Let’s flashback to 2020. You Had Me at Hola was about to come out that July, and then I got some amazing news: it was being picked up by Target’s Diverse Book Club! This meant moving the release date back a few weeks to August and signing thousands of tip-ins (the signed sheet in the front of the special editions), putting together a reader guide, etc. It was incredible! But it was also 2020, a time when I was barely leaving my apartment for anything. (I also live in NYC and the Target situation is very different there.) I never got to see the special Target edition of Hola inside an actual Target. (Which is why I was always so thrilled when people sent me photos!) Skip ahead to 2022. A Lot Like Adiós was eventually picked up by Target last winter, but I still hadn’t been inside a store to see it. Until yesterday. I stopped at the Target in Mission Valley on my first day in San Diego to pick up a few things with my aunt, and there it was. Gabe and Michelle, my Bronx beauties, on the Latine/x and Hispanic Heritage Month display. I finally got to see it. 🥹💙 (I also signed the two copies that were there.) In a bookselling and publishing environment where shelf space is shrinking at major retailers and change is (always) afoot, and considering that my first two published books where only available in ebook (until next year!), I do not take seeing print copies of my book in a physical store for granted. It takes a lot of people and a lot of steps behind the scenes to make that happen, and while this industry can often be hard and disheartening, these are the moments where I’m filled with immense gratitude for all the people who’ve had a hand in making this happen, and of course for all the readers who have made it possible for me to call this my job. Please continue to read, review, and uplift Latine authors beyond the end of our “month,” including Afro-Latinx, Indigenous-Latinx, and Asian-Latinx authors! We’re here all year long, not just September 15-October 15. 😘 #latinxheritagemonth #hispanicheritagemonth #latina #latinxromance #alotlikeadios #AlexisDaria #romancebooks #bookstagram #authorsofinstagram #books