Savannah Carlisle
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Book Reviews

Book Review: Island Affair

Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras

I would have read Island Affair based on the cover alone. Add to that some lovely tweets back and forth with the author, Priscilla Oliveras, and I knew I had to try it!

Island Affair is the first Latinx romance I’ve read. That’s embarrassing to admit out loud, but I’m about to get real with y’all.

I was a little intimidated as soon as I saw the first couple of lines of dialogue in Spanish (our hero, Luis Navarro, is of Cuban heritage). I admit this openly, because I think it’s one of the hurdles that a white woman like myself might let stand between me and a great book. You might ask yourself: am I going to be able to relate to the characters in this book? Imagine what Latinx, Black, other people of color must feel like when so many of the options that come from traditional publishers are from white authors from children’s books up through adult genres.

Island Affair

If you’re willing to admit you might feel the same picking up a Latinx romance, let me save you from missing out on this one. Oliveras expertly translated the Spanish dialogue (it’s only a piece of dialogue here and there) throughout in a way that felt completely natural and was easy to read. I’m so glad I didn’t let my fear of the unknown keep me from this truly fantastic read.

Our heroine, Sara Vance, is a social media influencer (I’m really enjoying books with influencers as main characters lately) who doesn’t feel like she measures up to her family full of doctors — both of her parents and both siblings are doctors! Having been raised largely by a nanny (who coincidentally taught her Spanish), she views her family as cold and distant and is dreading a family trip to Key West. Odds are she probably wouldn’t have even gone on this trip if it hadn’t been in celebration of her mother being cancer free.

When her boyfriend Ric stands her up at the last minute, she runs into sexy firefighter/paramedic/dive captain Luis and hatches a plan: he’ll pretend to be Ric. More than your typical fake relationship that turns into real feelings, Sara and Luis both have very real demons they’re battling. Sara is recovering from an eating disorder, and Luis has been betrayed by his fiance and his brother (and it goes so much deeper than that). Mix that in with Sara’s family issues, and there are a lot of emotional, raw moments in this one.

I normally gravitate to sweet/clean romances with little more than a kissing scene, but this one was smoldering with sexual attraction and tension. Seriously, I had to fan myself a few times, haha! The attraction between these two will get your heart racing.

Check this one out if you want to be transported to the beautiful Florida Keys and dive into a complex, but sexy, fake relationship turned romance. Just look at that cover? How can you not want to read this beauty?!

XOXO
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Book Review: Island Affair

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I write small town romance novels set in beachy locations. Stick an umbrella in your drink and go on a mental vacation with me!

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When you write a book set at the beach, you revers When you write a book set at the beach, you reverse outline by the beach/pool for inspiration. 🌴
#FridayKiss: candy

This is from my MS with:
👩‍❤️‍👨Enemies to lovers
🏖️Small beach town
💌You've Got Mail vibes
📚The cutest Little Free Library
The hubby @seegreatart and I took a road trip to F The hubby @seegreatart and I took a road trip to Fort Pierce, FL this weekend to see the latest Florida Highwaymen exhibition at @aebackusmuseum. 🎨 

My hubby has written extensively on the Florida Highwaymen, and we are lucky to get to see so much of their work here in Florida. This group of more than two dozen African American painters captured the Florida landscape in bright, vivid colors from the 1950s on. They could often be found selling the paintings out of the trunks of their cars. 

You used to be able to nab these paintings in garage sales around the state from people who didn't know what they had. However, those days are long gone. Now, these paintings can go for tens of thousands.

One of the original Highwaymen, Roy “R.A.” McLendon, was in attendance last evening. How work hangs in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture.

Have you ever seen these paintings around FL?
#FridayKiss from the MS I #amquerying, SUMMER BY T #FridayKiss from the MS I #amquerying, SUMMER BY THE BOOK:

The woman blushed and seemed embarrassed that Lucy had caught her looking through the shelf. "Do you have Hydrangeas on Hill Street?"

"I do." Lucy nodded, moving to the left of the woman and plucking the title off the shelf. "I read it when it first came in. It's a lovely book."

"I feel a little silly." The woman opened the book and turned it so Lucy could see the author photograph on the back flap. "It's my first book. I still get a little thrill every time I find it in a bookstore." Her cheeks still flushed pink, her eyes not meeting Lucy's.
Cheers to 2022 🥂 In fiction writing accomplish Cheers to 2022 🥂

In fiction writing accomplishments this year:

💋 I landed the incredible @authorjessicalepe as my #KissPitch mentor

💻 I edited my Little Free Library romance 

📨 I started querying my Little Free Library romance 

🎉 I got 10 full requests so far 

⌨️ I started editing my country music romance

✍️ I started outlining a new story 

Considering how busy I've been as @sportsbizmiss this year, that seems like a lot! Excited to see what 2023 brings. I really feel in my gut like it's the year I'll get a book deal for my romance! 🤞 Just putting that out into the universe!
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