I absolutely loved this story about Ander and Santi. I liked their characters individually and together.

Ander and Santi Were Here was beautifully written. And I loved watching Ander and Santi’a relationship develop while dealing real crappy life situations.

I think the ending was my favorite part. I didn’t see it coming but it definitely fit the story perfectly.

Thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday books for a copy of Ander and Santi Were Here in exchange of an honest review.

I got an ARC of this book.

DNF at 61%.

I just don't really care what happens to anyone. By this point I should have strong feelings about the characters or the plots, but I just don't. The characters I like are side characters that don't really have anything happening. The main couple made zero sense for me. They saw each other and were magically in love. They had no reason to be into each other. The more the book went on the more I expected to like the main couple, but by half way through I still had zero reason to ship them. They weren't bad characters, but why were they together? I just didn't understand.

The cover and the idea for the book were amazing, but it really just didn't pan out for me at all.

I feel like I should have known from the author's first book that this book was going to cause me significant pain. And it did. Definitely hurts. But as heavy as this book is it is still very emotional and with a wholesome romance at the center. Highly recommend.

I received an ARC and I’m leaving an honest review.

Some dialogues were a little awkward, the pace felt very slow at times, and I definitely disagreed with Ander's behavior in that one chapter towards the end when Santi tells them about his mother, but despite all of this I still loved the book. There's no denying that "Ander and Santi Were Here" is powerful and heartbreaking in the story it tells and in its portrayal of a beautiful love story that fights and survives with the terrible and scary reality that is living as an undocumented citizen.

I loved reading about how supportive and open the family, friends and communities in the story were, and I loved the focus on the food and on the art. I was also extremely happy that so much Spanish was included -especially without any translation.

If the book had been written and marketed as new adult, instead of young adult, I believe it would have been able to develop some of those plots points more and it would have brought out its real potential. Young adults deserve this type of stories too, obviously, but it this case it felt forced in a category that wasn't completely its.

There were also problems with the ARC, but those didn't have to do with the story itself. A few parts were formatted a little weird which made it difficult for me to read — I had to re-read those parts a couple of times to get where a text was starting and the other finishing, and things like that. (In the version sent to my kindle the parts that were supposed to be messages were in three different fonts and many times they mixed up when they weren’t supposed to. In the book downloaded in the NetGalley app, the fonts were messed up in a completely different way, and were still hard to read.)

Actual rating: 4.25 stars.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Ander & Santi Were Here releases May 2, 2023

Set in San Antonio, this YA novel features the relationship between a nonbinary muralist, and an undocumented worker who are both 19 years old.

Landing on this rating was not easy for me. I think the underlying message here was good and the intentions were there — ultimately fighting for love and for the right to belong and take up space. But as a whole, it didn’t quite work for me and here are some reasons why:

I might have enjoyed this story more had I actually been able to fully understand it. A lot of it was written in Spanish, and without any direct translations for any of these words, phrases, and complete sentences, I felt like I was missing a lot of the nuance to this story and therefore wasn’t able to be as immersed into it as I would have liked. I’m all for diversity and I definitely think very specific readers looking for a sense of familiarity will enjoy what is here, but it wasn’t 100% inclusive which was unfortunate.
Being transparent, realistically I am not going to pick up my phone to manually translate something from every other paragraph for over 300 pages. It completely takes me out of the story.

As for the plot, I found the romance to be very insta-lust and physical based, and for the first 30% it felt one-sided. I wanted more depth and actual on-page conversations that were meaningful. Who is Santi as a person? What are his likes and dislikes? What is his background and aspirations? Why does Ander even like him if not for his looks and the close proximity of them both working at the taqueria?
It wasn’t even until 40% that we were even told that Santi was undocumented. I kid you not, the extent of knowing Santi is that he eats a lot of food, takes photos at odd angles, and has a sister.

I had a difficult time discerning whether this wanted to be a YA novel or not. The characters read like they’re 15 as opposed to post-secondary individuals, but there are lines that stick out like a sore thumb such as “I get the immediate urge to ask him to spit in my mouth, please”, as well as things like “thotty shorts” and “Spring Slut is my ideal aesthetic” that made this less believable as a lasting romance rather than a short term fling/”I want you in my pants right now” vibe.
For a YA novel, there was a lot more sexual content and commentary than I was initially expecting and it took away from the more serious tones and discussions in my opinion.

