Amor de Verano: Summer Romances by Latine Authors

It’s the summer before her freshman year at art school, and Chloe Torres has a plan to get her estranged besties back together: a cross-country summer road trip to see their favorite boy band in Vegas! But first they’ll have to agree to go, and say actual words together on the trip. A lot can happen in two weeks, right? Right! Because before you know it, “Chloe wants Sienna, Ramona wants Chloe, and everything is on fireeeee.” I can’t resist a summer road trip romance, especially one with fat positivity, sapphic romance, a messy love triangle, ADHD representation, and diverse Latine identities.

Emilia Cruz accompanies her sister to a fancy boat party, not knowing that Ruben Torres, the darling of the literary scene and big ol’ judgy jerk—would be in attendance. He has nothing but snark and condescension to offer about the popularity of a very sexy serial making the rounds in society, one he also rags on in secret from a gossip paper no one knows he’s behind. Ruben is determined to suss out the identity of its author, which—surprise!—is Emilia under a pseudonym. He’s starting to like her and she likes him, but neither knows the other’s secret identity… tension! This book made me long for an island sojourn (and a juicy piece of chisme).

This is the first book in Adriana Herrera’s Las Leonas series, and any one of them will transport you… to Paris. Belle Epoque Paris is obviously not a Caribbean island and maybe not what you were expecting in this list, but the Caribbean vibes are strong in each of this historical series’ fierce protagonists, who are originally from the Dominican Republic. The books offer steamy romances, a crash course in history, and an exploration of Europe’s relation to its Caribbean colonies. These books may make you want to see the City of Lights, but they made me want to travel to the DR.

Lila Reyes has just graduated from high school and she has big life plans: she’s gonna take over the family panadería with her sister, move in with her bestie, and live happily ever after with her boyfriend. Instead, her bestie bails on her, her boyfriend dumps her, and then her abuela passes away very suddenly, and Lila is undone by grief. Her parents decide that what she needs is to get away, so they send her off to England to stay with family for the summer. Lila goes kicking and screaming, immediately finding ways to be annoyed by every way in which the quaint English countryside is unlike Miami. But just when she’s decided England isn’t her cup of tea (heh), she meets Orion, a teashop clerk who shows her all that she’s been missing. Again, not an island or even a Latin American locale, but Lila’s Cuban culture is a big part of her story. Warning: this sweet YA romance will make you crave a summer crush and a pastelito.

Island Affair is the first in what I believe is a duology called Keys to Love from an author whose romances always speak to me. In this first book, Sara Vance is a social media influencer whose boyfriend just bailed on her family’s reunion in Key West. Her family is the sort that picks at all of your perceived imperfections and her relationship status is one of them, so she calls in reinforcements: a local firefighter paramedic and dive captain named Luis who’s willing to be her fake fiancé. You know where this is going…

This is the third installment in the Meant to Be collection that reimages classic fairy tales. In Kiss the Girl, we get one of my favorite authors’ take on The Little Mermaid and I could not love this setup more. Ariel del Mar and her sisters are singers in a girl group called Siren Seven, and they’ve been famous since they were kids. Now that Siren Seven is about to wrap its farewell tour, Ariel is ready to ditch her iconic red wig and sequined stage persona for a normal life (sing it with me now: “I waaant mooooore!”). But Daddy del Mar is a killjoy and also the head of Atlantica Records, and what he wants is for Ariel to begin her breakout solo career right away. The night before the big announcement, Ariel and her sisters sneak out for a night on the town, and that’s how Ariel meets Eric Reyes, the dashing lead singer of an up-and-coming band. Eric has no clue who Ariel is and invites her to join him on the road for the summer, and Ariel accepts. She’s never disobeyed her father before, but this chance at a different life is too good to pass up. Torn between the life she knows and the life she dreams of, can Ariel find her own voice?