Title: American Sweethearts (Dreamers #4)
Author: Adriana Herrera
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Juan Pablo Campos doesn’t do regrets. He’s living the dream as a physical therapist for his beloved New York Yankees. He has the best friends and family in the world and simply no time to dwell on what could’ve been.
Except when it comes to Priscilla, the childhood friend he’s loved for what seems like forever.
New York City police detective Priscilla Gutierrez has never been afraid to go after what she wants. Second-guessing herself isn’t a thing she does. But lately, the once-clear vision she had for herself—her career, her relationships, her life—is no longer what she wants.
What she especially doesn’t want is to be stuck on a private jet to the Dominican Republic with JuanPa, the one person who knows her better than anyone else.
By the end of a single week in paradise, the love/hate thing JuanPa and Pris have been doing for sixteen years has risen to epic proportions. No one can argue their connection is still there. And they can both finally admit—if only to themselves—they’ve always been a perfect match. The future they dreamed of together is still within reach…if they can just accept each other as they are.
This book is approximately 90,000 words
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!” (description from Goodreads)
This is the third Herrera book I’ve read and as I knew from the first I read, American Dreamer, I’ll want to read anything the author puts out. So far I’ve only read that first book in the Dreamers series and this one. This didn’t hurt my enjoyment of American Sweethearts, even though it is the fourth in the series. Though, I do feel recommending reading the series in order or close together wouldn’t hurt. It’s a good series, so why not?
American Sweethearts is the story of Priscilla and Juan Pablo, two long time lovers…fighters…and best friends even if they don’t always get along. Part of what made this book enjoyable for me is their history. It’s troubled. It’s long. It needed to be resolved, though it wasn’t clear just how that’d be done. The entire time, though, I knew these two needed to be together. That was the only outcome for the characters or they’d be miserable the rest of their lives.
Another thing that keeps me coming back to Herrera’s work is the inclusion of diverse characters, be it their race or sexuality, the inclusion of mental health talk and it’s importance, and also mention of the good and bad of police work. That may seem like a lot to throw all in there and that it’d beat the reader over the head or be preachy, but it’s not. The author includes it in her book(s), but it’s naturally done. It’s all part of life for the characters because they’re accepting human beings from different walks of life.
I’ll be diving into both American Fairytale and American Love Story soon so I can finish this series and enjoy more of the character’s I’ve gotten tastes of in the books I’ve read so far.
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About the Author:
Adriana was born and raised in the Caribbean, but for the last 15 years has let her job (and her spouse) take her all over the world. She loves writing stories about people who look and sound like her people, getting unapologetic happy endings.
When she’s not dreaming up love stories, planning logistically complex vacations with her family or hunting for discount Broadway tickets, she’s a social worker in New York City, working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
She’s one of the co-creators of the Queer Romance PoC Collective and serves as the VP of Programs for the Romance Writers of America New York City Chapter.
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