Had the start of a review, several paragraphs, then computer died. So…
One person point of view. Starring a 20 year old named Ren. Her love interest in the book is Lina, a 24 year old. Both are later seen in the book Spanish Surrender, and that’s one of the main reasons I decided to read Spanish Heart now as opposed to later (or never).
Now all I need to do is include the following and I'll have, boiled down, what I'd previously written: I was confused as to how she was on a ‘school trip’ to Spain despite being in-between schools (just graduated community college, and just about to start college (and a comment about how she, apparently, didn’t see community college as college). So what ‘school’ is she on the trip with? Since it’d be odd to be going post-community college graduation; and pre-college admission. And t here’s a scene about how she didn’t qualify yet, when she go to college, to attend a study-a-broad program (not that the school trip was a study a broad program).
Right. Probably better written prior to the computer crash, but let’s move on.
Somewhere near their first stop on their tour of Spain, their teacher collapses and is rushed to the hospital. She’s ‘going to be okay’ but won’t be well enough to do anything until the last day of their trip. So the 24 year old Lina, local/native tour guide, will take over. 12 year old Hannah, daughter of the teacher, also will be continuing on the trip, though she’d prefer to stay with mom, but ‘that’s not allowed’ (why?).
Ren is, as I put in the one note I made on GoodReads, exhausting. She’s constantly feeling down on herself, insecure, and plotting ways to ‘fix herself’. Fixing herself apparently involves humping another woman. She’s known she’s a lesbian for a really long time, came out eons ago, but hasn’t had much chance to ‘become a real lesbian’. Which is one of the reasons she went on this trip. To break through her own walls, and become a real woman. She was tiring, exhausting, and going about things all the wrong ways (including the part wherein she thought it’d be brilliant to go to some country she’s not comfortable speaking the language in (she’s probably ‘good enough’ but is very self-conscious about making mistakes, to the point she refuses, mostly, to speak Spanish) to try to overcome her insecurities and talk to non-straight women; despite, you know, deep insecurities about talking in Spanish).
Book is missing a lot with only Ren’s point of view.
Despite everything, book was actually more enjoyable than I might be giving credit to it in this review.
Better written review lost to computer malfunctions.
Rating: 3.7
October 28, 2019