A scene I did love was the final mural which depicted the book cover. The sense of community was really strong all the way through, and the support from all the side characters was refreshing.

cw: underage drinking, deportation, ICE, kidnapping, racism

This was a truly delightful warm hug of a book, and even better in audio. Thank you so much for the ALC, can't want to recommend this to everyone! Amazing rep and lovely writing.

4.5⭐️

Boy oh boy did I cherish the love story between Ander and Santi, two queer young adults who simply deserve to exist in a world where they both can feel safe and secure. I felt overjoyed, heartbroken, and immensely grateful all at the same time while reading their story.

The story was a bit slow at the beginning, which is why I didn’t give it a full five star rating. I’m so glad I kept reading, though! The chemistry between Ander and Santi was there from the beginning. I loved how Santi was shamelessly flirting with Ander and the signals were clear. The lip biting has me giggling and kicking my feet! Goodness did I love reading about how much these two love and adore one another.

I could FEEL Santi and Ander’s panic when ICE showed up the first time at Lupe’s. My heart was racing for them. And Santi being terrified of being taken away had me absolutely sobbing. And then that ending? Wow. Such a great way to wrap up the story and it was so satisfying.

The story of Ander and Santi Were Here handles the very serious topic of the terrifying reality of being and undocumented immigrant in the US. this narrative is also filled with great quips, a stunning romance, and all the joys and pains that come with being queer. A must read for everyone and anyone.

“Through happiness and destruction.”

Té amo, Ander and Santi. Té amo.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa follows the titular Ander and Santi in San Antonio during Ander's gap year. After being fired from their family's restaurant, Ander meets Santi, and they have an immediate connection. Their relationship is very sweet, though it feels a bit insta-love. (Teens do fall into crushes with little to no reason, so it's not really a ding against the book!)

At times serious and others silly and heartfelt, this book really finds the perfect line between how fun and fearful this time in Ander and Santi's lives is. I feel like the ending comes a little too quickly? But on the whole, really enjoyed this book.

Ander & Santi Were Here is well written and chock full of beautiful characters, but it lost me at the insta-love...

The world will be a better place once this book is in it. Ander and Santi Were Here is a YA contemporary fiction book that highlights the power of love in all forms. All of the characters, big and small, were well developed and I felt a personal connection with each one. When they succeeded, I was happy. When they faced hardship, I cried along with them. Readers of all backgrounds should pick up this book and every YA section in schools and libraries should carry this title. I hope Ander and Santi Were Here receives the hype it deserves and gets into the hands of the readers who need it most.

The story follows Ander, a nonbinary teen artist, who falls in love with Santi, an undocumented Mexican boy working at his family's restaurant.

I really liked this one as it balances heavier themes (immigration, ICE, racism) with lighthearted moments. Ander could be a bit much at times but I think that's just the age/generation difference in this YA story. I loved the art component and learning about the murals they painted.

The story did drag out a bit and I don't usually enjoy an instant love connection, but overall it's a powerful story about love and community that's important to hear.

IM FINE IM TOTALLY FINE IM NOT CRYING (I’m lying)

This was a trip, bittersweet and beautiful and so stressful and also incredible, I can’t remember the last time a book just wrapped itself around my heart like this. I’m going to be thinking about this for a long time and it has made me Mentally Unwell (affectionate)

“ander & santi were here” is a queer YA romance between a nonbinary person and a gay undocumented immigrant. the way that jonny garza villa incorporates gender neutral and nonbinary terms and word endings in both english and spanish is truly wonderful and warmed my nonbinary linguist heart.

for me, the insta-love was a bit much. i felt that ander is a very developed character and that they feel real, but santi felt… a bit one dimensional. they’re both young and i just felt that when i was 19, my mother would have never let me dedicate my entire life to one person in an instant.

the inclusion of ICE was horrifyingly brilliant. i truly felt the fear that santi did as he faced these fascist agents. as the child of an immigrant mother, i cannot imagine if anyone in my family faced deportation back to russia. villa directly confronts the racism within ICE as a system of oppression.

the pop culture references were a bit cringe for my tastes, but this is YA. the ending is what upset me the most. it was incredibly powerful until the epilogue.

