This book is incredibly beautiful in so many ways that I can't even begin to explain right now. It was an entirely unique story with a powerful message and I was so happy about the non-binary rep.
Ander and Santi complimented each other very well The way they grew closer was heartwarming and I absolutely loved them together. Honestly, Jonny Garza Villa did a spectacular job with this book, the characters were fully formed and the plot pacing was just perfect!

A must read!

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

this is a love story between ander, an mexican american teen and santi an undocumented mexican boy. ander works at his family taqueria and is also a muralist. ander is about to head off to college in chicago in a few months, he meets santiago garcia. santi becomes a new waiter at his family taqueria. shortly after it becomes clear that ander and santi are falling for each other. as soon as santi starts to feel at home, ice agents are after santi.

i adored this book. god. i really wished i had a finished copied already because there was so many things i would’ve to tabbed and annotate. i’m definitely going to read this again once it gets released next year so i can fully annotate the whole book.

this book had me in all my feelings. there was so much feelings that i went through while reading this. there was so much fluffy and happy moments and then you would get destroyed and crush a few moments later. this story was so heartbreaking to read, and it’s beautifully written. as you’re start reading this you really think it’s just going to be such a happy cute fluffy book and then halfway it just comes tumbling down and the author just wrecks your heart.

i love the main character ander and i adored santi. i love the relationship that they both have together. they are the cutest couple ever and i just loved reading them together and the chemistry that they have together is just so beautiful. their relationship was just so real to me and i loved it.

i could also just relate to a lot of things in this book, being mexican american myself. i love seeing how the author jonny garza villa wrote our culture into the story and it was so well done. i really love seeing my culture being represented in such a beautiful light and being done beautiful. especially since there’s so many stories out there by white authors writing our culture and they have no business writing that.

i also just can’t get over how well the this story was well written. the author writing style is just so beautiful and so many beautiful quotes throughout it and god i can’t wait to read this again and annotate the heck out of it.

this is a beautiful story about love and heartbreak. i can’t stop thinking about this story. i just love this and please go buy and read this when the story comes out next year.

↳- ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ stars ∞༺♥༻✧

Jonny Garza Villa delivers again. Tears, sad and joyful; amazing cast of family and friends; all the jokes, playlists, and food for days; a big emotional scene by a large body of water. Everything I loved about their debut FIFTEEN HUNDRED MILES FROM THE SUN only more, wiser, even more moving.

In this new adult contemporary coming of age romance, Ander, the beloved bebite of their family and talented muralist on a gap year before art school, falls in love with the new waiter at their family taqueria, Santi. Ander’s family is incredibly supportive if wary of their gap year, taking away their server job so they can focus on art. Ander’s Mami would also strongly prefer if Ander stayed away from handsome, mysterious Santi but won’t tell them why.

Over the 8 months of Ander & Santi’s courtship and love, we learn more about Santi, watch Ander’s art evolve and blossom with their residency with Beautify Not Gentrify, tour San Antonio (vividly and lovingly portrayed), and learn more about grassroots activism for the undocumented.

But it never feels like a checklist. Or your long winded, if well intentioned friend at the rally. Or a collection of tropes. Jonny Garza Villa, like their protagonist Ander, writes flawed, beautiful characters and their communities with a breathtaking specificity that makes them heartbreakingly universal. Their books are a joy, a laugh out loud, order all the snacks, cry, meme, tell a million people to read this book because this specific line or page or scene made you think of them, undeniable, incandescent joy.

Jonny Garza Villa writes the kind of books that make me grateful to be a reader and a librarian.

Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa is a beautifully written, charming and such a remarkable read.

The characters are charming, the writing style is super realistic, and the story will make you feel literally everything. You'll instantly fell in love with Jules and Mat. They’re absolutely adorable.
It's a book that will crush your heart and make you smile with its beautiful story.
What I enjoyed so much was Jonny Garza Villa put so much detail and it all felt so real, I truly missed the characters so much by the time this book was over.
The romance was so tender and beautiful.
This is a book you instantly fall in love with and want it never to end.
It’s the perfect combination of heart-breaking and heart-warming.
Very inspiring, uplifting and wonderfully diverse.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Wednesday Books,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC widget!
I will post my review to my blog, platforms, BookBub, B&N, Kobo and Waterstone closer to pub date.

Thank you so much to the publisher/author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This cover blows me away every time I see it. I absolutely fell in love with it as well as with Santi and AJ. I felt so lucky being able to read this so soon. This is a beautiful and hilarious story that also had me wanting to bawl my eyes out. I can’t count how many times I was just laughing hysterically at how much of a dork everyone was. Jonny Garza Villa did not disappoint with this. I learned a lot about Mexican culture as well as a lot about street art and painting murals. I never thought about how important and influential painting murals is until I saw how important it was to AJ.

This book is so filled with genuine joy and love that I felt myself wishing to feel that too. The characters are all so great and I loved how accepting and open they were. Everyone around AJ seemed to accept them for who they were without any question or complaint. Even when their family didn’t understand their motives, they were still ready to be there for them.

AJ also has an amazing team of friends. From their best friend and ex-boyfriend Zeke to the workers at their family’s restaurant, everyone seemed to love and want to take care of AJ. When Santi is introduced into the dynamic, everyone just adopts him without question.

Santi is such an absolute sweetheart. I couldn’t get over how cute he was. I wanted to protect him at all cost. He and AJ make such an amazing couple I was rooting for them the whole way. Behind the beauty of their love is the ugly truth of what could happen to Santi. He is undocumented and is hiding from ICE. Every day Ander and Santi have to think about the possibility of him being taken away. This definitely had me thinking more about ICE and how undocumented people are forced to live. It makes my blood boil. There is so much tension in this book some scenes I was gasping and holding my breath.

This comes out in April and I highly recommend it for everyone. Preorder it and put it on your TBR! It will both break and mend your heart all in one sitting. I can’t wait to read more from Jonny I already have their first book.

I absolutely loved this book, and it will easily rank in my 2022/2023 favorites. There were so many good, intentional choices here: my favorite was the lack of translation. I think it was such an authentic way of sharing that cultural note, and it makes me angry when publishers make authors translate every thing for english-speaking-only readers: that part of the book is meant for those who understand it, if that makes sense. I also loved the lack of graphic sex, as this is a book for (presumably) young adults, and the intimacy that was described was so tastefully done. I also loved how easy it was for Ander to be non-binary. It wasn't the crux of the book, it was just great representation. I am beyond excited to see what Jonny Garza Villa writes next.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I enjoyed this books so much! Ander decides to stay home from college for a year to work with Beautify and be able to create murals and art around San Antonio. One day they meet Santi, the cute new boy their family hired to work at their taqueria! Ander and Santi grow closer, Santi helping Ander with their art! But Santi is undocumented and ICE is breathing down their necks. Can these two make it work? I am a big fan of Jonny Garza Villa’s work and this book was no different! Jonny has a way of writing connections between the main characters that I can’t describe! I feel all the feels for them! I think that they create deep meaningful relationships and have the characters fight through obstacles for each other! I just love the way they write the relationships between characters! I also really enjoy that the main characters have such strong support systems in their lives! I think there are a lot of people that are going to be able to relate to the struggles that Ander and Santi face and a lot of people who will be seen with these characters! I’m predicting great things for this book! Absolutely a must read for 2023!