Allison: His Perfect Partner | Priscilla Oliveras | Book Review

Ad executive Tomas Garcia shouldn't even be thinking about his daughter's alluring dance teacher, Yazmine Fernandez. Burned by a shattering divorce, he's laser-focused on his career and giving his young daughter, Maria, the secure home she deserves. Plus, he's certain that with her talent, Yaz will be leaving Chicago and heading back to Broadway as soon as she can. But Yaz's generous spirit and caring concern are sparking a desire Tomas can't resist and doesn't want to let go . . .

For Yaz, good-looking workaholics like Tomas simply can't be part of her life ever again. She owes it to herself to get back her confidence and fulfill the dreams her papa could not. She's glad to spend time with Maria and taste the family life she feels she can never have. And she's sure that she and Tomas can keep their attraction under control because there's so much at stake. But each unexpected intimacy, each self-revelation, makes the fire between them grow hotter with every step and every risk to their hearts . . .

His Perfect Partner is a debut novel written by Priscilla Oliveras. It follows the romance of Tomas and Yaz while also introducing us to the dynamic Fernandez family. I picked it up from the library because I thought that it sounded like a solid romance novel based on the blurb on the back. I was also interested to see a story with a Latinx background story. Ultimately, I was intrigued by the story but, it took me a while to get through it. It’s a very slow burn and with some of the other topics that are presented, the romance is definitely not the top priority which was surprising considering that it was advertised as a romance novel.

The characters of Tomas and Yaz are each complex characters. Tomas is a single-father, whose daughter is adorable, and he works hard to make sure that his little family has everything that they could ever want. Sometimes he works too hard and it takes him away from the things that are truly important in life. Yaz is also very hard-working and has ambitions that are higher than her current location. Previously, she was living in NYC trying to become a professional dancer but, a bad break-up and a health crisis with her father brought her back home. Her dream is to go back to NYC and finally make it just as she believes that her father wants for her but for now she’s home taking care of him and teaching local children how to dance. This is how Tomas and Yaz meet … at a rehearsal for a father/daughter dance.

The set up for the romance between Tomas and Yaz is there basically from page one of His Perfect Partner. At first, they don’t fully see eye to eye. Yaz thinks that Tomas works too hard and Tomas thinks that Yaz is being too judgmental without fully understanding the circumstances. There’s an obvious attraction there from the beginning but it takes time to build it into more. Much of Tomas and Yaz’s relationship is based on a strong friendship first which I think was a very good way to set things up. I would have liked to have this explored more though in a way that didn’t always involve some sort of family crisis.

What do I mean by this? Much of Tomas and Yaz relationship is connected through outside sources. Her father’s illness and not-so-subtle attempt at matchmaking, his daughter’s need for a babysitter, her father’s health crisis, his need to succeed in business, her need to prove herself as a dancer. There’s more but I think you get the picture. Like I said before, the romance was a slow burn but much of the reason that there was such a slow burn is because there was so many other elements getting in the way.

The ending of His Perfect Partner also felt very abrupt especially considering the slow burn that had been happening throughout the book. After so much build up, I just felt like everything was very quickly resolved and kind of brushed aside. There is another novel which explores the story of Yaz’s sister Rosa. It will be interesting to see what kind of role Tomas and Yaz have in that story because I do see there being a potential for more even as supporting characters. Like I said, the two of them are strong characters who kept me interested in them as I was reading. I just can’t help but wish that the romance between them was stronger and a more central part of the entire story.