“Herrera delivers an emotionally resonant, sensually charged second Dreamers contemporary that will knock readers’ socks off.”–Publishers Weekly, starred review From award-winning author Adriana Herrera comes a heart-warming–and seriously hot–contemporary romance in her highly-acclaimed Dreamers series. Fairytale endings don’t just happen; they have to be fought for New York City … be fought for
New York City social worker Camilo Santiago Briggs grew up surrounded by survivors who taught him to never rely on anything you didn’t earn yourself. He’s always dreamt of his own happily ever after, but he lives in the real world. Men who seem too good to be true…usually are. And Milo never ever mixes business with pleasure…until the mysterious man he had an unforgettable hookup with turns out to be the wealthy donor behind his agency’s new, next-level funding.
Thomas Hughes built a billion dollar business from nothing: he knows what he wants and isn’t shy about going after it. When the enthralling stranger who blew his mind at a black-tie gala reappears, Tom’s more than ready to be his Prince Charming. Showering Milo with the very best of everything is how Tom shows his affection.
Trouble is, Milo’s not interested in any of it. The only thing Milo wants is Tom.
Fairytale endings take work as well as love. For Milo, that means learning to let someone take care of him, for a change. And for Tom, it’s figuring out that real love is the one thing you can’t buy.
Dreamers
Book 1: American Dreamer
Book 2: American Fairytale
Book 3: American Love Story
Book 4: American Sweethearts
Book 5: American Christmas
more
I loved this. I didn’t want to put it down. It was adorable and I really enjoyed the social justice discussions within this and the mental health rep. The romance is cute, the diversity is beautiful and the writing was top notch. I couldn’t not give it 6 stars. I may have bumped it from 5 to 6 stars for the audiobook narrator. No I will not be taking criticism at this time.
I loved this book, like SO MUCH. Iris and Alex were hot together and the banter was adorable and fun and I could just read it today. I LOVED both their families and how each of them worked through their own feelings about family to find each other.
I thought the conflict was completely realistic and I adored how this was a quasi work-place romance, that started BEFORE the job and the way Iris especially navigated that was really well-done. And again, the sex was hot, like very hot. No one has chemistry like those too.
I just loved this book so much and am so happy I read it. It was everything I could want to read and more!
American Fairytale is book 2 in the Dreamers Series but it can certainly be read as a stand-alone, I know this because this is the first book I have read by this author and I can tell you now it won’t be the last, I really enjoyed this fairytale and I will be going back to read book 1 which I believe is Adriana Herrera’s debut novel.
American Fairytale is a romance between a billionaire and a social worker and it covers all the reasons they shouldn’t fall in love after all they believe in different values or do they…….
This story is a sweet romance with a great cast of characters, every person in this book has a tale to tell and it’s a book that will captivate you so please make sure you have time to finish what you start.
Looking forward to going back to read book 1 and reading the rest of the Dreamers Series as soon as time permits. Highly recommended.
I LOVE THIS STORY! This story starts out with a dirty talking one-time event and then morphs into a sweet love story. This couple is just adorable without being too cute. I loved that the characters were older and knew what they wanted. I loved Camilo Santiago Briggs and respected the way he stood up for himself. I really liked that Thomas Hughes was aware of the advantages white privilege gave him even though he felt like he was passing. This story covers a lot of ground but the heart of it is the love story between Tom & Milo. Highly recommend.
Excellent read! This is the second book in the Dreamers series but it is easily read as a standalone. It’s a great M/M contemporary romance. It’s set in NYC but the characters are proud of their ethnicity and it plays a huge role in who they are. Camilo (Milo) and Thomas are an intriguing pair. Milo comes from a single parent middle class home and works as a social worker. Tom is a billionaire with all the high society trappings around him. Their attraction is intense but when it turns out Tom is the new benefactor for one of Milo’s projects they need to put their attraction aside. Can they accomplish that? Read their story and find out. I highly recommend it.
