The Shameless Hour

4.75 because Graham & Rikker are still 5In spite of the Holiday interruptions I very much enjoyed this book. It's a very nice addition to the Ivy Years and we get to follow up on Bella whom we met in [b:The Understatement of the Year 22701480 The Understatement of the Year (The Ivy Years, #3) Sarina Bowen https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408448387s/22701480.jpg 42221194].Bella is that sex positive girl who owns her sexuality and in spite of some rough spots with her family and being the bearer of a broken heart not once but twice still walks comfortable in her skin as well she should until an encounter with some a**holes at the now infamous Beta Rho fraternity. Her semester of woe is made bearable by the support and company of Rafe, her hot soccer player (not her sport) neighbor whom she'd had a brief encounter with when he too was going through a rough break up.I love so many things about this but number one was a representation of a young Dominican man who's not a womanizer, baseball player or drug dealer. He is kind, smart and brave when and where it counts. He works hard for his grades and for what he wants. He's loyal, gentlemanly and old fashioned but no pushover. In brief he reminded me of my brothers. I feel that Sarina Bowen got most aspects of a latino family, specifically in this case a Dominican family right, particularly the food at the restaurant. She also does a good job explaining why Rafe is still a virgin, however here comes my “but” ... the Spanish interjections that pepper Rafe's inner monologues or out loud speech just don't ring true for a kid born and raised here. Nope. I'm that person and so are my siblings and cousins and no we don't think or talk like that. We just don't. I'm not mad though because I get why the author does it. She wants to make his heritage visible/palpable but it's really not necessary. We already know. Also though the Spanish is correct some things are just said differently than just a translation. For example: Rafe's mother is telling him to “be good” so the book says the very correct translation of “sé bueno” but a Dominican mom would say “pórtate bien” which is more akin to “behave” but it is what my mom, aunts or grandmothers would always say. But as I said these are minor things that detract very little to none from an otherwise lovely representation of a Latino male. And after that whole nonsense I must say I also loved Bella for being her smart sassy self even when the world tries to push her down and for not wanting or waiting to be rescued but rather grabbing the reins of her life. True she has friends and a kick-ass boyfriend to prop her up but the girl is fierce and I love her for it.Brava [a:Sarina Bowen 7737308 Sarina Bowen https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1402702789p2/7737308.jpg] for turning what could have been a PSA into a sweet and moving story. It was nice to check in with Graham & Rikker and quite frankly I was hoping Rafe's roommates, Mat & Bickley, would get it on too LOL. There aren't many blanket “bad person” characters so we get why Alison did what she did and once again like in [b:Blonde Date 22444651 Blonde Date (The Ivy Years, #2.5) Sarina Bowen https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1402259691s/22444651.jpg 41871835] we get a glimpse of the intriguing mess that is Dash McGibb. Dare we hope his story is in the works???? I'd read it.***Like most of these books I enjoyed the audio too except that though [a:Nick Podehl 2803557 Nick Podehl https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1294338060p2/2803557.jpg] totally rocks as Rafe his spanish is accented which sucks and the real craw is the pronunciation of belleza like Italian. The double LL in Spanish is pronounced more lie a Y as in Yes. Minor stuff but just saying.***