Why are more people not talking about this book!! I had so much fun reading the book and meeting these characters. I recommend this one to everyone reading romance novels!

I ended up DNFing at 30%. I was expecting this to be a romance but it is definitely more of a women’s fiction book. I don’t think it was marketed properly, and all of the political stuff wasn’t something I wanted to read about. Unfortunately this wasn’t my cup of tea so I didn’t finish it. Otherwise, I found the Latina cultural representation to be done well.

I wanted to like this so much, but something about it just isn't working for me. I cannot seem to convince myself to pick it back up even when I don't have another audiobook easily accessible. And I don't think the book is bad, nor is the narration. It just isn't hooking me at all.

Definitely a must read for fans of the Spanish Love Deception. A story with more substance that just a mere romance.

Who said you could only have a Quinceanera at 15, why not 30?

This book is all about second chances. I liked Nadia's idea of changing her canceled wedding into a fun birthday celebration with family. Marcus was dealing with running the family wedding venue after his parents accident. Nadia and Marcus run into eachother and it brings back memories from their college days. Second chance at romance too?

I liked the overall plot of this book, but felt it was slow in several spots. Even though I liked the getting over the past parts of the book, I really would have liked more of the romance part. The romance was there, but didn't feel too much of a driving force in the book.

Overall this book is light and pink birthday party fun.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this Audiobook for my honest review.

This was highly on my list because I really enjoyed the author’s previous book, Furia. Being able to relate to the cultural upbringings is so valuable. My feelings for this book are very complicated. I’m conflicted on how to review this book because there are so many cultural references, traditions and feelings that I can relate to. However, there were parts of the story that felt repetitive, and I was a bit bored. I craved more chemistry/romance between the main characters, and I know this was more about celebrating Nadia’s accomplishment, but it needed some spice.

This is a quick read about second chances and the narrator is excellent. I am not sure if it was the app, but the entire narration was static, so it did take me away from the story itself.

The audiobook, Twice a Quinceañera by Yamile Saied Mendez and narrated by Marisol Ramirez is a love letter to one's self. The main character, Nadia, was a lawyer and broke her engagement with a dude who did not deserve her. Still, instead of canceling all of the party, she decided to have a doble (double) quinceañera [treintañera]. As a child of immigrants, I related to the opportunity to have a doble quinceañera that we were never able to have when we were young due to familial and life circumstances. There is also a sprinkle of a love story. Who doesn't love that? Overall, there were moments that I enjoyed the book, especially towards the middle and end of the book, but the beginning started kind of abruptly, and there were moments that dragged a little long. I recommend this to those who never had a quinceañera, who love a self-love story, those who love stories about families uniting, and just a cute love story.

was very excited to get into this book! I loved learning more about a culture that differs from mine, in a fun cute way! I will admit that sometimes I was definitely frustrated with the stubbornness of both MCs. But it was a cute story overall!

As someone who hosted her own “milestone birthday” party with approximately three dozen guests, I was totally on board with the concept of this book, which was very concisely set up in the first chapter. The female protagonist, having finally left her fiancé/boyfriend of thirteen years one month before their wedding, decided to repurpose her wedding reception as a double quinceañera and then re-encountered the one fling of her life, who was filling in for his sister as the manager of the wedding venue. Because this is a romance novel, there is definitely a happily ever after ending, which is condensed into the last chapter.

Between the bang at the beginning and the whirlwind party at the end, the middle felt like it dragged because there was so much repetition. It only takes once or twice for the reader to understand that the female protagonist wanted to celebrate herself because of all her personal and professional accomplishments, but it felt like every chapter told from her perspective tread over that ground. That was mentioned so often that I lost sympathy for the female protagonist halfway through the audiobook. The backstory was that the female protagonist went straight from college to law school to a law firm job without any pauses or sidetracks, which was supposed to show how determined she was. But after awhile, I just felt like she was an ungrateful self-pitying sap. There was nowhere where she expressed gratitude for all she had and reflected gratefully on that all she accomplished - it was portrayed that she was concerned about the optics of the double quinceañera which she needed to celebrate her accomplishments. Even after winning the international relatives over to the idea of a double quince, the female protagonist seemed focused on the pettiness of details - the perfect photograph for new invitations, the perfect dress, the perfect photographs for the slideshow, etc. For all the concern about the optics of switching from a wedding to a double quince, the female protagonist seemed to have few cares for the well-being of the international guests or for making the event fun for all the guests.

