Yazmine Fernandez. Burned by a shattering divorce, he's laser-focused on his career—and giving his young daughter, Maria, the secure home she deserves. Plus, he's certain that with her talent, Yaz will be leaving Chicago and heading back to Broadway as soon as she can. But Yaz's generous spirit and caring concern are sparking a desire Tomás can't resist—and doesn't want to let go . . .
For Yaz, good-looking workaholics like Tomás simply can't be part of her life ever again. She owes it to herself to get back her confidence and fulfill the dreams her papá could not. She's glad to spend time with Maria—and taste the family life she feels she can never have. And she’s sure that she and Tomás can keep their attraction under control because there's so much at stake. But each unexpected intimacy, each self-revelation, makes the fire between them grow hotter with every step—and every risk to their hearts . . .
Comment: I had this book to read for the past three years because I was curious to see a cute romance and the idea of a father falling for his daughter's teacher and vice versa does imply to me that cuteness and romantic scenes might happen. However, this ended up being boring.
In this book we follow Yazmine Fernandez, a dance teacher who still dreams of the Broadway but her dreams have been put on hold since her father got sick. Now that he seems to be better, Yaz feels it's the time to chase what she wants and what she feels her father has also let go of in order to raise her and her sisters. She wasn't counting on Tomaz, the single father of one of her students, to be so handsome and a good guy even though the fact he's an workaholic should have out her off. As they send more time together, though, both start seeing more of the other they can't help but be attracted to. Will sudden worries and chasing dreams and fear of hurting stop them from grabbing happiness?
On paper, this story has al the ingredients to be successful but like I said before, it was just boring. Although all the elements are where they are supposed to and the romance develops at a slow but believable pace, the whole thing is just boring... I can't pinpoint exactly why this feels this way to me, but the truth is I was eager to finish and not because the story was captivating me...
I think my low opinion begun right away, with the tone in which this story is told. The characters kept having thoughts of how desirable the other one was but apart from kisses, nothing happens on page. It's not as if this bothers me, after all I have read plenty "clean" romances or where nothing explicit happens. But it did feel as if the characters kept having this one mind track and then what they went through and their actions as they went on their daily lives just seemed out of sync. This made me doubt what they were thinking and I wondered if things had to be obvious for us in such a way.... wouldn't it be better for the characters' actions to reveal to the reader how much they were starting to care/like the other person?
The romance didn't feel like it was anything special. They were both described as passionate for their careers and although that seems evident in several passages, I wasn't convinced they were better people together, while they did their best. The story just felt flat and then there were secondary issues which forced the characters to reach the conclusion they wanted to be a couple. I just wasn't convinced what they had was as romantic or everlasting as it would have been the goal.
Yaz and Tomaz are Latin, and the author used plenty details for the reader to kept being aware of that. While I applaud this, I must say it sounded weird to have so many Spanish words/sayings all over the place. Of course, then, a translation had to be close by so people could follow what it meant... I'm not Spanish but I could understand those expressions (it's similar enough to Portuguese) since they aren't elaborated but after the first two, three times, and some being repeated, it started to feel tiring to have them there. Besides, they didn't add anything, considering the need to include the translation...
The main characters, at some point, share their life stories, and we are made aware of how great a couple they make. I kind of wished there was more regarding Tomaz' daughter but she was only important in key scenes, in everything else she was easily overlooked. By saying this I mean to say, it feels as if there were some elements which I imagined were there to add depth to the plot, but the result wasn't as well achieved as it could because the writing was dull. I'd say the same about Yazmine's father and the problem he faces. In the end, it was sad but I failed to empathize with the characters.
I can understand why this book has worked for many readers but I wasn't impressed, there was no vibrancy and there is a lot of bleakness and behind the scenes stuff which keep a sort of distance between what I was reading and what I was supposed to feel at each moment. There are also some scenes (like the heroine fixing the hero with dates...) which I assume were there to delay the gratification of the main couple's declarations but, honestly, this felt weak and lacking.
It's true this can't even be in the same level as the worst books out there or anything like that but it was boring to me and thinking on the writing style alone, I don't feel I'll continue with this author's work.
Grade: 5/10
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