Guava Flavored Lies by J.J. Arias, narrated by Carrie Coello

I’ve been wanting to read a J.J. Arias book for a while so when I saw this audiobook was available on Everand, it felt like the right time. It’s very light reading, which I didn’t expect—I don’t know what I expected though—and since I recently finished quite a few rather heavy stories, the timing was perfect.

Lauren and Sylvie are lifelong enemies, a family tradition that started with their great-grandfathers, each family accusing the other of having stolen their original pastry recipes. Think Romeo and Juliet but sapphic, Cuban, and with food. In Miami. Also, a lot less tragic. Maybe not so Romeo and Juliet after all.

Guava Flavored Lies is fast and funny, at times deliciously silly when the characters behave like total idiots. The slow burn is nicely done and the MCs endearing—once Sylvie’s annoying whining starts making sense. A couple of secondary characters deserved a bit more exposure but we got plenty of Regina, so I’m happy.

The narration is a little flat at times, really good at others. I read a review saying the accent and Spanish pronunciation are wrong but I wouldn’t know. I do know that a bad French accent hurts my ears so if there’s a risk of that happening to you, check the sample first. My friend Gaby, who’s Argentinian, loves the narration, and I trust her completely.

All in all, I enjoyed listening a lot and there was even some laughing out loud, especially in the second half. I’m looking forward to my next Arias book.

Bookshop.org (paperback)

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