I normally don't gravitate towards charecter-driven novels, however Like Happiness had me fully captivated. I really enjoyed the main female protagonist and experiencing her coming-of-age as I resonated with her. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

Tatum is finally living the life she wanted in Chile in 2015 when a journalist calls from the US asking about famous author Mateo Dominguez who has been accused of sexual assault. Tatum is suddenly pushed back into her 20s and the relationship she had with Mateo for a decade. It was really more of a friendship that was fuzzy at times. When Tatum was young she loved Mateo’s book, Happiness, so much she wrote him a fan letter that he responded too and thus developed a relationship that was never as much as she wanted.

Literary fiction is just not my jam some days so this may be just me but I didn’t love this one. The chapters were really long and the book moved slowly. The writing was good but the characters were not relatable and Tatum was so strange at times. It shows the power dynamics between an older famous author and a young Latino girl who feels looked over. The ending of the relationship was manipulative from Mateo’s standpoint but I have a hard time believing he endured this long of a relationship for the end result. I had a hard time feeling bad for Tatum when she was so obsessed and did anything he wanted at the drop of a hat. People treat you like you let them at times and I just couldn’t get my head wrapped around this friendship. Other than wanting to be in his orbit for the fame of it or just to avoid being lonely maybe. Anyway I’m just rambling at this point :)

Thanks to @celadonbooks for the arc for an honest review. Available now.

This is the kind of really accomplished debut that reminds readers why new authors are absolutely worth the effort to seek out and appreciate. With an exceptionally timely story about issues of toxic, obsessive, predatory, power imbalanced relationships, this is a fast paced narrative framed as Tatum Vega revisiting the "friendship" she had with a much older and more accomplished author M. Dominguez over several years, and how it impacted her life, her career, and her relationships, looking back after new stories about the author and his inappropriate behavior have surfaced. Tatum is challenged by what her relationship with the author was as she's forced to reexamine it in a new light. With a cast of Latinx characters and a rich setting in both New York City and Chile, this is a memorable, thoughtful, and interesting story from a new author that readers will want to keep their eye on in the future.

This book started out pretty slow for me in the beginning, but once the story picked up, I couldn't put it down. I really enjoyed the author's writing style and the way she split the story between Tatum's present life and Tatum's letter to M., allowing for a unique insight into Tatum's past, showing both how she felt when the events took place and the way she's seeing it now through new eyes. I think the author also did a really good job of exploring the complexities of the power dynamic between Tatum and M and the complicated feelings Tatum has in regard to him even after everything transpires. It felt authentic in a way I don't often see in stories.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to see what she writes next!

A very well-turned out debut novel from Ursula Villarreal-Moura. Tatum Vega is a young Latino graduate student from an economically challenged family in San Antonio Texas, studying at University in Massachusetts. She comes across a book called Happiness, a collection of short stories by Latino author M. Dominguez and writes a fan letter to the author. Mateo Dominguez writes back and so begins a correspondence that culminates into relationship of sorts spanning a decade. However, the perfect relationship it is NOT, just one fraught with imbalance, powerplay and lack of commitment. This is not a new subject, enough has been written about a vulnerable young woman falling for an older man in a position of authority and economic privilege. What is novel, is how the author has very adeptly breathed new life into the subject and the original style she has chosen to write about it as a long letter from Tatum to Mateo several years down the line, Along-with the nuances of emotional manipulation and powerplay, the author touches upon a host of other issues as Tatum Vega comes of age. I personally felt all the characters were flawed and somewhere Tatum herself had ingrained commitment issues. Nothing is truly black and white, just shades of grey open to interpretation. It was a quick paced story and I kept turning the pages to the end. Thought provoking and read-worthy for sure, I had not expected I would end up loving it. A bonus is the vast amount of literary gems referenced throughout the story as part of Tatum's love for reading.

Thank you NetGalley, Celadon books and Ursula Villarreal-Moura for the ARC.

The concept of this book intrigued me- it sounded a bit like a #metoo movement book told through a series of flashbacks. The writing format- a letter to the person from her past- was interesting. I think the second-person perspective lost me and made it hard to connect to the story. Overall, I enjoyed it but felt a lot left to be desired. I'll be interested to see what the author writes next!

