A Summer to Start Over is a sweet, if slightly angsty, Latinx romance. Much of the story focuses on second chances. Indya Linares is hesitant to take another chance on love after being burned by an ex who wanted a trad wife and not a strong and independent minded business woman. Santiago Pereira is working towards a fresh start in the US, building a more stable life for himself in order to be able to reunite with his daughter and co-parent he had to leave behind in Venezuela. There's a fair amount of "will they won't they" back and forth between these main characters. Overall though, there isn't a whole lot of tension / stakes between Indya and Santiago, but there is some conflict driven by their pasts. For Santiago, it's driven by his father's vocal disapproval at his past career decisions, which drove his financial challenges and the need to immigrate to the US. Santiago has internalized some of this disapproval and coupled with his heartache and desire to be reunited with his daughter, this is the source of his relationship angst. It doesn't help that his budding flirtation and relationship with Indya is a challenge because she has difficulty navigating the boss/employee and love interest dynamic. Both Indya and Santiago are single parents, and their parenting journeys and relationships with their children are portrayed realistically and age appropriately. Something that usually gets fumbled in romance is age appropriate characterizations of children - I this is something I appreciate!

There were some aspects of the story that felt a bit oddly placed. Scattered throughout the text would be hyper specific details about a seemingly inconsequential object - a shoe rack, a lip gloss, a perfume, etc - that felt out of place. It was also an interesting choice to have so many of the side characters described as "half-xx, half-xx" in terms of nationality. It may have been an attempt to emphasize the diversity of this portion of the Florida panhandle, but it added very little to the story. More of a checkbox mention because these side characters had little to no dialogue or added any other cultural touchpoints to the narrative. I appreciate the inclusion of a non-binary side character, as they had more prominence in the first half of the story, especially when it came to pushing the two main characters together. Santiago is a Venezuelan immigrant, a group afforded temporary protective status in the US, and there is some emphasis on his immigration journey as being done "the right way." That...discomfited me a bit. In the current political climate, narratives emphasizing "good immigrants" and "immigrating the right way" trouble me.

Overall, I am glad I had the opportunity to read it and am interested in exploring other books in this Sera Taino's back catalog.

Tropes:
Workplace romance
Single parents
Boss/employee
Slow burn

this book was okay. It was pretty predictable the whole way through, so that was underwhelming. I think the writing style was a bit weak and needs some work to improve the book. There was a lot of bad descriptions where it was lacking, and it felt full of fluff

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

I have read so many great new romance books lately. A Summer to Start Over by Sera Taino is one that should not be overlooked.