I really enjoyed the uniqueness of the Utah setting, and wished that there would have been more of it, like sending the characters hiking in the mountains or something. I also really appreciated how the author wove in aspects of Mormon life into the story, even though the main characters were decidedly non religious. Little things - like the Salt Lake City airport being super busy on Wednesdays because of missionaries returning to the state or the tendency to marry after high school - added a richness and interest to the story that would have been lacking if the story had a more common metropolitan setting, like Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, I felt that the voice acting was not the best. It was difficult for me to tell the different characters apart, especially the female characters. Both the Australian accent and the posh British accent were farcical and uneven.

Overall, I felt that the repetitive ruminations of the female protagonist really turned me against her and hampered my enjoyment of the story. I’m not certain that I would have felt any different had I read a print version rather than listened to an audio version. It needed more gratitude and more mad cap to be palatable.

I received this audiobook as a digital advance reader copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

Cute and entertaining story about learning to love yourself after a breakup. Nadia is accomplished, level headed, and smart but found herself in a loveless relationship and wanted a way to celebrate her freedom so she repurposed the wedding plans and created a party to honor her commitment to herself. Her extended family is quirky and fun. Her relationship with Marcus is sweet and exactly what she needs. Recommended for when you need a light, humorous read.

This is marketed as a rom-com, but also reads like general fiction. I had a really hard time with some of the premise--a second chance romance with someone you were with for (??? a few weeks? 3 months? sophomore year of college? the timeline felt a little bit slippery) but you NEVER KNEW EACH OTHER'S NAMES??? OR THAT YOU LIVED IN THE SAME PLACE??? Like come on; i would have preferred a super hot weekend that they always looked back on, not a significant college relationship where you just forgot to exchange names??? I appreciated the self-discovery and independence plot, and that it stayed strong throughout, and strongly agree that we need more parties celebrating us as people rather than just as part of a relationship, though wish it hadn't sprung from the desperate "must get married before i wither and die at 30!" trope that comes up so often in books. I liked the fact that there was a vaguely unnecessary and sort of confusing fake dating thing just slid into this book. Basically, parts of it were 2-stars and parts were 4-stars, so, 3 stars it is!

This was an ARC and is obviously a review full of my true feelings.

Twice a Quinceañera by Yamile Saied Méndez

4 star

Quick summary: A month before her wedding, Nadia calls it quits for good with her on-again/off-again fiancé. Since she can’t get a refund on all the parts of her wedding, and her extended family is on their way from all over the world, she decides to throw herself the quinceañera she never had. While planning and healing, she reconnects with her college fling.

Thoughts: This is a lighthearted story about self-love, growth, and empowerment. Both main characters have great character arcs. I enjoyed listening to the story, and recommend if you are wanting a girl-power, large family, Latine rep, quick read. The romance is PG and a subplot. I would of liked to see more interaction between the two main characters and less pining. I felt like the story ended too soon and I wanted to see more of the two together.

Content Warning: Emotional abuse from the former fiancé is talked about, remember by the main character, and one short scene of interaction in the current time line.

Audiobook Narration: Marisol Ramirez is perfectly cast for the narrator of this story. She has a wonderful range of voices for the array of characters in the book.

There was a really strange echo type effect on the audio, which was very distracting. I listened to about half and then I finally decided not to finish. The MC seemed very negative and whiny, and I just couldn't listen to it anymore. I really, really enjoyed Furia so I had high hopes for this one but was ultimately disappointed.

I want to start off by saying I enjoyed this book and felt it had a great representation of many things, not just the Latinx community. This book talked about the immigration story in a different way by relating how families from Latin America don’t just come to the United States but to other third-world countries. Nadia had family who lived in England and Australia and the narrator did an excellent job with the accents. The male and female voices were pleasant to hear and switched well between Spanish and English.
Now I loved the idea of how they used the double Quinceanera as a way for Hispanic women to re-present themselves to the world and their families as strong independent women. How they should be celebrated for all the accomplishments they have done so far and all they are ready to do looking forward. The author was also not shy about letting us see how stressful and difficult it can be coming from a minority family who pushes you to become more successful and that you need to just keep going without letting up. Even if they have your best interest at heart it can become overwhelming and negative.
My biggest non-spoiler complete is that I wish they had advertised in the synopsis that this was a sweet romance as I went in expecting more sexy times at a minimum. The lack of sexy times did not hurt the book I just would have liked to know so I would have had better expectations.
I would definitely read this again and think it had good representation and I give it a rating of 4.25 which you will be able to see on my StoryGraph rating and for more content warning check it out there. I will also have a video coming out soon on my YouTube channel with more in-depth details and feelings.