Like Happiness is a literary debut about a woman, Tatum, and her ruinous relationship with her favorite author, M. Dominguez. After receiving a call from a reporter, Tatum is forced to confront the past she has worked hard to move on from. The book shifts between the letter Tatum writes to Dominguez recounting their relationship, and present-day Tatum contending with the full truth of his character. It is a very nuanced exploration of a variety of topics including gender, sexuality, and skewed power dynamics.
While the writing style was very engaging, I did eventually switch to an audiobook which helped me finish the book. The climax of the book was phenomenal and had me thinking about it and what it means for days.

Gritty characters and a storyline that captured my attention instantly. Loved the art focus and learned from this fictional story.

Unfortunately, this book fell flat to me. The characters lacked depth, the plot moved slow, and I didn't feel the chemistry or drama between Tatum and Mateo. The plot switched back and forth between first and second person narration which was a bit jarring for me. The first person narration was difficult to connect with because Tatum didn't feel like a fully developed character. The side characters didn't add to the plot and felt forced or forgotten at times. Overall, I wanted so much more from this but it didn't live up to its potential for me.

This book examines the relationship between a young woman and a successful author, in a way that feels very realistic and authentic to an experience many women may have. The dual timeline shows the interactions between the woman and the author, and later fallout when information about his behavior comes to light. I would highly recommend this book which feels introspective into the mind of the protagonist.

This is a new author that I enjoyed reading. I enjoyed this author's writing style as well as their attention to details that brought the characters to life. This is a well written story that has a lot going on but I enjoyed how the author kept things striaght and not confusing. This is a story that will have you thinking about your own relationships. I enjoyed how this story is told in duel points of view. The characters are engaging, strong and had me coming back for more. They are connectable and relateable. They add so much to the story's entertainment value. Tatum is a great character and my favorite of the story. I enjoyed watching the growth of the story which made it easy to read. This is a fast paced story that is hard to put down. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to seeing what is next for this author. I highly recommend this book.

I didn’t know what to expect going into Like Happiness, but this book instantly seized my full attention. It’s told in two timelines: Most of it is written in second person, Tatum writing a long letter to an author named Mateo, addressing all of her thoughts to him as she recounts their full relationship. Interspersed are shorter chapters from 2015, when Tatum is living in Chile and has been asked to corroborate a story of Mateo’s alleged abuse of other women.

Books written in the second person are usually hard for me to get into, but Like Happiness is written in such a natural and engaging way that this narrative device never bothered me here. The majority of the book unfolds as Tatum tells Mateo (“you”) her full account of everything that happened between them, from her isolated years as a university student to a directionless young adult to a woman betrayed by the man she thought she could trust. Tatum and Mateo have a complicated, indistinct relationship, always on the cusp of something more, but always kept just distant enough that they’re only orbiting each other.

A major theme throughout Like Happiness is Tatum’s love of literature. She sees the world through the eyes of the books she’s read, identifying with characters and picking up on the literary techniques that make books transcendent. She’s intelligent, but she also lacks confidence and direction. Despite the support she gets from her parents, her friends—especially Mateo—don’t necessarily bolster her self-esteem.

As the novel progresses, Tatum’s relationship with Mateo becomes more and more disjointed and unsavory. Why does he treat her the way he does? What does she really mean to him? Why does she seem to care for him more than he does for her? Eventually, the truth comes out and changes Tatum’s perspective on everything.

Like Happiness is an immersive story that puts us fully in the mind of Tatum as she navigates young adulthood in the 2000s and into the 2010s. She’s a deep thinker, about literature and Latinx identity and achieving the right career path eventually, but she’s lost in a way so many can relate to. It’s not the kind of book I normally read or react so strongly to, but it completely absorbed me. I already look forward to reading more from Ursula Villarreal-Moura.

This was a very slow burn, character centered novel diving into the complexities of what it’s like to examine a relationship and realize it was toxic. Tatum is living in Chile with her partner Vera when she is contacted by an American journalist who wants to interview her about her relationship years ago with a famous writer. The writer, Mateo , has been accused of sexual assault and although he never did anything like that with Tatum she believes he is guilty. She is forced to re-examine her years long, complex, toxic relationship with him and the book goes back and forth between the present and their past relationship. Tatum writes a letter to the author and in the process comes to some realizations about herself and her past relationship . This just wasn’t for me.

A powerful debut novel, multi-layered and nuanced, taking you out of your comfort zone and making you re-read passages as you realize how much each layer reveals.

Tatum Vega is 30 years old now and finally content with her life in Chile: a job she loves surrounded by the art she loves, a full life with a partner that makes her happy. But when a reporter from the US asks for an interview about someone she once knew she wonders if the past is really in the past.

