Spotlight & Giveaway: Kiss Me, Mi Amor by Alana Quintana Albertson

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Alana Quintana Albertson to HJ!

Hi Alana and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Kiss Me, Mi Amor!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Kiss Me, Mi Amor is a Taming of the Shrew retelling featuring Carolina Flores, the eldest daughter of ten girls from a traditional Mexican family and Enrique Montez, the middle of three brothers in the wealthy Montez family. She’s the uptight owner of a farm and he’s a laid-back surfer who find themselves in a fake relationship.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

His hands were manicured; her nails were filled with dirt.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

Carolina’s family is based on my mother’s family—my mom was 9th of 10 kids (9 girls).
Las Posadas is a Mexican traditional at Christmas where people reenact Joseph and Mary’s quest for shelter. It’s fun and full of drink and food.
Carmel-by-the-Sea is one of my favorite places.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

They are both physically attracted to each other. Enrique is enamored by her fortitude. Carolina loves how kind and chill he is.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I loved the scene of Tiburón sewing the costumes for Las Posadas. Tiburón is my favorite character and writing his dialogue is such a blast. Seeing this tough man crafting was great.

Readers should read this book….

That even though families have differences in religion and traditional values, they can still fall in love and find common bonds. And of course the importance of farmworkers rights.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m finishing up the third book in the series, My Fair Señor. It will come out next July. I’m also working on some fun side projects I hope to sell soon.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 Print copy of KISS ME, MI AMOR by Alana Quintana Albertson

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever heard of Las Posadas? What did you like about the holiday? What holidays do you celebrate with your family.

 
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Excerpt from Kiss Me, Mi Amor:

What an impressive woman she was. She had worked on the farm her entire life while maintaining a top grade point average and dancing with the local Ballet Folklórico group. Her parents had taken her with them every day to pick berries in the fields—rain or shine, no matter if they were scorched by the rays of the sun or frozen by the chill of the night. She would work in the evenings until the wee hours, sleep for a brief time, wake up, and go back to school. She was accepted to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which was no easy task. For college graduation, she had hired a photographer to take pictures of herself in her cap and gown, picking produce with her parents to honor their hard work and sacrifices. When her sister Blanca had posted them online, those photos went viral. The media attention had catapulted her career and made her an in‑demand speaker at Hispanic events around the United States. And when her farm was for sale a couple of years ago, she’d raised enough money to buy it.
Enrique was in complete awe of her.
But she had a complex reputation around the farm‑owning community. She definitely treated her employees right, but there had been rumblings that she was ruthless. A shrewd businesswoman. That she didn’t hesitate to tell off distributors or fire long‑term staff members who weren’t pulling their weight.

Enrique didn’t believe any of that nonsense. When Ramón was cutthroat in his business, people hailed him, not demonized him. How misogynistic and frankly racist for these rich non‑ Hispanic farm owners to give a hard time to one of the only Mexican‑ American female proprietors in the state, or in the country, for that matter.
Enrique had seen a picture of the entire family on the Flores Family Farm website. All the daughters were beautiful, especially Carolina. Her long, dark curly hair, huge brown eyes, and those curves. Man.
But no matter how smart, successful, and sexy Carolina was, Enrique was not interested in her romantically. At all.
Enrique had learned his lesson from Ramón about mixing business with pleasure. Sure, his brother’s story had a happy ending, but Enrique was certain that was due to luck more than anything.
“I know a great club in Santa Barbara,” Rosa said, tugging on her cousin Tiburón’s arm. “Perhaps we could come for a short visit and show you.”
Tiburón gave a fist bump to his prima.
Enrique shook his head. “No thanks, guys. I’ll do this one on my own.”
Ramón shook his head. “Jaime’s right. Someone should go with you.”
“Okay, Dad. I can handle business on my own.”
“I know you can.” Ramón pointed at his brother. “But I don’t want you to spend the holiday alone.”
Enrique shrugged, ran a hand through his long, dark hair, and surrendered. “Fine.” He hated the way Ramón always overrode his business decisions. But Enrique didn’t want to ditch Jaime for the holidays. Since Ramón wasn’t speaking to their father, it would fall on Jaime to go over there alone this Christmas if Enrique was gone.

