Romance Books

#BookReview – “Strawberry Sundae Afternoon” by L.M. Gonzales

Book Review graphic

Blurb

Ally Garza and her son return to San Antonio to care for her sick mother. She needs a part-time job but can’t find anything. When Henry offers to hire her at the store, she’s reluctant–she’s hurt because her past attempts to contact him brought no reply. What happened to the love they had shared?

Henry Ortiz happily operates his family’s ice cream store and serves customers from a truck at the lake where he met the girl he fell in love with years ago. They spent many summer afternoons enjoying strawberry sundaes together, until she moved away…and never even sent him a postcard.

Independence Day fireworks, strawberry sundaes, and a child’s innocence might rekindle the romance.

Review

Ally Garza returns home for the summer after a seven-year absence with her young son, Jimmy, in tow to help take care of her sick mother. The first person she runs into is her ex-boyfriend—her son’s father.

Henry Ortiz runs his family’s ice cream shop. He’s missed Ally and takes an instant liking to her son, but when he learns the truth about the boy’s parentage, the fragile bond growing between him and Ally is put to the test.

Ally and Henry are great characters with real world problems. She’s had a hard time raising her son alone, and I sympathized with her over her bad relationship with her insensitive mother. I loved how easily Henry accepted Jimmy into his life, but even though his anger at Ally was understandable, his actions toward her soured my opinion of him a little.

I enjoyed the story and liked that most of the characters were Latinx, but I didn’t get a strong sense of Hispanic culture. I think more description in some places would’ve helped.

Anyway, this was a fun, cute romance about forgiveness and second chances. I’m happy I read it.

5 Stars

— If you’ve read this book, I’d love to know what you think of it. Please comment below.