After Hours on Milagro Street

As a rule, I don't really like contemporary romance. I tend to find them one-dimensional — I prefer my romance with a side of adventure, magic, and/or history.

This is the best contemporary romance novel I have ever read.

Both main characters feel like real people with real wounds. And their love story is taking place within a multigenerational mystery on the plains. There is so much important history and present-day truth incorporated. It is an urban planning and academic romance! There's archival research and a local historical society, discussions of displacement and predatory real estate development, and the importance of community. It's about family and home and everyone pitching in with their skills to save a beloved institution, and to heal some fractured hearts along the way.

Even when I expected some of the twists, this book is so heartfelt and the execution was so strong that I was only delighted to have guessed right in some places.

If it weren't so spicy, I'd recommend it to my planning students :)