Ben and Beatriz

By: Katalina Gamarra

Narrated by: James Fouhey, Aida Reluzco

There’s nothing like falling for your worst enemy.

Beatriz Herrera is a fierce woman who will take you down with her quick wit and keen intellect. And after the results of the 2016 election worked hard to erase her identity as a queer biracial woman, she’d be right to. Especially if you come for her sweet BFF cousin, Hero. Beatriz would do anything for her, a loyalty that lands Beatriz precisely where she doesn’t want to be: spending a week at the ridiculous Cape Cod mansion of stupid-hot playboy Ben Montgomery. The same Ben Montgomery she definitely shouldn’t have hooked up with that one time… The things we do for family.

White and wealthy, Ben talks the talk and walks the walk of privilege, but deep down, he’s wrestling with the politics and expectations of a conservative family he can’t relate to. Though Beatriz’s caustic tongue drives him wild in the very best way, he's the last person she'd want, because she has zero interest in compromising her identity. But as her and Ben’s assumptions begin to unravel and their hookups turn into something real, they start wondering if it’s still possible to hold space for one another and the inescapable love that unites them.

This retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is both razor-sharp and swoon-worthy: the perfect love story for our time.

Check your trigger warnings!!

Wowzers. I was not ready for this book. Ben and Beatriz are exceptional characters. Ben is not the person his parents want him to be, and totally unsure how to not be the person they want him to be. Beatriz is only ever going to be exactly who she is. Neither of them are looking for a relationship. Especially with someone they've already hooked up with and then proceeded to hate for the last 3 years.

Best laid plans and all that. I know that there are people out there who love to fight. They antagonize as a past time, and they get off on it. It could not be me. But it IS Ben and Beatriz. They are both so aggressive with one another for no reason. Not physically, but definitely with their words. There were times where it really made no sense to me until they started working it out that that was what was making them hot for each other. Even then, it was a lot for me.

Reading about their relationship and how they grew to trust one another was great. And there were definitely some other elements that were important, but I was not ready for. Specifically, all of the talk about the 2016-2020 presidency. I should have looked up my trigger warnings because this is one of them!

The racism and specifically colorism in this book was so well done. The differences in the way that Beatriz and her cousin were treated because of the difference in their skin tones was ROUGH. I had never really considered what passing might do for someone's experience though.

The audio was good. But I do believe that it impacted my enjoyment a bit. There were times when the characters were passionately talking about their feelings, and it sounded whiney on the audio. And from the words, it didn't feel like whining. But the vocal tone really impacted how some of the more passionate moments came across, and I almost wish I had just read it myself.

So much potential here but falls short

Was super excited as this is favorite play and I love every adaptation. The performances are solid but the material fails them.