I liked this one a lot! The pacing was very good and it was very beautifully written, I read it in a day. It was shorter than I am used to in a novel, but the points get across. The book is character driven through the eyes of the MC, and while I loved diving into the different relationships - romantic and otherwise - the POV left it feeling a little one-sided.
Overall it was a solid read, one I will certainly recommend, and I look forward to diving into more books from this publisher!
Thanks again to Netgalley and Bindery/Mareas for the eARC!

Trigger warnings for death of a child, spousal abuse, infidelity

The writing in this book is so very good. I was instantly absorbed and read through the whole book in one setting … but, unfortunately I enjoy the writing more than the story.

In the author’s acknowledgements she mentions that this story is based off of her grandparents and, I think, that’s part of the problem I had with this book. The author, I think, was too respectful of the source inspiration to make Inés a character in her own right. Inés,as the narrator of this book, has a pleasant, monotone voice. Everything said is in a soothing, even manner with little to no reaction to anything. Finding out her husband left her, the death of her son, the smell of a bar of soap, her sister’s reaction to her relationship with a married man, seeing a painting, buying shoes, it’s all told with the same indifferent lyricism. Again, it’s beautifully written, but it’s also … kind of bland.

During the early days of her relationship with Regulo, the married man she is having an affair with, he complains that she is mysterious, that she keeps too much of herself from him and — for me — that’s how this book felt. Like I was being kept at arm’s length while Inez told the story of her life; and for the most part, I’m fine with that. The author has a gift for writing but … like Regulo, I wanted to get just a little closer, to see Inés as a character with a personality rather than someone politely telling me the story of her life. While it’s a lot of telling, something that might not work in every books, it did work here. I just wish Inés had had any emotion, any reaction to anything.

Inés has always known that she’s beautiful, and it’s made her vain, complacent, entitled, and indifferent to the opinions of others. She is a leaf floating down a stream with no thought for the rocks in the way, confident she will make her way past them. And, she does.

And it’s irksome because the life she leads is a fascinating one. Abandoned by her husband who leaves her for her own sister, left with two children, one of them an infant, she is forced to sell her home and impose on her sister — who wants nothing to do with her or her children, and forgives Inés’s sister more readily than Inés — she finds herself meeting, falling for, and moving in with her destined true love … while being married, Catholic, and in a very Catholic town. Their romance is scandalous, but you’d never know it from the placid way Inés recounts every scene no matter what’s happening.

The blurb mentions sisterhood as one of the facts of Inés’s story, but I’m afraid I don’t see it at all. At least, not in the book. While Inés says in a very offhand way that she loves her sisters, there’s no sign of that anywhere in the book save for a vague relationship with her sister Chata through letters. Of the others, there’s no indication that there’s anything but dislike and indifference on their part, and indifference on hers.

The main focus is the romance between Inés and Regulo through all the difficulties of their affair, the coming together and the parting, the long talks and business ventures. And I’d like to have been more interested in it, but it’s all just so mild, unconcerned and complacent, and because it’s so well written, I was even more frustrated. Like Inés I was carried along through her life by the author’s beautiful writing. I just wish I’d enjoyed the journey more.

I look forward to future books from this author. Thank you so very much to Net Galley and the punisher for the ARC.