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Cover of Ander and Santi Were Here

Ander and Santi Were Here

Jonny Garza Villa

368 pages

A tender, sun-drenched queer romance that celebrates the vibrant sanctuary of community before confronting the heartbreaking realities of the American immigration system.

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What it feels like

Reading this book feels like stepping into the vibrant, sun-warmed streets of San Antonio, wrapped in the comforting scents of pan dulce and the rhythmic cadence of Spanglish. It is a deeply sensory experience that takes its time building a tender, swoon-worthy queer romance, allowing you to bask in the intimate joy of two young people finding home in each other. The prose is lyrical and deeply rooted in Mexican-American culture, painting every scene with the vivid colors of a neighborhood mural. Yet, beneath the warmth lies a steady undercurrent of real-world tension. When the narrative shifts, the emotional weight is profound and heartbreaking, confronting systemic injustice with unflinching honesty. It will deeply move readers who love character-driven stories where fierce queer joy exists alongside the bittersweet realities of fighting for a place to belong.

Mood
  • sun-drenched
  • intimate
  • vibrant
  • heartbreaking
Tone
  • earnest
  • tender
  • passionate
  • bittersweet
Pace
steady
Themes
finding home · art as identity · queer joy · systemic injustice · first love · community resilience
The writing
Sensory-rich and deeply grounded in Spanglish, painting a vivid, lyrical portrait of Mexican-American life.
The arc
Moves from the warm, hesitant bloom of first love and artistic discovery into the terrifying reality of systemic injustice, ending on a note of resilient, bittersweet hope.
Who it's for
Readers who crave swoony, character-driven queer romances that balance vibrant cultural joy with heavy, real-world political stakes.
Content notes
  • ICE raids
  • deportation
  • racism
  • xenophobia
  • family separation

About the book

Finding home. Falling in love. Fighting to belong.

The Santos Vista neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas, is all Ander Martínez has ever known. The smell of pan dulce. The mixture of Spanish and English filling the streets. And, especially their job at their family's taquería. It's the place that has inspired Ander as a muralist, and, as they get ready to leave for art school, it's all of these things that give them hesitancy. That give them the thought, are they ready to leave it all behind?

To keep Ander from becoming complacent during their gap year, their family "fires" them so they can transition from restaurant life to focusing on their murals and prepare for college. That is, until they meet Santiago López Alvarado, the hot new waiter. Falling for each other becomes as natural as breathing. Through Santi's eyes, Ander starts to understand who they are and want to be as an artist, and Ander becomes Santi's first steps toward making Santos Vista and the United States feel like home.

Until ICE agents come for Santi, and Ander realizes how fragile that sense of home is. How love can only hold on so long when the whole world is against them. And when, eventually, the world starts to win.

Description from Open Library.

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