This was a fun follow up to Sammy Espinoza but for some reason I felt Inez and Cash's relationship was rushed? But the story of the bar and above all Cash and her daughter were the STARS of the show.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the ArC

I went into this book blink (no blurb reading ahead of time!) I was pleasantly surprised by the storyline.

The characters are lovable and the story is believable. I really enjoyed the short chapters and witty banter. Very light on spice!

It is a sweet rom-com where the main character realizes what is really important in her life and fights for it. A lovely hallmarky underdog small town story. I enjoyed it.

This was adorable! I really enjoyed it. It’s light enough that you can trip along through it with no trouble, but it’s got enough to hook you around the heart and squeeze a little bit.

thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the ARC of this book. all opinions are my own.

I wish I could put into words how much I enjoyed this. What a great book. Highly recommend.

This. Is . What. I'm Talking. About. When. I. Say. We. Need. More. Diverse. stories. I ate this up. Give me more more more more more more more. I missed this authros worlds so much.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Cash is a single mom of a very active 6 year old. Her whole life she's been straight but lately she's been having very graphic, steamy dreams about her best friend Inez. It's making her act differently around her and becoming obvious....but how does she talk to her best friend about it when she's having a gay crisis?

Really enjoyed this one. It goes to show that you are never too old to discover your sexuality and it is never wrong to be your true self.

This is a cute story about a single mother who is trying to save her livelihood and discovers her developing feelings for her best friend in the process. Who doesn’t love best friends to lovers? The small town vibe and community is great and the supporting characters are just as fun as the main couple.

It wasn’t the most hooky opening, though the prose is fine. I stopped after chapter 1 (5%) but for slice-of-life slow-paced fans, it feels like a 3-4 stars average.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
The title of this book is absolutely perfect. It all starts when Cash Delgado starts having sexy dreams about her best friend, Inez. These dreams have Cash questioning her sexuality and she can't figure out if she's just having the dreams because she's lonely and she spends most of her time with her beautiful best friend, or if there's something more to it.
This book was fantastic. I love the sense of community in the small town of Ridley Falls, I loved every single character (except Chase), but I especially loved Parker. I love how Inez did Cash's laundry and cleaned her house just because she knew that her best friend needed the help but wouldn't ask anyone for it. I love the shenanigans that the friends got into and I love how everyone came together to help make sure their town had a fighting chance against money hungry corporations. My favorite part was how authentic Cash's character arc was, from her confusion to her Google searches to her conversations with other characters.
This book was so amazing. Go read it, you won't regret it.

Mejia's debut adult romance was perfect, and yet, they have outdone themself with CASH DELGADO. This is such a gentle, sweet story of finding yourself at an older age and learning what love can look like, in its many forms. Grounded in a beautiful sense of community care and gentle single parenting, I found myself returning to this book every chance I could get, and especially on the more stressful days. Cash's daughter, Parker, absolutely stole the show for me though - beautifully innocent and kind and damn clever to boot. I also really appreciated that even though the stakes were high, they never felt stressful to read about because of the emotional safety net Mejia concocted from the first page. Highly highly recommend, especially for the questioning queer.

Oh wow I absolutely loved reading this. It was such an engaging, and emotionally charged novel that seamlessly combines the aspects of romance, drama, and personal growth. Definitely, deserves more than 5 stars.

THANK YOUU PENGUIN (&netgalley) this was fun easy to read and didn’t bore me to hell while reading it CASH IS insane inez insane
granny o’connor jazz parker
everyone INSANE (affectionate)
loved this so much i think this might be my first ever mejia read but definitely won’t be the last

I was very excited to read a book that focused on a character realizing she was queer late in life, and this was a very cute romance. I appreciated how Cash avoided the typical bartender character cliches. Plus the supporting characters were lots of fun, and the anti-corporate vibes were great. I did find it a little weird that not once did Cash herself, anyone she spoke to, nor the things she read online suggest she might have been bi. No reason she would be necessarily! But every late-discovery queer person I've met has made that assumption first, so it jumped out to me that Cash didn't try out that label before discarding the possibility.

I was a little hesitant to pick this book up after I couldn’t get into Sammy Espinoza, but I’m so glad I gave this a shot after all! Even though this takes place in the same town and there’s several Sammy cameos, this absolutely stands on its own with its focus on Cash and wanting to save Joyce’s, a local dive bar. This is also a book where “everything is political” really keeps coming to mind in the way it challenges gentrification and is so focused on community care. Cash is determined to save the bar that has felt like home since moving to Ridley Falls, and when the Kings franchise is considering moving into Ridley Falls it is the community that supports Cash towards renovations, and also wanting to keep franchises out of Ridley Falls. I also really loved the way Cash realizing she’s a lesbian and pushing back against internalized compulsory heterosexuality was handled. In a way, Cash Delgado feels like a book in conversation with the “gay for you” trope and the different ways realizing you’re queer as an adult can go, especially as we also have glimpses of other characters’ queer awakenings and self understanding. Yes, Cash’s attraction is focused on Inez, but she’s also realizing other elements of attraction and the ways her dynamics with men were always a convenience where they pursued her, rather than actual interest in them. Which comes back to how much this is a book of community and community care, the ways Inez’s chosen family is just as much a part of Cash’s journey as the larger community is for the bar. I also adored Parker, Cash’s six-year-old daughter, and how confident she is in herself and the many conversations between Parker and Cash where we see the ways children are often wiser than we give them credit for. All around this was a really good book that I really enjoyed, and this was a journey I loved going along the ride for.

This was very enjoyable. I loved the character development and story. It was entertaining and heartfelt. Thank you for the gifted arc.

I feel like I always need to announce that I'm a straight, cis woman when reviewing LGBTQIA+ works. Mainly because I want people to know that this type of fiction is excellent for anyone. The spice is hot, and the entire novel is sweet and adorable.

This book was SUPER disappointing. I was hoping for a positive FF romance with a single mom and it barely delivered. The main character was SO boring. I couldn't relate to them and I didn't care about their struggles or life. What bugged me the most though was how often she had that dream about her best friend. Once, I can see. Twice, fine. But three plus times?? I get that it was different dreams but the repetition of it was SUPER off putting and took me out of the story each time. Plus im 30% in and she's just obsessed with saving the bar.

I was invited by the publisher to read this book, and was ultimately happy that they put this on my radar! This book was a bit of a departure for me from my regular reads, but was nonetheless enjoyable. I enjoyed this book for many reasons, but the most being Cash's discovery of how she identifies. Yes, this was a good romance, with Cash realizing her feelings for Inez were deeper than just that of a friendship. But I always appreciate characters who grow and become who they were truly meant to be, and we get that with Cash in this book. These characters were also relatable, which is a breath of fresh air. The only thing I would have changed is more romance between Cash and Inez once feelings were revealed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Dell for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Mejia’s last title, so I was excited to enter back into that world. Cash Delgado is a single mother who suddenly finds herself surprised to be questioning her attraction to her female best friend. I enjoyed Cash and her story, but I feel like this is a rare case when the book could’ve benefited from being longer to spend more time on both Cash discovering her queerness and figuring out her romance. It’s a sweet story, but a bit underwhelming.