From the minute Tatum happened upon his book Happiness she was entranced – or maybe obsessed is the better word – with author M. Domínguez. The book seemed to be speaking to her and her alone. She was certain she knew what was behind every word of it, every hidden meaning. It was as if she had found her soulmate. She contacted him via letter. A fan letter, really, and she hardly expected to hear back. But he did reply and so began a twelve-year relationship. A very odd, unbalanced, unfair relationship which was likely apparent to everyone but Tatum. A relationship that kept her in a kind of limbo, accepting, settling, hoping.

Domínguez has now been accused of assault and the reporter from the US is looking for corroboration from Tatum. As she thinks about her response she insists (to herself) she was never assaulted, but realizes she believes he is capable of it. This forces her to examine that relationship again and to write a letter to him recounting and re-examining that relationship in perhaps a new and startling light. Along the way we relive Tatum’s struggles with her and the variety of difficult issues she’s had to face her entire life. And her growing realization of just what that relationship involved, and what it cost her.

Tatum is an unusual, interesting character with an active mind and much talent. The dual narrative alternating between her present day and the letter she writes to Domínguez works very well. The ending feels a little abrupt and I thought too much is made of the 8-year age difference, but this did not take away from my enjoyment of the story.

Like Happiness is another surprising – and surprisingly satisfying – book from Celadon Books as a Celadon Reader. Always the best titles. Thanks to Celadon for providing an advance copy of Like Happiness via NetGalley. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

I like the way this book flashes back in time to tell two stories at once. I feel many women will relate to this story. Loved the Latina representation in this book and the Spanish used throughout.

Genre : Literary Fiction
Rating : 3.8/5

An emotional, heartbreaking, searing story about a young woman and her obsessive, toxic relationship with a writer she idolized and loved.

Tatum is finally living the life she always wanted for herself - a loving partner in Chile along with a stable job at a museum surrounded by gorgeous art she has always admired. So, when she is approached by a journalist regarding the nature of her relationship with a famous author - who is now accused of sexual abuse - the last thing she wants to do is delve into her past. While she reassures the journalist that she was never a victim and does not want to divulge her past, memories crop up and she unwittingly goes down a rabbit hole. Was she a victim ? Were there unfortunate layers to her relationship with the author that she didn't understand then ?

I won't lie, I was quite surprised by the book. While the premise certainly seemed interesting, the book has its own charm that keeps a reader thoroughly engaged. It's written in first narrative - where Tatum is directly addressing the author - Mateo - as she talks about her past. It get us more involved into her story, and empathize & sympathize with her. We, as readers, feel what she feels. We feel elation for her when she gets the response from the author, feel anger at the level of neglect she faces, and sad for her as she yearns for attention that she doesn't receive. It was an extremely quick read and took me a day to finish!
The story also encapsulates how often - men who hold the position of power, exploit women either physically or emotionally to get what they need. And rarely suffer much consequences. Mateo in this case was a popular author and Tatum a young, naive girl - who was infatuated with him and who craved for his bare minimum while he took advantage of that.

There were a couple of unresolved aspects of the book like - what happened to Mateo after the allegations? Was he rightfully arrested? How did Tatum end up in Chile with a partner, how did she get over her 10 year long obsession and settle with a partner in Chile? And maybe the purpose of the book was to not answer those but it felt off for me. Nonetheless, a great read that kept me interested. This was her debut novel and I'm curious to see what the author comes up with next.

#likehappiness #UrsulaVillarreal-Moura #bookreview

I received this ARC from NetGalley to read and review.

When the novel opens, it is 2015, and Tatum Vega, an expat in Chile, living with her girlfriend and employed at a museum, is contacted by an investigative journalist with The New York Times who is looking into sexual abuse allegations against M. Told in an epistolary format, Tatum unspools her relationship with M, whom she refers to as Mateo. As she explains, Mateo’s debut short story collection shaped her life, but her fascination with fiction and authors predated him. A Mexican American who was raised in a “dire financial situation” in San Antonio, Texas, Tatum was a double major in English and history at Williams College in Massachusetts which she chose because it was the home of Plath and Sexton, but she miscalculated how she would fare. She found “Happiness” by M. Dominquez displayed at Border’s among the classics. It was a short story collection about the lives of Latin Americans in Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico. The book “cast a spell” over Tatum, and she wrote the author a fan letter gushing about how his work has been a “lifeline for me” as the only minority in her classes and praised how his “work legitimizes Latino culture and quietly celebrates it.”

