Ramón and Julieta
Ramón and Julieta by Alana Quintana Albertson
Published in 2022
Main Couple: Ramón and Julieta (lol!)
The Story: A romantic meeting during a Día de los Muertos celebration turns sour when Ramón and Julieta find they are on opposite sides of real estate deal that will change Julieta’s beloved neighborhood. Can the common connection they share save this doomed relationship? Can it save the neighborhood?
The Sex: This is what I’m going to call “romantic fucking.” There is so much respect and clitoral stimulation in what is really down and dirty fucking. These characters don’t necessarily hold sex as sacred in their paths, but they recognize that the connection they share elevates their intimacy to a new level. Ya’ll there’s nothing wrong with a one night stand, but sex with a committed partner you communicate with is…amazing. It’s fairly vanilla sex when it comes down to it, but I will always appreciate scenes that have a girl getting her own orgasm, and a partner working to give it right back. This book celebrates curves and sensuality in a way I haven’t seen often. It was so refreshing to see the adoration of a body that wasn’t “thin” or “plus sized”, just feminine.
Favorite Lines:
Any time they quoted Shakespeare. Just gotta say that first.
“Mamá embraced her, and they spent the next three hours emptying the bottle and cursing irresistible taco-thieving men.” Chapter 13 Ah! This phrase made me giggle. Also, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t gotten mad at their preferred gender(s) one night after someone did something dumb.
“Let’s have something to look forward to. This isn’t a one-night stand. Tonight is just the first of many nights we will spend together.” Chapter 20 What a beautiful moment! He declines sex with her the first night they spend together because he wants their time to be different from the string of one night stands he’d had before.
“His hands and mouth had already brought her to ecstasy, but it was more than that. It was the way he looked at her. As if she wasn’t just another girl. As if he was in awe of her.” Chapter
27 I told you this was romantic!!!!
“The scent of sex hung in the air between them.” Chapter 28 The morning after odor getting some love, rather than something to be eliminated right away. Sex is messy.
Least Favorite Lines:
“And he’d be working side by side with the sexy chef Julieta.” Chapter 14 Honestly, I didn’t like how he called her the “sexy chef.” It made me feel squidgy.
“Ugh, she was so pathetic. Fantasizing about having a family with this millionaire playboy. He probably was a confirmed bachelor who didn’t even want to have children.” Chapter 18 One of the few times she made an assumption about what Ramón’s intentions/feelings were. I could give it a pass, but I won’t/
“And, technically, she didn’t have sex with him, at least by the Clintonian definition.” Chapter 22 Yeah, I’m over this kind of description. Take it out of our cultural lexicon.
“Ramón kissed her neck as her clothes feel to the floor….His hands rubbed her nipples though her dress.” Chapter 27 This only annoyed me because her clothes were already off. Edit!
Final Thoughts:
Oh, dear friends. You need to know this now. I am a sucker for a good adaptation. I was also so thrilled to read this book because it immersed me in a different culture while having a story that many of us can connect to: both the Romeo and Juliet of it as well as the struggle of gentrification and the cultural loss that is often a casualty. The wealth disparity between Ramón and Julieta made for interesting tension between the two of them. How you treat money can big a big pain point in relationships. You have to work through that. As someone from a different culture, my friends with Mexican heritage got a huge kick out of me texting them for definitions of everything ranging from holiday traditions to romantic phrases.
Something that really enhanced this story is the personal growth both of the characters go through. They meet each other and are certainly hot for each other, but the real passion (and of course the problem) is the honest connection they share. Unique to most romance novels, they worked to communicate honestly with each other once they got together. In their inner dialogues we heard them confront their own baggage and work on it. Okay, there are three quotes about that:
“There she went again, allowing her anxiety to make her decision for her.” Chapter 18
“Julieta was impressed that he admitted to going to therapy. Nothing was sexier than a man who wanted to work on himself.” Chapter 18
“Julieta had no problem expressing her feelings and being honest, which Ramón found surprisingly sexy. He hated playing the guessing game. He was direct and to the point.” Chapter 19
Spice Level: 2/5
Kinks Explored: None
Voices Heard: A completely Hispanic cast of main characters!
Did I like it? I will almost always love a Shakespeare spinoff.