Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books for the advanced copy of this book!
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Holy cow. This book taught me more about grief and handling it then basically anything else I've read. Rafie is spiraling after losing his grandfather, and he finds himself with the absolute need to win the Mariachi competition, but his family has moved and now he has to start over at a new school that already has a lead singer. Rafie is a very flawed character; it is easy to hate the way he treats Rey and the other Todos Colores, but I think there is grace to be given to a teen who's whole world is falling apart and he can't find something solid to grasp.
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Garza Villa brings the world of Mariachi and Mexican culture to life, while also exploring where the LGBTQIA+ community fits within it. The boys are forced to confront what it means to be gay and how they want to be perceived by their friends and teammates. The exploration of being trans in high school and the effect that has when finding romance is done beautifully, and should be read by those of all ages. I can't recommend giving this book a read enough!

This was a truly enjoyable read from start to finish! I hope to read more from this author soon.

Thank you to the publisher, author and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book.

This beautifully written story explores the power of music, love, and the journey of self-discovery in a way that truly resonates.

Garza Villa’s lyrical prose pulls you in, creating a vivid world filled with rich emotions and relatable characters. I loved how the themes of family and identity are woven throughout, making the narrative feel both personal and universal. Like always Jonny delivers such beautiful and intentional queer and latinx representation.

The connection between the characters is so authentic, filled with heartfelt moments that made me laugh and cry. The exploration of the healing power of music added an extra layer of depth that I absolutely adored.

This book was so heartfelt. I also loved learning more about mariachi through this story. This was a beautiful story of love, grief and music. The two main characters were dynamic and well written. The plot was easy to follow and this story felt effortless to get through even though some tougher topics were handled. I really loved this one

Jonny Garza Villa's book is excellent as usual! Canto Contigo made me laugh and cry and more, and I adored getting to know its delightful cast of characters and learning more about mariachi music. Really amazing work, and I can't wait to see what they have in store.

After reading this book, the title truly hits. This is probably the most lighthearted of Jonny Garza Villa's books, even though it does have its serious themes, like grief. I loved Rafie and Rey together from their first meeting, and I loved seeing their rivalry turn into romance. In both their rivalry and their romance, they had so much chemistry, and it made me feel so soft reading about them.

i loved this one! the characters were so complex and nuanced, to the point where they almost felt real, like they were about to come off the page. the romance was also really good, the characters had a lot of chemistry. i also really enjoyed the exploration of familial loss.

thank you netgalley and wednesday books for the arc.

This is one of those books where you want to yell at a character to get out of their own way. That being said Rafael has a lot going on with losing his grandfather, moving, and starting a new school his senior year. Grief affects everyone differently and Rafie's emotions felt authentic. There's no right way to grieve and the pressure we put on ourselves to do it right is pretty ridiculous. I enjoyed the banter between Rafie and Rey. There's great LGBTQIA+ rep throughout and some great examples of allies as well. Ander & Santi Were Here was a pretty high bar for me for this author and this book did a pretty good job of meeting expectations.

4.5 stars
I loved this book. Jonny writes such beautiful characters with so much depth and emotion. Rafie is going through a lot and you can truly feel what he’s going through.
I didn’t know much about mariachi and learning about it in this book was so fun and I loved it. Highly recommend this book.

*Thank you Wednesday books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

OMGEEEE everything that Johnny writes makes me cry!! This book was soooo BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING!! Johnny know how to make you get into your feelings with their characters and the love they pour out onto their stories is phenomenal!!

Canto Contigo has all the humor, heart, and hermosos a reader could ever want! Jonny Garza Villa strikes gold again with sun sign Leo Rafie and his gotta be an earth sign one night almost hookup turned mariachi rival, Rey!

This book has so much to offer readers from culture, to exploring colorism, homophobia, and transphobia in the Mexican community, to the sheer love and celebration of being embraced for exactly who you say you are.

I love the work Jonny Garza Villa is doing on behalf of all of our Queer Latino kids who now have mirrors to reflect their identity and experiences. He’s helping kids feel less alone, one book at a time.