American Fairytale by Adriana Herrera
Dreamers #2
Great meet-cute when Tom and Camilo meet at the fundraiser…I knew they would end up together since the blurb f or the book SAYS they will so what could have been a hot one time thing did end up more…still…great meet-cute. From there the romance progressed slowly through work involvement, hit a few bumps in the road and eventually overcame the main issue to achieve a HEA for the couple. The book dealt with LGBTQIA issues, workplace ethics and romance, money in relationships, family, depression, intercultural issues and more.
What I liked:
* The honesty, caring and sharing of Tom and Camilo in the relationship they were building
* Tom – great book boyfriend
* That both men felt they could be themselves when together
* supportive friends of both Tom and Camilo
* Libe – Tom’s daughter
* The backstories of the parents of Tom and Camilo
* Work ethics of both men
* multicultural aspects of relationships
* more
What I didn’t like:
* Camilo’s need for control over issues I sometimes felt he should have loosened up a bit overcame
* Feeling that there must have been more backstory to the secondary characters supporting of both Tom and Camilo that we were not privy to…and why had those friends not made Tom and Camilo aware of character issues they could have worked on before this book came along
* Not always knowing what the foreign phrases meant and some of the slang that I have not heard before
Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Carina for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4 Stars
Fairytale
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From the publisher:
Fairy-tale endings don’t just happen; they have to be fought for.
New York City social worker Camilo Santiago Briggs grew up surrounded by survivors who taught him to never rely on anything you didn’t earn yourself. He’s always dreamed of his own happily-ever-after, but he lives in the real world. Men who seem too good to be true…usually are. And Milo never ever mixes business with pleasure…until the mysterious man he had an unforgettable hookup with turns out to be the wealthy donor behind his agency’s new, next-level funding.
Thomas Hughes built a billion-dollar business from nothing: he knows what he wants and isn’t shy about going after it. When the enthralling stranger who blew his mind at a black-tie gala reappears, Tom’s more than ready to be his Prince Charming. Showering Milo with the very best of everything is how Tom shows his affection.
Trouble is, Milo’s not interested in any of it. The only thing Milo wants is Tom.
Fairy-tale endings take work as well as love. For Milo, that means learning to let someone take care of him, for a change. And for Tom, it’s figuring out that real love is the one thing you can’t buy.
Review:
American Fairytale is the second installment of Adriana Herrera’s American Dreamer series. I read the first book, American Dreamer, and fell in total love with Nesto and Jude (check out my review here). This book is a perfect followup to the brilliance of her debut novel.
American Fairytale centers on the relationship between Camilo (Milo) Santiago Briggs, a Cuban/Jamaican social worker, and Thomas Hughes, a wealthy, Dominican/American tech CEO who, together with his two friends and co-owners, sells the company for an obscene amount of money. Milo and Thomas have an explosive hook up that, over the course of the novel, results in a relationship based on hard-earned understanding and mutual respect.
There is so much to unpack in this novel, so much that is done well. The negotiations between Milo and Thomas, given the huge wealth differential are critical to their blossoming relationship. They also share cultural understandings that can only come from people who come from a similar background. Kudos to Herrera for representing mixed identities in romance, something that doesn’t get depicted often. Both protagonists are of mixed parentage and this influences the way they navigate the world and their romance.
The only tiny complaint I have is that, at the end, I grew a bit exasperated with both characters – Thomas is a bit pig-headed about throwing money at problems after he is told, over and over, not to do so. Camilo, though, is also very stubborn about accepting help and complicates his existence in consequence. However, this also makes the novel more realistic because sometimes our biggest obstacles to happiness are not in external conflicts but in our own inability to get over intrinsic flaws that cause us to repeat the same damned mistakes over and over. Refreshingly, our protagonists are guilty of just that.
And can I say, I love an m/m romance that features every kind of relationship, including straight ones in a non-toxic way? Especially friendships with straight women.
I get the feeling sometimes in m/m romances that women and straight folks are characters-non-grata and, while I understand why this is the case, in the real world, things are a bit more nuanced. Yeah, cishet folk as a collective give everyone a lot of trouble in the real world but most of us love the queer family and friends in our lives I can say that, among my people, we take care of each other and we are an important part of each other’s lives so kudos to Herrera for depicting that dynamic.
I can’t wait to read the entire series.