If they were both out of town, their father would simply make other plans. And their mother was on a cruise in Italy.
Enrique turned to his younger brother. “Jaime, you can come, but I’m serious. He has ten daughters. You cannot hit on them—not even one.”
Jaime was a regular Don Juan—love them and leave them. Which was fine. He was young. Maybe he’d grow up one day and change his mind.
Maybe not.
Jaime laughed and leveled Ramón and Enrique with his eyes. “Why do you both think I’m some kind of Neanderthal? I can talk to women and not hit on them. It is possible.” He exhaled, causing his long bangs to flap up before taking their resting place, skimming his eyebrows. “Look at Rosa and me. We’re just friends.”
Rosa smacked him playfully on the head. “We are family, you foo. Plus, I would never put up with your shit. I pity the girl who falls for you. You’re cute but you’re a fuckboy.”
Jaime grinned. “That’s not what you said last night.” Rosa lunged at him, but Jaime stopped her.
Enrique shook his head—what was going on with those two? He didn’t want to ask. It didn’t matter—Jaime would never settle down. Ever. Rosa was right—what kind of woman would ever put up with his antics? Jaime was a model. When he wasn’t doing social media for the Montez Group, Jaime was showing off designer sweats in La Jolla as a side gig, and he definitely had the surfer/beach vibe look down.
Enrique turned his attention back to his food. He took a big bite of his next taco and contemplated the scenario. Ramón was right— having Jaime come would be better after all. It would be nice to have some company on the trip. Bringing another member of his family along would show Señor Flores how serious they were. From what he could tell, Señor Flores was a traditional Mexican man and would

not be receptive to either of Enrique’s proposals, even if Carolina was, and Enrique wasn’t sure how much sway Señor Flores had over Carolina, though after what Tiburón said, Enrique feared it would be a lot.
Either way, Enrique would fight for this. He actually cared about farming, the environment, and the health of the workers who picked the food for their restaurants—this was more than just business and the family name.
This was their future, too.

Excerpted from KISS ME, MI AMOR by Alana Quintana Albertson, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2023

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Enrique Montez, smooth-talking heir to the Taco King empire, is man enough to admit that he made a critical error when he underestimated Carolina Flores. The agricultural hotshot should have been an easy conquest—who would turn down the chance to partner with California’s largest fast-food chain? But instead of signing her name on the dotted line, Carolina has Enrique eating out of the palm of her hand, and when fate steps in with an unexpected opportunity, Enrique is willing to do whatever it takes to capture her heart.

Growing up as the daughter of farmworkers, Carolina spent her youth picking strawberries in the fields of Santa Maria and vowing to improve the lives of people like her parents. Now, as one of only a few Latina farm owners, she has no time for romance and she’s certainly not about to let the notorious Montez brother anywhere near her business—even if just being near Enrique makes her skin tingle.

But she is willing to let him help get her overinvolved family off her back. When Carolina’s father and her lovelorn sisters mistake Enrique for her (nonexistent) boyfriend, she reluctantly agrees to a series of pretend dates to their town’s traditional Mexican-American holiday celebrations. Soon the fake feelings turn real and both Carolina and Enrique must convince each other to take a chance on love before their vacation romance is over.
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Meet the Author:

Alana Quintana Albertson has written thirty romance novels, rescued five hundred death-row shelter dogs, and danced one thousand rumbas. She lives in sunny San Diego with her husband, two sons, and too many pets. Most days, she can be found writing her next heart book in a beachfront café while sipping an oat-milk Mexican mocha or gardening with her children in their backyard orchard and snacking on a juicy blood orange.
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