The Broposal

De: Sonora Reyes

Narrado por: André Santana, Alejandro Antonio Ruiz

From the author of The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School, two best bros fake an engagement–but will their friendship survive?

It’s about time roommates Alejandro and Kenny get married. Or at least, that’s what all their close friends and family think when they announce their engagement. The kicker? The two are faking their whole relationship so Alejandro can get a green card. But if Han was going to marry anyone, it would be his ride or die since second grade.

Han has never been able to put down roots, and the only one who truly breaks through his walls is Kenny. Sweet, sensitive Kenny is newly single, and what better distraction from his soul-sucking relationship than proposing marriage to Han? Kenny can’t think of anything more fun than spending his life with his best friend, even if it’s just for a piece of paper. But as Kenny keeps up the charade, he’s soon struggling to resist their sizzling chemistry.

The line between fact and fiction begins to blur the closer they get to their wedding date. With all eyes on Han and Kenny—including a meddling ex and immigration officers—will these two bros make it down the altar for real?

This does touch on some serious concerns and I thought it was well written,

Overall I felt this was very touching and honestly really adorable when it just comes down to it. I won’t give away details but I enjoyed the read.

Applause all around

I laughed. I cried. And most of all I smiled. This is such a great book and it deals with certain triggers in such a great way. The narrators both did an amazing job truly bringing the story to life.

More emotional than I expected

I knew going into this that the "fake marriage" would become real, because of course the boys would fall in love. Hello trope 101. what I didn't expect was the depth of the characters: their struggles, emotional well-being, the way they interacted with the side characters that surrounded them. It made Han and Kenny's story feel like more than just a common romance plot.

The inclusion

Loved everything about this story! And especially the focus on immigration issues and racial profiling.

One of the best romances I've Read in awhile

Everything about this book is great. The narration feels spot on. The characters and the feelings they invoke. I actually found myself crying a couple of times. I love the interaction and emotions the two MCs display. I particularly enjoyed portrayals of their families and the little bits of culture and food thrown in here and there - it really felt authentic and I could totally empathize. I would recommend this book.

Thornylius

Great listening. And awesome story line. Great narration and it hit close to home. Love it

Grabbed my attention!

I love the whole book was impressed and can not wait to read another by this author

Good little Bromance.

This was a good, quick, story that was relatable for me (with an immigrant husband). There was so much melodrama and obviously LGBTQ signaling. But the characters were well developed and the steamy parts weren’t too slutty.

I loved this Diverse read

This book was so cute I live for the slow burn romance. I fell in love with the character and their love story. This book discusses a lot about Immigration, workplace discrimination, racial profiling, domestic abuse, death, and homophobia please check the trigger warnings.

Leans heavily into tropes I hate.

I struggled with the overall rating. The book moves well, the dialogue is good and I am always looking for stories that aren't just two more white guys playing football or hockey. Where I feel this book stumbles is both guys fall into the - I can't tell anyone how I really feel trope nearly from the beginning. Han is the better developed character, and this might be a rare instance where the book should have been told solely from his perspective. I struggled with Kenny. We get so little from him over the course of the book that I feel he takes away from Han's journey, you get the feeling Kenny could see a house on fire, but deny the flames are the problem. Another issue is the book is too long. There is easily an hour of Kenny's hand wringing over literally everything.

Both narrators do a great job covering a broad mix of characters. Where I nearly docked a star is the difference in their accents. Han speaks with a distinct Mexican sound, while Kenny does not. Neither narrator really captures their version of the other character's established sound, which was noticeable throughout the book. This was another case of one narrator would have been the better option for consistency.

Possibly my biggest issue: this book starts with a lengthy trigger warning to a series of concerns that didn't really live up to the warnings. I find too often the trigger warning puts me on high alert; when will this terrible thing happen? In this book, the warning was completely unnecessary and distracting.

Had only one of the guys, Han specifically, struggled with expressing his emotions, the story would have been tighter. Reyes' attempt to create bogeymen characters are very old school soap opera moves that were guessable immediately, little effort was made to craft more real world troubles. In many ways the Han's undocumented status is the defacto premise of the book, with Kenny's plan to marry him the primary plot, however we a given only little bits of the actual struggles an undocumented person might have. Instead there is a lot of - why are you doing all this for me conversations.

Finally, for all the things that I didn't like about this book, I still believe we need to support authors who at least try to expand the boundaries of the genre. This is not a terrible book, it just isn't the book that it could have been, and that I was hoping it would be. Give it a listen and decide for yourself. Guardedly recommended.