Island Affair: A Fun Summer Love Story (Keys to Love)

Island Affair has been on my TBR for a while and I’m so glad I picked it up recently. The cover is gorgeous and I’ve been wanting to read more romance by Latinx authors.Sara is meeting her family for a vacation in Key West to celebrate her mother’s victory over cancer. Despite Sara’s social media influencer career taking off, she feels like her family of doctors don’t see her as successful. Her boyfriend decides to bail on her for the trip after she’s already landed in Key West and along comes sexy fireman Luis Navarro. Sara asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend for the week so that her mother won’t stress during their relaxing vacation. Luis and his family have lived on Key West for generations. He’s a good guy who happens to have a week of mandated time off from work, so he agrees to help Sara out of kindness.I’m a sucker for fake relationship romances and this one was wonderful. Sara and Luis spend time together enjoying Cuban food, dancing, and exploring the island. The more he gets to know her, the harder it is to be the nice guy there just as a friend. Luis also has his own heart-breaking baggage causing him to keep his heart guarded. Can Sara break down his wall? And does he want her to? As they continue to lie and pretend in front of her family, the lines begin to blur, especially when he calls her carino and caresses her hips or when she tugs on his belt loops to bring him closer. I’m sure you can tell that I thoroughly enjoyed reading Luis and Sara’s island romance story.TW: eating disorder, reference to tragic car accident

Sara is in a bind when she arrives in Key West for a family reunion. Her mother's cancer is in remission. She wants no stress for her Dr mother. But, when her beau, Ric, can't join her, she recruits the first guy she meets to fill the role of devoted boyfriend immediately upon deplaning. Luis has his own problems. He's a firefighter, ordered to take an unwanted rest time. So, as a diversion, he accepts. Of course, both of these crazy kids are gorgeous specimens. Sara is an influencer with over half a million followers. She's convinced her MD parents and sister look down on her career path. Her mother, formerly cold towards her has a change of personality and values. She's going to spend more time with her family. Sara has an eating disorder, involving both anorexia and bulimia, for which she sees a therapist. Her second draft boyfriend, Luis, has to pretend to be the first guy who's bailed. That guy was in commercial real estate. Her intelligent family invites this stranger into their rental, even insisting he spend nights with them. He never answers questions about his business. Instead, he deflects. However, how hard would it be for any of her family members to ask his firm's name, and look him up or ask to see his driver's license? Naturally, these two strangers push each other to share intimate secrets and earth shaking sex. But, there's got to be conflict, and a reveal. Like other influencers, Sara is about business and money. Luis is about saving lives and helping people.. The story takes place in a week. It was enjoyable although hardly plausible. Sara never asked Luis if he were married. Luis knows nothing about commercial properties. Her parents would never expect a boyfriend to share their daughter's bedroom at a reunion. Note, there's Spanish language swearing in the first chapter and descriptive intimacy.

Let me start by saying that, after reading this book, I’m ready to get on a plane and explore Key West! The descriptions are incredibly vivid, everything sounds interesting, you can just about smell the food off the page and the beaches sound divine. However, even with all that, it don’t think I ever got truly invested in the story of Sara and Luis.Luis is a firefighter who is made to go on leave after experiencing an incident while he was at a call. He’s not happy about being forced to take 7 days off but he recognizes that it might be for the best. While preparing to head home, he overhears a conversation from Sara. She’s recently arrived and is fussing out her boyfriend who is not joining her on this important vacation. With the magic of a romance novel, Sara is able to convince Luis to pretend to be her boyfriend for the week.If this sounds hair-brained and far fetched, of course it is! But it had the potential to be a story about a comedy of errors of 2 people who know nothing about each other trying to know enough to not get caught so Sara is able to enjoy a drama free weekend with her high achieving family.I’m struggling to pinpoint why this book didn’t work for me. It could be due to the dramatic backstories of both characters that were handled well but didn’t seem necessary. It could be that I felt uncomfortable with the pressure that each gave to “share” when I’m thinking “y’all just met. Why should I trust you?” And it could honestly be that I wasn’t in the right headspace for a book where the angst just seemed to be too much.I did enjoy the peppering of Spanish throughout the book and that it was written by someone with a love and appreciation of The Keys. It just wasn’t the book for me.

Bom

I ordered this book after seeing the author on Ashley Spivey’s book club on Instagram. In the gloom of the pandemic, teaching from home, I needed an escape, and with “Island Affair”, that’s what I got. We first meet Luis Navarro, a firefighter/paramedic/dive captain in need of time away from “the job”. Reluctantly, heading off on a 7 day vacation on his boat, Luis overhears Sara Vance in an argument with her boyfriend, Ric just before she is supposed to meet up with her family for a holiday. The youngest of the family, Sara feels like she doesn’t quite measure up to her family’s expectations and now with Ric a no-show, she’s worried about their reaction. Enter Luis, handsome and kind, he agrees to play the role of Sara’s sexy fiancé for the family’s benefit. It’s just 7 days, what could go wrong? This book takes the reader to Key West, Florida and along for the adventure that is Sara and Luis’ accidental romance with a bit of family drama thrown in the mix. Read this book!

I really enjoyed this story and the writing - Priscilla Oliveras has a great style and such an incredible tale!I think I loved absolutely everything about this book, except that it was closed door. Made me sad - we get all the way there, she perfectly describes their amazing kissing and foreplay leading up to the action we are anticipating the whole way through... and then it cuts to "after." With all of her amazing descriptions, she really could have made that part something special, but decided to go the closed door route (and just hints of other romps) - that is really my only complaint here, but everything else was absolutely perfect.The chemistry between Luis and Sara is off the charts from the first couple of pages and it just intensifies as we go through. The issues they each have with their families that go WAY back are ones that we take into ourselves as the reader and really and truly feel, and luckily when the characters have to face the conflicts with the families and with each other, it is not long and drawn out and is not a tear-jerker, but it all works out in the end - as we always hope it will in these books - the HEA!I absolutely loved this one and I'm glad I read it and didn't go the audiobook route (I listened to the sample and don't know the narrator, and with the sample wasn't crazy about her voice). I have book 2 also and plan to read it any day now! Can't wait to get into Anchored Hearts!Also - where do I find myself a super-hot, sweet, doting and loving firefighter like Luis Navarro?!

Can’t wait to read it!!!!!!!