You know how with some books you're almost wishing you didn't read the ARC because the ARC requires you to write a review that's more than just you screaming GO READ IT NOW?

This was SO good. The writing was perfection. The characters and their interactions feel so real, not only the MCs, but their entire circle. We get a sense not only of their lives now, but of their past and how they and their relationships have grown and changed over the years. I'm telling you, you will feel like you know this entire cast intimately. Which brings such weight and such heart to the book because you care about these people and what they mean to one another so SO much.

I'm someone who can't really visualize much when I'm reading so often the setting of a book doesn't do much for me, but the setting here, the community and Ander's family's restaurant and the spaces where Ander creates their art are all such a vital part of the story. They all came alive for me, because they're so much more than just visual description, the reader gets a sense of how these places feel and what they mean to these characters. As a reader you really feel like you're there.

And because the setting and the sense of community and the characters and their love for one another feel so real and so interwoven, the reader never forgets, even for a moment, what's at stake here. It's an easy book to read because it's so incredibly good and these characters and their community are so easy to get lost in, but it's also a hard book to read because their world is our world, and it's so often such a terrible, cruel place.

Young love (and friendship) can be such a powerful, all encompassing thing. Finding a person who changes you, who changes how you see yourself and the world and makes you feel things you've never felt before is an experience like nothing else. I loved everything about the relationship between these MCs. There were so many quiet, every day moments that showed so much about their compatibility and love for one another. I just loved every moment of them on page together, even those moments they weren't able to be what they wished they could be for one another, because of how real that felt too.

This isn't a book that's going to end with a perfectly happily ever after because it can't be, for many reasons. But it is a story that ends with an incredibly moving HFN, even if that HFN carries a lot of heartbreak and bitter injustice along with it. These are two people who make one another feel safe and loved, no matter the circumstances, "through happiness and destruction", and reading their story is a really beautiful and heartbreaking and unforgettable experience. I'm giving it my highest recommendation. You absolutely want this gorgeous book in your life.

bookshelves: arc-reviews

This book is bold and stunning and emotional and I want it to be on *everyone's* radar for when it releases in just over a month. I'll keep this review mostly to a short summary/teaser, as I know most people like to go into their reading knowing a little less. I am, though, going to discuss the ending extensively under a spoiler tag, for those who don't mind spoilers, or for those who have already read the book. Because I feel like I just got hit by a freight train but in a good way and the freight train is made of feelings.

Ander and Santi Were Here is a genre romance that straddles the line between YA and New Adult. It's voicey and full of youthful self-expression and cultural referents, but also carries off some heavy topics and some SERIOUS angst just under its candy-bright YA surface. The narrator, Ander, is a recent high school graduate and talented muralist. They're trying to figure out who they are and what kind of art they want to do when they go off to college, while taking a "gap semester" at home with their (boisterous, loving) family and doing an art residency in their hometown. Into this mix comes Santi, the new employee at Ander's family's restaurant, with whom Ander falls in insta-lust and then near-insta-love. Just as this attraction is starting to blossom into something more serious, Ander learns that Santi is undocumented, and risks permanent deportation if found out. Their story is equal parts a celebration all the joy and uncertainty and optimism to be found in teenaged romance, and a deeply emotionally affecting contemplation on who gets the right to live out that joy and uncertainty and optimism in safety. This book is fun to read and engaging but it's also important, and I hope it finds just the biggest, most loving audience that will cry its eyes out and believe in the boldness of young love, just like I did.

