i wanted to punch Rafie in the face throughout most of this book, which really hindered my enjoyment
it’s definitely a good book, and i would recommend it!! it’s an exploration of grief, a mariachi story, and a romance (where the love interest, Rey, is trans). i just found the rivals-to-lovers to be extremely over the top, since honestly it’s not really even rivals. it’s just Rafie in 50% of this book saying every page how much better he is than everyone at his new school, how they don’t deserve him, how much their mariachi group sucks, blah blah blah he yaps so much and honestly is a complete dick. and throughout that Rey is pretty much just 😐 unless Rafie directly antagonizes him (

such as the scene where Rey stumbled in his words in a performance and Rafie steps up in front of him and begins singing

). so yeah its not even rivals, its just Rafie being a brat. i could not understand how Rey could still want a relationship after how awful Rafie was to everyone.
(yes ik “the characters are teens so of course they’re annoying” 1: it wasn’t every character who was being frustrating. it was just Rafie. 2: im a teen (18 years old) and i dont know literally anyone who would act or has acted like Rafie did in this book. dont just decide “well teens are annoying so of course theyre annoying in books” that’s a really weird line of thought! theres incredible YA books where teens act like teens yet aren’t brats like Rafie is in most of this book!!!)