YOU HAD ME AT HOLA

An actress on an upward career trajectory falls in love with her leading man.

Jasmine Lin Rodriguez moves home to New York for an unbelievable chance: After years as a soap opera actress, she is offered the lead role in Carmen in Charge, which will air on a popular streaming service. The timing couldn’t be better—after she was painfully and publicly dumped by her musician boyfriend, the tabloids have painted her as a loser in love. Jasmine promises herself that she'll avoid romantic entanglements and focus on her career, but that proves difficult since she’s wildly attracted to her new co-star, telenovela heartthrob Ashton Suarez. Ashton has two goals: achieving mainstream Hollywood stardom and keeping the paparazzi from discovering his 8-year-old son, Yadiel, who lives with Ashton’s family in Puerto Rico. When Yadi was just a baby, a stalker broke into their home; Ashton was so terrified for his son’s safety that he moved the boy to live with his parents and cut himself off from the press. He studiously avoids his attraction to Jasmine—she’s a paparazzi magnet, and he will do anything to avoid the spotlight. However, as work on the show continues, they give in to their undeniable attraction. Ashton and Jasmine are imperfect but fully realized characters, and their differences aren’t easily solved. Daria makes the unusual narrative choice of writing some chapters from the point of view of the Carmen in Charge characters, but it pays off by cleverly illuminating the emotional journey of Jasmine and Ashton’s own romance.

Sexy, compelling, and complex—a terrific romance from a rising star of the genre.