Ok. So most of my review is actually going to be discussing the ending, because I think it's something people are going to have a lot of feelings about. If you don't like being spoiled, though, be aware that this is very spoilery.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

So basically, at the end of the book, Santi is deported, and Ander gives up their plan to go to college, gives up everything, and moves to Mexico to be with him and make art. And I will admit, as swept up in the emotions and the love story between Ander and Santi as I was, that made me pull back and take stock. Because... Ander is 19. And there was an extent to which the book's romanticization of changing your entire life for the person you're in love with at 19 felt hard for me (a grumpy 30-something college professor) to take. I think some people will *still* feel that way when they hit the end of the book, and that's totally valid. If any of the 19-year-olds I interact with in my daily life told me they were quitting college to move to another country, alone, because they were in love, my immediate reaction would be that that's probably not a great decision (and, tbh, I found it unrealistic that more of the adults in Ander's life didn't react more strongly against this plan).

That being said... I do think that ending was the right call for this book, and ultimately I found it deeply moving within the parameters of a fictional world in which love is an expression of optimism and bravery, and in which spaces for love should be open for everyone.

Essentially, Ander and Santi Were Here is avowedly a genre romance, and is thus operating under the codes and strictures of a genre romance. To me, this means three things: 1) the romance is central, 2) the couple has to end up together, and 3) romantic love is going to occupy a symbolic narrative space in which it stands in for a lot of greater ideals like optimism and self-acceptance and bravery (this last one isn't a rule, but I do think it's something the genre does).

And the thing is, already, if we're operating under HEA rules, the book has to end with Ander going to Mexico. Because Ander and Santi Were Here is unflinchingly honest about how horribly, violently inhospitable the United States is to undocumented people. As much as every reader will desperately want there to be a path for Santi to stay, that simply isn't realistic. The laws of this nation, as they are, do not allow a path for people in Santi's position to have a future secure enough for an HEA in the country they live in. And MY GOD does this book make you feel how guttingly cruel and unfair that is.

So yes, the adult in me wanted to tell Ander to value teenaged romance a little less, and college and money and a life plan a little more. But in genre romance, for better or for worse, romantic love *is* the ultimate prize: often, reaching an HEA is the genre's shorthand for showing us someone being bold, being optimistic, taking a chance, going after what they want and what they need. All things, to be clear, that you can do without romantic love, but all things that happen through romantic love within the confines of this genre. And Ander and Santi deserve all the good things that every American teenager in a YA novel has ever gotten to have and enjoy and be foolish and optimistic about without having to fight ICE and a racist system and an uncaring world.

And watching Ander just go for that ... not only did it feel true to who they had been all book long, it felt true (if heartbreaking) to the narrative economy of the novel for Ander to have to give up the privilege of the life they had planned for themselves because of the privilege of security that Santi simply doesn't have. It does, I will say, make for a very bittersweet ending. I've never cried so hard through an epilogue that ostensibly ties things up in a nice bow where the couple are happy and together. You can feel the ending of the book haunted by everything Ander and Santi have given up FAR too young, everything they never should have had to give up just to find out how things work out with the person they fell in love with at nineteen. It's... very emotionally intense, but absolutely worth the read.

Ok, well now I've realized that all my best and most important-to-me thoughts about this book are under the spoiler tag so I guess THE ONLY SOLUTION is for everyone to read this book and then come back and read the spoilers and help me with my feelings, my god, my feelings.

(PS: I should mention, for the language nerds, that the way this book seamlessly incorporates nonbinary language in both Spanish and English is just THE COOLEST. Especially in Spanish - which is in many ways a more grammatically "gendered" language than English- it was so cool to see just how many ways there were for people to make the language affirm Anders's nonbinary identity, whether with elle/le/-e structures, or using both masculine and feminine agreements within the same grammatical phrasing, or deliberately making choices that avoid gendered words. It was just the perfect encapsulation of how many ways there are to be inclusive, and how much creativity and playfulness that inclusivity can bring to language. AAAAAAH)

This was such a beautiful and important story. I found myself truly invested in the characters, their emotions, and their struggles. Words are not enough to convey it how impactful this was. I will forever recommend this novel!

I don't know what I was expecting when I started reading Ander and Santi Were Here, but I got so much more than I bargained for. Not only was this a beautiful love story between 2 young adults (one non-binary and one bi-sexual), but it also focused on culture, art, family, gender and politics and it all pulled the story together seamlessly.

