Sofía and Nate originally met as teenagers while working at the Paradise Key resort, Sofía as a summer employee and Nate in management. They start dating, and stay together through college, until a choice by Nate torpedoed their chances at anything more. While back in Paradise Key for the funeral of one of her best friends, she decides to place a bid on the abandoned resort. The big problem? There’s another bidder, and it’s Nate, representing his father’s company. With them competing for the resort, is there any way they can have a second chance at love?
“The same way you took the time to guide me when I started my business.” Tía Mili dried her hands on a blue kitchen towel as she skirted the counter to pull out a chair next to Sofía. “El bien viene del bien.”
Good comes from good. One of her tía’s and her mami’s favorite sayings. Handed down from their mami, Sofía’s abuela, in Puerto Rico.”
Sofía worked her way up to be the manager of a trio of B&Bs in Key West, but longs to set off on her own. She’s not blind to the roadblocks placed in her way solely because she’s young, female, and Latina, but she chooses to focus on what she can do to prove those small-minded people wrong rather than dwell on the unfairness of it. Family is everything to Sofía – she gave up several scholarships to out-of-state colleges to stay close to home, helped her tía set up her own cleaning business, and, despite plenty of reason to, never spoke out against Nate’s father. Even during their teen years, Sofía held back from her relationship with Nate, realizing that she’d never be good enough for his family, and she insists on referring to their relationship as noting more than a summer fling. Nate has tried to live up to his business mogul father since he was a child. Even his hard work at developing a line of boutique hotels for his father’s chain has gone unappreciated and unnoticed. He even went along with an engagement to a family friend to please his parents. He’s frustrated, but finds himself unable to stand up to his father.
Sofía’s keeping a big secret from Nate, one that spurred her to not say anything when told her about his future engagement, and the reasoning behind her actions comes from her strong commitment to family. I’m not a terribly big fan of one character in a romance keeping a giant secret from the other, as so often it feels like the character is taking away the other person’s agency or trying to “protect” them as if they’re a child, but I felt like for Sofía to have done anything else would’ve been against her character – even though she believes his father is suffocating him, she would never say a word to turn him against his family.
“Despite the “back-off” vibe her stiff posture exuded, he knew her well enough to tell that something was wrong. If there was one thing he’d never been able to ignore when it came to Sofía Vargas, it was his desire to always look out for her. Put her needs before his. Even if that need was a distance he didn’t want.”
I’m a big fan of the second-chance love trope, and I think Ms. Oliveras knocked the trope out of the park. I thought, as a couple, Sofía and Nate were written so well. They really felt like people who’d known each other well and loved each other for a long time before the book began. It was obvious from their first interaction outside the resort that they both still had deep feelings for each other, and it was an absolute joy watching them learn to trust again.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’d recommend to fans of second-chance romances, and anyone looking for a summery beach read!
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.