding she has been planning for years with her loog time boyfriend turned fiance. The wedding which is to happen a day befor her birthday. But when she finds out that her fiance is a bloody cheater, she kicks him out. Now she has a fully paid and planned wedding and no groom. So she decides to throw herself a double Quicences or a Treintañera because he never had a Quinceañera celebrated for her. What ensues is that Nadia grows into a wonderful, strong, independent woman - that is this story. The Romance can take a backseat in my opinion.

The male MC Marcos was actually a green flag guy and I did enjoy his POV. Though I longed to get back to Nadia's story.

I rarely rate Rom-coms 4 stars, but this book deserved it. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and finished it in one day, now if thats's not a compliment, I don't know what is. This is a good read, for a day when you want a lazy read and a HEA with delightful characters and character arcs.

TW: Body image issues, cheating, misogyny

Twice A Quinceanera is listed as a contemporary romance, which I believe does a disservice to the book. Yes, Nadia develops romantic feelings for a character in the book, which is a second-chance romance. But the true focus of the story is on Nadia herself. Her journey of self-discovery will make any reader fall in love with her. The treintanera celebrates Nadia for who she is - a strong, confident, independent woman who wants to make the world a better place! I simply love this idea!

I loved Marisol Ramirez's narration. She perfectly embodied Nadia and does an excellent job narrating Nadia's and Marco’s POV. The beginning of the story, however, introduces a ton of side characters. Sometimes, I couldn’t remember who was who in the audio, so I did need to reference the electronic copy. And at times, I thought the story repeated itself with Nadia and Marco’s backstory. Maybe a bit more editing would have helped the story move to 4 stars.