There’s a reason why we keep going back to the classics – why mess with what works? There is comfort in rereading (or rewatching) something we know by heart, especially if it’s a story that resonates across generations. Sometimes, though, we need a little twist to an old classic – this is where Alana Quintana Albertson comes in. Her Love and Tacos series delivers beloved literature classics with Latinx flavor. The newest installment in the series, My Fair Señor is a multicultural, gender-swapped retelling of the classic My Fair Lady – a movie I was obsessed with as a child, after I found out my granda’s quinceañera dress was a recreation of Eliza Doolittle’s white ballgown.
My Fair Señor celebrates Mexican-American culture while highlighting the complexities of gentrification and cultural appropriation through a flawed second-chance romance.
The novel follows Jaime Montez, a San Diego-based model and influencer, and Alma García, the most popular Tequila master and owner of the hottest tequila bar in Tiburón, CA… Oh, and also, Jaime´s college ex, who absolutely hates his guts. Despite their history, the two decide to (begrudingly) team up to achieve their goals: Alma will teach Jaime everything he needs to know about Tequila and help him in his attempt at creating a non-gentrified Tequila brand, and Jaime will use his influencer platform to promote her business and help her reach new audiences.
Jaime may be successful and handsome, but he’s far from perfect. He objectifies Alma, lamenting losing her only because of how attractive she is, in behavior that borders on the abhorrent misogyny of the “Spicy Latina” trope. It also doesn’t help that Alma’s family keeps trying to paint Jaime as “lovable” when he simply isn’t written that way. Handsome? Rich? Charming? Sure, I can give him all those, but lovable? Nope. For the first half of the book, I simply couldn’t understand how Alma could give in and forgive him so quickly, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Just like Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, Jaime and Alma are each other’s person and they chose to accept each other, flaws and all.
I strongly dislike Jaime, but have to give props to Alana Quintana Albertson and her masterful way of building such realistic characters. She perfectly captures the many douchebags that plague the modern dating pool (a particular one who kept referring to me as “snacccc” comes to mind – I cringe just thinking of it). Jaime might be fictional, but he’s clearly based on a very real man – one we’ve all encountered.
It’s impossible for me to hate on a romance story, especially one about second chances, but as someone who grew up and lives in Mexico, I have issues with how my country is portrayed – particularly when anti-immigration sentiments are at an all-time high. The implication that Alma would be unsafe traveling alone to Mexico and would surely get “kidnapped and sex-trafficked” feels like it was written by someone who knows the country through clichés and hasn’t yet experienced the whole beauty of it. BTW, Mexico is, like any country, not perfect, but women can safely travel alone just like they can in the States.
That said, I sincerely appreciate that My Fair Señor gives us a male POV in romance. We hardly ever get to see men who yearn and want for women as much as women want for men, so telling the story from Jaime’s perspective is a welcome change. All of the Alana Quintana Albertson Love and Tacos books offer a peek into what men feel, think, and do when they’re in love. Much like Conrad Fisher in The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jaime yearns for Alma once he realizes he messed up.
Honestly, though, my favorite part of the book is Alma – she’s a strong-willed woman who chases after her dreams, sticks to her boundaries, knows her worth, and has space in her heart to fall in love again after so much pain. Maybe I should strive to be a bit more like Alma, but I still want better than Jaime.
