After Hours on Milagro Street

WoW! I can't thank Carina Trade enough for this eARC!
I was hoping to get approved for this title.
The cover instantly intrigued me and the description I just had to get my hands on it!
Let me say..... Lopez is an author to watch out for!

This forced proximity, opposites attract, Latinx novel is one of the most amazing contemporary romance novels I've read!

Jeremiah and Alex, are probably my most favorite book couple ever!
The two of them together are adorable, hilarious, exciting, passionate and wonderful. They were the very solid foundation of this book, but the cast of secondary characters were the decorative, beautiful, fanciful support system.
Their immediate chemistry burns up the pages.

There is just so much to love about AFTER HOURS ON MILAGRO STREET!
The author added so many levels into this book that it just pulls you forward page by page. The highs and the lows were a a great touch. Seeing these two come together was brilliant!
I loved how realistic and wonderful this book was.
This story was beyond captivating.
This was an amazing story and I can't wait for it to be out in the world!
Definitely worth a read. This is just so well written, with well-rounded, interesting and great characters who really made this story amazing.

Angelina M. Lopez outdid herself with this one. And I am already waiting impatiently for her next one!

Carina Trade,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

Angelina Lopez writes the most amazing women. None of her characters are cookie cutter or one dimensional in any way. In fact - Alex pushes the reader away with her very tough and not particularly nice exterior as she does everyone else in her life. But getting to know her and Jeremiah is so so so worth it.

Alex has left her job at a very fancy Chicago bar to return to her hometown and take over the family bar. She left her prior job in a blaze of glory and social media videos. Returning back to Freedom, Kansas was not something she ever planned for or even wanted to do. Coming back to her hometown opens up a lot of past hurts and forces her to confront her own role in what has happened in her life.

Jeremiah is living above Alex's family's bar in one of the rented rooms. He's living there in an effort to find his own community and found family. His own history is complicated and he is very much estranged from his family. Meeting Alex challenges him in ways he wasn't expecting.

Both Jeremiah and Alex judge each other harshly at the start of the book - and at times it was hard for me to see whether either of them would let the other in. The sexy times in this book are very fiery and fit perfectly. Overall - I loved the arc of the story and the mix of memorable characters and pretty much everything about it. This is a must read.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

Just the other day a friend asked where the alpha heroines are at. Well, I know one of them can be found in the pages of After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina Lopez.

Lopez’s previous books all feature strong women who know what they want and do not let anyone stand in their way. The main character of After Hours, Alex, is written in the same vein but with a depth and breadth that makes her one of the more memorable heroines I’ve read in a long time. I have a feeling some readers will find her difficult – hooray for difficult heroines – because she is so strong. However, due to her circumstances and back story, there are also times where she is angry. A strong personality combined with anger can make for questionable choices and I urge readers to stay with Alex as Lopez subtly teases apart the instances of anger from Alex’s overall incredibly strong will and sense of fairness.

After Hours is a romance between Alex and her opposite in temperament, the handsome and reserved Jerimiah. The sexual tension between the two of them is off the charts and Lopez writes delightfully debouched sex scenes that are infused with a sense of joy. It’s tricky to write a hero who complements a strong heroine without either trying to dominate her or coming off as a welcome mat, and Lopez manages this perfectly.

Just as compelling as the romance is the plot that centers around Alex and her two sisters returning to their hometown in Kansas to help their grandmother keep her bar open. Lopez writes passionately about Alex’s family history and the story of the traqueros, the Mexican and Mexican-American laborers who helped build America’s railroads. Alex’s heritage is a huge part of After Hours and Lopez does an excellent job of weaving in the history without becoming pedantic. It’s a fascinating subject and hopefully some readers will walk away wanting to learn more about it.

Highly recommend to anyone looking for a change-up from lighthearted romcoms but not willing to go full-blown angst, anyone who appreciates an alpha heroine, and anyone who loves a big family, ghosts, and page scorching sex!

*Received a copy for review.*

This book is one of the best I’ve read this year. I am going to have a hard time giving you all the right words to tell you why you must read it but YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!
First let me give you the tropes: grumpy/sunshine; forced proximity; cinnamon roll hero with a filthy mouth; found family; returning home. There are probably more but I need to tell you why this book is so special.
Now let’s meet the mains.
Alex is a prickly badasses bitch bartender who loses her job in a viral blow up at her boss. She is on her way back to her hometown that she left at 16, to help her sisters save the family bar. Her grandmother has fallen and needs support. What Granmo does not need is all these people taking over her life.
Jeremiah is a college professor who never fit in his rich family and has found this amazing family in a local bar called Loretta’s. He wants to make the bar into a museum to honor the families Mexican heritage because he loves this family and it will also help him achieve tenure.
The first meeting is fire. I do not want to give it all away but it starts with a bang. These two just cannot stay out if each other’s way. Alex can’t stop her mouth and she just spits out whatever she wants without considering anyone else’s feelings. Jeremiah pisses her off just by existing and the amount of things they misunderstand is astronomical.
There are so many layers to this book. There is history, community, family and how they hurt us, trauma, secrets, a ghost, and learning that your dreams don’t always s come true the way you expect them too. It is sexy as all hell and beautiful and emotional.
This book is AMAZING and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.

This story blew all my expectations out of the water! I’d expected a fun, sexy enemies-to-lover romance with a bar as backdrop. I got a secret family lineage, hidden treasure, emotional twists and turns, a haunted bar, love letters from the past, familia forgiveness, and a whole lot of fun. Throw in a devoted, sensitive and surprisingly sexy professor and you get why I absolutely loved this read! I highly, highly recommend After Hours on Milagro Street, It’s an absolute delight. A definite keeper. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy again and again.

𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙤 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙩
𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙖 𝙇𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙯
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ummm Where do I begin?! Alejandra(Alex) is a BADASS Latina who after escaping 13 years ago, goes back to her hometown of Freedom Kansas. Her Granmo runs a bar that’s not only haunted but crumbling. The book starts with a bang. Literally. IYKYK Our man in question? Professor Jeremiah Post. Handsome nerdy, smart and trying to buy the bar to help her Granmo.

Alex has put up walls she’s not letting down anytime soon, but Jeremiah wants to tear them down. I adored this opposites attract duo. They just felt so right together. “El Guero”with the voluptuous & deep bronze Latina. The way he worshipped her and her body? Yes!!!! It was amazing!

Rivals to lovers
Opposites attract
One Bed
Found Family
Family dynamics
Hot and steamy

Thank you to Angelina Lopez for a copy of this amazing book!!!
After Hours on Milagro Street comes out July 26th

This book was brilliant. It started with a bang - literally - and picked up even further around page 100. I deeply loved the “unlikeable” nature of Alex and her passionate, avenging angel ways! Her fighting everyone all the time is both so frustrating and so real. She is tough because she has to be and watching her learn to be vulnerable and being terrified to show her underbelly was a fabulous story! Jeremiah Post is a one hundred percent certified cinnadom. He holds firm boundaries with Alex that made me respect and like him even more. He is well aware of his status as a wealthy, cishet, white man and tries to use that privilege for good - by listening and trying to support the stories of those that wouldn’t otherwise be written. The supporting cast is brilliant - from the matriarch Loretta, to the parents and their own sets of issues and deep love, to the scene stealing primo Joe and the sister who I hope to see more of.

One more thing - The history and background of this story is deeply fascinating and never talked about and I honestly went on a deep dive to learn more about the traqueros and their lives in “boxcar barrios.”

Thank you to the author and publisher for my complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.