Ander is at home in Texas taking a gap year before starting art school in Chicago in the fall. Their family who is very close knit and owns a taqueria decides to "fire" them from working at the restaurant in order for them to focus on their art and get experience under their belt before college begins. They have all the support of their family and I loved their connection and utmost devotion they showed throughout the story. But when Ander notices the new guy, Santi that takes their place at the restaurant, they have a new focus. Art around their city AND Santi!

Santi and Ander are the absolute cutest. I liked their instant connection and the way they brought each other into their lives. It's not until an incident at the restaurant that we see that Santi was hiding something huge from Ander. And that is the part of the story that ends up really bringing us all the emotions to the story. The politics and ICE and love and borders.

This is a coming of age book that ended up giving me love, laughs, angst and even tears. I did get frustrated at a few things the main characters did, but then I had to realize their ages. They were still getting to know who they were. Ander had a strong sense of family and was just beginning to realize who they were as an artist as opposed to being put into a box. And Santi just wanted to be free in the US and also have a sense of love and family, but in a very different way. When things get turned upside down for him, Ander's family shows him what love, community and family is all about.

Ander and Santi Were Here was a 4+ stars read. After the first little bit, I fell in love with all the characters, the city, the friends, the family and the entire unit as a whole. They made me think and made me fall in love with these characters that went to any length to have a little bit of freedom, no matter how it looked. I'm also a lover of seeing art depicted in books and loved the fact that the author brought the Mexican culture into Ander's art that he created.

If you liked Jonny Garza Villa's first book, definitely give this one a chance. It is a story that is well represented and deals with topics that are important to our current times and weaves it with a bit of romance that will leave you with a smile on your face.
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A coming of age book about young love between an artist and an undocumented migrant working in his family restaurant. Not bad, but the writing is overlabored.

Ander and Santi Were Here was a book I almost put down. The first part moved at a snail's pace and it was boring. I have no idea why I continued to read it. But read it I did. And as it turns out I wasn't disappointed.

It's set in Ander Martinez's family taqueria where Santiago Navarro was employed. Ander was a muralist who worked in the taqueria as well, until his mother basically fired him so that he could concentrate on his art. He'd taken a gap year after high school to do an art internship. His plan was to attend the art institute in Chicago.

Anyway, things moved along very slowly until Santi's secret was revealed. Then the story picked up considerably. Ander and Santi's relationship blossomed beautifully. They spent as much time together as they could. Santi helped Ander with his murals and Ander was allowed to once again work with him at the taqueria. They fell in love. And Ander asked him to move to Chicago with him.

The remainder of the book is about how they chose to deal with Santi's secret. It turns out the book was very poignant. As it were, I just had to be patient and let the story unfold. I'm really glad I decided to continue. And I really liked the ending. I gave it four stars. It would have been five had it not started out so slow.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own

Please DO NOT see my 3-star rating and think " Well, I won't read that book." Ander and Santi Were Here was a beautiful YA novel. A very positive and loving relationship between two teen characters on the cusp of adulthood. I loved the non-binary representation. A loving family that supports that non-binary character. The descriptions of Mexican food and mural art that are presented in this novel. The beautiful Spanish dialogue is all throughout the novel. I can't speak Spanish but I was able to grasp most of it. The attention to the issue of ICE and border policy. The stunning cover.

For Ander Lopez, their love for Santiago Garcia was insta-attraction/insta-lust/ insta-love and the romance was a nice slow burn. The story is told completely from Ander, a Mexican-American's perspective. Jonny Garza Villa, who places the author's note at the beginning of the book explains that this perspective was the one they were most comfortable telling. As much as I was begging to have a chapter from Santi's perspective, I respect that Jonny Garza Villa did not want to assume the voice of a character in a situation, they had not experienced themselves.

Now that I have told you all that, I guess what didn't work for me has to be confessed. The plot was very slow. It took a while before we got to the heavier issue of the book. If it hadn't been an ARC, I might have not finished. I wasn't a fan of the choices that Ander makes in the end. Maybe the English teacher in me just feels that my students need to read books that really don't always have the endings they desire. But I am a 41-year-old and not the author's target audience.





Expected Publication Date 02/05/23
Goodreads Review Published 26/03/23