Takes One to Know One by Lissette Decos was impossible to put down—I had an absolute blast reading this book. The story follows Daniella, a marketing executive at a Miami music label, who is tasked with promoting their first reggaeton artist, El Rico. The caveat - Daniella doesn’t like reggaeton, and El Rico sees right through her pretense.

Decos does a stunning job immersing readers in Puerto Rican culture. I truly felt like I was there—tasting the ocean air, smelling the food cooking in the kitchens and food trucks, and hearing the music playing from car windows. The setting is truly vibrant, rich, and authentic. It made me feel so proud to be Latina.

But it’s not just about the culture, and the love story between Danielle and Rene. Daniella’s grief over losing her Puerto Rican father adds a deep emotional layer to the story. Her struggle to manage her grief by being the family’s caretaker—always trying to fix things for her mother and little sister—brings a lot of complexity to her character. She’s spent her entire adult life putting others first, and the story delves beautifully into the emotional toll that takes on her. Watching her shed some layers was beautiful.

Daniella’s relationship with her family, especially her younger sister, is portrayed with such tenderness, adding even more depth to her character. And the slow burn romance between Daniella and Rene (El Rico) is just perfect—there’s a natural sensuality that Decos captures effortlessly, reflecting the warmth and ease that comes with being part of the Latino community.

That being said, the romance felt like it could’ve used a bit more build-up. I wish it had been fleshed out a little more. While the chemistry between Daniella and Rene is undeniable, I wished their feelings for each other had developed a little more organically. The moments we do get are great, but with the song "Take It Off" being written and produced before they even shared a truly vulnerable moment, I felt like there was a missed opportunity to deepen their connection. If this aspect had been fleshed out more, their eventual separation and reunion would have had a deeper emotional impact on me.

All in all, I am so incredibly happy I got the chance to read this book. It is a love letter to music, to reguetton, to Puerto Rico, and to the Latinx community. Obsessed!

This was a fun, easygoing read that I flew through in no time. The writing was engaging and the premise had a lot of potential. I enjoyed the overall story, but there were a few things that kept me from fully loving it.

One of the biggest issues for me was the character development. It felt like the book really did nothing to flesh out the characters. I love being able to connect with characters on a deeper level but that connection felt a little out of reach. Because of this, certain moments that should have been emotionally impactful didn’t hit as hard as they could have.

Another thing that stood out was the pacing of the romance. I don’t usually mind a slow burn but in this case, it felt too slow, especially since the characters weren’t fully developed. Without that emotional connection, the slow progression of the romance made parts of the book drag a bit. It wasn’t until things finally picked up that I felt more invested but unfortunately a lot of people won’t stick around if they don’t feel that initial pull.

That being said, I did enjoy this book. It had charm, a solid concept and was an easy read. If the characters had been given more depth and the pacing had been a bit tighter, I think I would have enjoyed it even more.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC. I enjoyed the book a lot. It has a strong plot and great characters. This was a phenomenal read and very engaging. This was such a great love story. It had all my favorite tropes.

3.75/5

i really enjoyed this novel, i finished it in under a day and it finally got me out of my slump! i really enjoyed the descriptions of puerto rico and the parts of dani finally visiting the island his father is from and exploring the places her father sang about. it wasn't a totally perfect book, but i definitely recommend it and i think i will also check out the author's previous and upcoming works!

As a Dominican woman who has loved Reggaeton since childhood, I was immediately hooked by the premise of this book. I feel as if this kind of Latino fiction is underrepresented (from the Caribbean), so I was happy to be able to obtain a copy of this book. It is a rather niche topic for some readers, but I feel it is a novel anyone can enjoy, although I wish the Spanish wasn’t translated, and that the songs were written in Spanish.

I want to go into a few of the positives. I absolutely love the author’s depictions of Puerto Rico in this book. The landscapes are described so beautifully, they really made me miss my motherland, and did the island justice! I loved all the cultural references to the music and food of Puerto Rico. That was all very fun. Dani was fine as a protagonist, she was smart and ambitious if a bit stuffy and buttoned up. The relationship with her dad was so sweet and that may have been my favorite part of the book.

Here come some of the negatives. I did not particularly enjoy Rene, and I would’ve rooted more for the main couple if he had just been a more fleshed-out character. The only explanation we get for why he is mysterious is because he is “shy”. But he is not endearing, he’s kind of a jerk, uber sensitive, and kind of a Bad Bunny ripoff but in a bad way. I am all for a slow burn romance, however, the burn on this one was like a lit match. Immediately put out. Nothing very exciting happened between the romantic leads until about 80% of the book. The lead up was sweet at times, and I understand that some romances do take time to develop. But even the lead up was not particularly interesting. There was more thought and detail put into the outfits that the characters wore every day (especially Rene, what a fashionista!) than into the romantic aspect.

The side characters were very much just “there”, nothing to them really, especially Camila. What was the actual point of her lol. And James and his backstory with Dani…no point. I like that the author described activities that Dani was doing, but some of them just made no sense as to why she was doing them or were boring. There were times when I didn’t even know what was happening, either because there was very little detail explained beforehand and/or because the dialogue and inner monologue didn’t make sense.

All in all, I wish I had liked it more. It was OK for a brief Saturday read, but I found myself more frustrated than I would like. Thank you, Netgalley.

Set to be published on April 1, 2025 I am looking forward to reading this ARC copy!
You Had Me at Hola meets Dirty Dancing in this enemies-to-lovers rom-com set in Puerto Rico's music industry.

Daniela is risk-averse, blazer-obsessed, and likes to be taken seriously. So when her record label job is on the line, she’s prepared to do anything to keep it. Except for working with the genre of music she hates most: reggaeton. It's supposed to inspire sensual hip-swinging dance moves and Dani’s hips do not swing—not like that anyway. Out of desperation, Dani lies and says she loves reggaeton. But not only does Dani get to keep her job, she gets a ticket to Puerto Rico . . . on a mission to clean up the scandalous image of international reggaeton singer Rene ‘El Rico’ Rodriguez.

Despite her best act, Dani’s dislike of his music and Rene's prickly disposition is palpable, resulting in them butting heads at every turn. Yet as the two spend more time together under the island’s sizzling sun, Dani realizes there’s more to Rene than his rough edges and good looks. The man that many only see as a sex icon actually cares about his music, community, and culture. Against her will, she slowly begins finding him harder to hate. And before she knows it, Rene is teaching Dani how to find the rhythm of the music and learn to let go. But will she ever be ready to acknowledge the heat growing between them and put her heart on the line?