Anchored Hearts by Priscilla Oliveras

We received this as an ARC from Netgalley and Kensington Books!

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As a Key West interloper (I've been a few times and cannot wait to go back), this book gave me such a jolt of being back there and feeling all the sunny, humid vibes. Someone get me a pina colada!

Priscilla Oliveras crafts a family dynamic that is charming and complex, full and so very real. I felt like I knew these people, could find their restaurant on the island, walk in, and recognize them from her descriptions.

Alejandro and Anamaria have in-depth compelling arguments for why they broke up, yet they cannot deny the white-hot need still crossing through them. It's easy to fall back in need with each other, but can they figure out being in love for more than just his brief stay.

Much as I liked hanging out with Ale and AM, watching them get more and more honest and realistic about their mutual goals, I also loved the late addition character of Natalia (who I hope is going to be in book three with Enrique?? Please, please, please, let there be a book three and let it be about them!). She is AMAZING.

There is a lot to unpack in this book, from family expectations to feeling stuck in your ways, just because they have been set for you for so long. Cultural pressures to follow in the family business and the value of an artist. There is more. Machismo. Women's place in this world. Father's unbending wills and stubborn sons.

I do think that Alejandro being in a wheelchair and being restricted by its use became a bigger issue than it should have been. It felt like the wheelchair use by an able-bodied person could have been handled with more sensitivity.

There is not really a black moment, we head toward the confrontation throughout the book and I like this approach, it isn't as common in Romance as the sudden fight. The resolution, for me, needed more logistics and closure, I loved the sentimentality of the closing scene, but wish for an epilogue, but truly I wish for book three in which these characters show back up and I get to know more about their adventures.

Overall, Oliveras wanted us to escape with her to the island and this book took me there and made me feel the sand of Higgs Beach between my toes. -Sky