– Spoilers–
Now my only other complete is that I don’t think the falling apart that is in every romance was not realistic and had faults. Earlier in the book, she talked about how the walls in the apartment were thin so I feel like she should have been able to hear them fighting right outside the door. Also, I know her phone died because she dropped it into the bathtub but she had a very real thought about being worried for his safety so whether he had run out on her or not she would have realistically reached out to him even if he did not answer her because he was hurting. Also, the break between them should have been longer so that when she went to the party she would have regained the confidence she had on that night so she would not have been dwelling on him during the party and it would have been more of a happy moment when he showed up instead of her pining for him.

I was really excited about the premise for this one and really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, the story fell flat for me.

I think there was too much happening in the side plots, so some things weren’t fully fleshed out and sometimes little details didn’t match up.

I usually appreciate getting dual perspectives in a romance, but honestly this was one instance where I feel like a singular perspective would’ve been better. I didn’t really feel like Marcos’s perspective added a whole lot to the story and honestly found myself wanted to skip his chapters sometimes.

I was 100% a fan of Nadia throwing herself a treintañera and I really liked the idea of her taking charge of her life and celebrating herself.

For this being marketed as a romance, I felt like that was the weakest part of the story. I did not really sense much chemistry between the two main characters and their history together wasn’t really enough for me to feel like they belonged together.

Last thing was that the last minute conflict thrown in just didn’t really fit in well. I understand that the author wanted to include some kind of conflict but the way it was thrown in just didn’t seem fitting for me.

The narration for this book was well done and I appreciate the different accents and voices.

I did enjoy Nadia as well as a number of the side characters, and I will most likely check out other books by this author in the future. I think this book could probably work for some, but it just didn’t work for me.

Awesome coming of age novel! I enjoyed the protagonist and here willingness to uproot her stable life in order to truly discover herself. I wish they would’ve delved deeper into the root of her panic attacks, saw with the male lead. However, I lived the spotlight that was shone on family and self-discovery at any age.

Though this is categorized as a romance, it isn’t one in the traditional sense. It’s more a romance with ones self. Learning to stand up for yourself, not accept being treated as less than and learning to trust your own instincts and follow your own heart. For the first time in her life Nadia is putting herself first. Ahead of her fiancé who treated her terribly on so many levels, emotionally, financially and couldn’t keep his pants zipped and made it out to be her fault so she finally kicked him out and cancelled the wedding, her very nosy invasive judgmental family who have so little faith in her they want to know why he broke up with her (not!) and wanting her to make it right and get him back, ahead of the handsy invasive inappropriate boss and the pushy annoying assistant at the wedding venue she alone paid for when she wants to change up the party. She is done and is learning to navigate life without being everyones doormat. She decides to make the party a celebration of herself, the belated quinceanera she never had. She also reconnects with the only man that truly made heart skip a beat. Family, long lost love, interference from so many all while trying to figure out who she really wants to be without the pressure of living up to everyones expectations. Its a sweet fun listen with a sweet lovely happily ever after. The narration was lovely and added to the experience.

I wouldn’t categorize this book as a romance. The majority of the book is talking about Nadia re-planning her wedding to be a quinceanera x2 (30th birthday party) and the process and decisions that she hast to make to change everything. She talks with Marcos who owns the venue and they had a sling about 10 years ago. There is a lot of internal dialogue where we hear Nadia and Marcos’ thoughts but there’s not a lot of interaction between the two characters besides planning the party.
At times I found myself getting confused about who was who because there were a lot of names and family members and relationships between a lot of the characters.
They kiss at 88% and then say I love you and can’t live without you? I did not feel like these characters had enough interaction to be able to know each other enough to say I love you and commit to a long-term relationship.

The last 10% was the best part after Brandon returned and created some drama!!

🎧⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

If there is a theme to this book it is about second chances. After canceling her wedding Nadia has a second chance to discover herself and reclaim her independence by holding a trentañera to celebrate herself. And in doing so Marcos, the venue owner, gets a second chance with his family and Nadia.

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I especially enjoyed Nadia’s extended family and the beautiful Latin flair of and in this book.

Thank you @netgalley and RB Media for choosing me to listen to #TwiceAQuinceañera.

#netgalley
#rbmedia
#readmorebooks
#readmorebooksbywomen
#mybookishlife
#audiobook

I liked the friends and the family from the very beginning and they were a breath of fresh air. I loved the main character. I didn't, however, care for the romantic.