Mateo responded to Tatum, later explaining that he was drawn to her because she didn’t want to be a writer and she “seemed sincere and chill.” A meeting at a book signing in New York was followed by a month fortressed in a posh Hyannis estate while Tatum house sat. Yet, the two were physically intimate only once, Mateo reasoning: “Mi Vida, you’re young and beautiful, I’m old and fucked up. I’m not generally good to women, but I’m not going to ruin shit with you. I’ll never forgive myself if I do something stupid like give you a disease or hurt you.” Tatum was satisfied going to happy hour and to book stores with Mateo, claiming that their “literary conversations were the backbone of their friendship.” She convinced herself that the switch to friendship was safer and permanent, and her lust for his intellect grew as her interest in his physicality waned.

Although Mateo and Tatum were only 8 years apart, theirs was an imbalanced relationship. As Tatum writes, “the fact remained that I was still an undergraduate and you were a professor.” Indeed, Mateo was a famed author of a wildly successful book and an Ivy League professor. Yet, the relationship depicted in “Like Happiness” is far more subtle than novels like “My Dark Vanessa” which portray the more typical relationships between naive teenage girls and their magnetic and manipulative teachers who groom them to enter into inappropriate relationships. As Tatum recounts her relationship with Matteo, she discloses some red flags and, as she concludes her letter, she realizes, as does the reader, that there are different kinds of violations. Just as Tatum felt that Mateo “understood the psyche of a young woman and wrote from her perspective with stunning clarity,” so does Villarreal-Moura in this novel of betrayal. Thank you Celadon Books and Net Galley for an advanced readers’ copy of this propulsive debut novel.

The writing in Like Happiness is exquisite. I was drawn in from the beginning. It gave off a very sophisticated vibe. I've lived in San Antonio about 2.5 years and it was intriguing to read a novel from a SA native as well as be able to perfectly see in my mind places that were mentioned. In the beginning I found myself rooting for Tatum and her May December-esq relationship but you quickly see that Mateo is narcissistic, mean, and is using her for his own gain. I hate how so many years of her life were put on hold because of her hope in Mateo. I started to get to a point where I was ready for it to be over as they both make terrible decisions. You know that something big is coming from the get go but I didn't expect what it was. I loved how literary Like Happiness was and look forward to more by the author.

This book is about Tatum’s relationship with a famous writer. She met him while she was still in college. She sent him fan mail and he replied. They weren’t necessarily in a romantic relationship. It was a type of friendship. He is much older than her. Their relationship spans at least a decade. The book explores gender, power, and fame and their impact on this relationship.

In present day, Tatum lives in Chile with her partner. A journalist reaches out to her for an interview. The famous author, M. Dominguez, has been accused of assault. Tatum is forced to relive her past as she tells her own story.

The writing is impeccable. The references to writers and infamous books was fun to read about. The book moves at a slow, but steady pace. It’s a book that draws you in and makes you think.

I chose this book one day while browsing NetGalley because I was drawn to the cover, and the description of the story intrigued me. The book tells the story of Tatum Vega who in her 20s develops a relationship with a famous author, Mateo Domínguez, whose work she admires. When the book begins she is in her 30s when she is contacted by a reporter who wants to include her in an investigation against Domínguez, who has been accused of assault by another woman. The book mostly consists of Tatum writing a letter to Domínguez that details her experience in their relationship and how it has impacted her.

This debut novel has an interesting writing style. In much of the book, the author writes in an epistolary style that uses second person point of view, giving the story a very personal feeling. It seems that the author is intelligent and well-versed in art and literature. She sometimes shifts to Spanish or Japanese, immersing the reader a bit into the language of those cultures. My only wish is that she had more often provided translations for the things said in these languages.

The power balance in relationships is at the center of the narrative. Tatum is infatuated with an older, more established man. This relationship is unbalanced, and Tatum struggles to find her own identity and move forward with her life. The book also explores other important topics such as personal and cultural identity and sexual orientation.

While I enjoyed the writing style and found the characters to be well developed, there are some aspects that frustrated me. The pace of the book is sometimes too slow, and I found myself losing interest. I usually like a slow pace, but I found Tatum frustrating as a protagonist, so I did not relish living in her head for 300 pages. She has the advantage of an elite education, but wastes it for much of the story. I cannot connect with that kind of lack of ambition and drive. She is also a bit of a literary and art snob judging others for their lack of knowledge. The isolation she feels is often of her own making, so it is hard to feel sympathy for her.

Overall, I have to admit that this book is just okay in my estimation. It was good enough to continue to the end, but I am not likely to remember it months in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.