Jonny Garza Villa, the writer that you are. Ugh as with their other books, the writing is so beautiful. There’s something so soft about the way Jonny writes and it’s not that the romances are soft or that there aren’t hard topics and themes but it’s just a sense of serene bliss to sit down and read one of Jonny Garza Villa’s books. It’s a certain feeling that is invoked from their characters and the stories they come up with. I love everything about this book and so cannot wait to read more of Jonny’s books in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was full of so much emotion and was beautifully written. I loved all of the Spanish that was used throughout the book as it helped make the book come alive. I adored all of the love shown to Mariachi and it makes me want to go watch a live Mariachi band right now. I loved the diverse characters in this book and was so happy at the ending.

This was my first Jonny Garza Villa book and most certainly won’t be my last.

This was such a beautiful coming-of-age story that expertly touched on grief, mental health, sexuality and gender, and being true to yourself.

Rafie had such depth as a character. Though he could be unlikeable at times, between losing his grandfather, adjusting to a new environment, and trying to exceed his own expectations, you sympathize with him throughout.

Rey and Rafie’s relationship was also well paced! I loved that they didn’t automatically go from rivals to lovers and we actually built to up it!

The rest of the cast of characters also felt very fleshed out and never felt like they were just “there.” They made a great found family.

Canto Contigo has single handedly become one of my favorite reads of the year and I can’t wait to read it again.

I can safely say I was not at ALL prepared for the feelings this book would leave me with. JGV knocked it out of the park with this one, as per usual, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful, more poignant, more relatable portrayal of grief. Having recently lost one of my own grandparents, this hit way too close to home, and I’m going to be thinking about it for the foreseeable future. Raf and Rey’s amazing love story is woven so flawlessly into the overarching story, while still leaving space for Raf to go through the grieving process and learn how to exist in a world without his grandparent.

Aside from all of that, there were so many moments that had me laughing out loud, even with tears in my eyes from the prior page - a necessary reminder that it’s absolutely, perfectly normal to laugh even while going through the grieving process. That’s okay! Personally, I’ve felt like permission was needed to enjoy myself while also being devastated over the loss of my grandparent, and I’m so grateful that I was able to find that through this story.

oh, how i love jonny garza villa's homage to queer teens falling in love! this book has so much heart and so much love and makes me feel so tender. i felt these characters' grief and joy so sharply, and villa has such a penchant for creating that verisimilitude i crave in contemporary fiction. i also loved learning so much about mariachi and like... high school and college competitive mariachi?? such a cool niche to hear about. i feel blessed to have experienced this book and that jonny shared this wonderful and beautiful story with us.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. Review previously withheld in solidarity with the St. Martin’s Press reviewer boycott. All opinions are my own. 

Jonny Garza Villa delivers another poignant queer Latine YA novel with Canto Contigo. Once again, they deliver a story full of culture and heart, and this is perhaps the richest in that department. I don’t know a ton about mariachi, but I love the way this musical style was conveyed. From the tribute to Selena Quintanilla-Perez to the celebration of it. 

The protagonist, Rafie, is a sympathetic, if flawed, protagonist. The narrative deals with him reckoning with his grief for his grandfather beautifully. He doesn’t always behave perfectly; in fact, sometimes, he’s not the nicest person. But I like that he’s an example of a messy QTPOC, and he’s embraced by his new friends in spite of his flaws. 

Rey is a delightful love interest, a perfect cinnamon roll to complement the more prickly Rafie. While Rey is one of the people who is deeply impacted by Rafie’s poor decisions, he’s one of the people who is unconditionally there for Rafie when he needs it, and the nice moments between them generally outweigh the negative ones for me. 

This was a great read, and I’d recommend it to readers looking for a sweet, heartwarming YA romance with queer, trans, and Latine rep.

As a fellow water sign (Pisces not cancer like ya boy) Rey was the perfect little cinnamon roll for me to get into this book. It was very much a comfort/angst kind of read where sure bad things happened and there are hella sad moments dealing with loss and the burdens we place on ourselves but they were expertly interwoven with comforting moments that worked very well. Also rivals to lovers is peak.

I simply don't believe Jonny Garza Villa is capable of writing a sub-par book. Canto Contigo is a delightful, heartwarming novel, despite it's heavy theme of grief. Garza Villa just has a talent for making vivid life-like characters, and an intriguing story. Auto-buy forever.