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Sign up todayAnder & Santi Were Here
A Novel
Narrator
Avi Roque
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
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Length
12 hours 28 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“An absolutely gorgeous, heart-wrenching, warmly funny book. Ander is a nonbinary artist taking a gap year to paint murals around their hometown of San Antonio through a fellowship at a non-profit. When their parents fire them from the family's taqueria so they can focus on their art, Ander ends up falling for their replacement, Santi. What Ander doesn't know is that Santi is undocumented, and the world seems hell bent on keeping them apart. Ander's voice is strong and smart. I cried and laughed throughout, and the cover is a gorgeous depiction of Ander's art. I loved every second of this book, for all the pain, love, and joy it depicts perfectly. ”
— Tildy • Belmont Books
Bookseller recommendation
“This book was filled with so much queer love and most importantly, sheer queer JOY! I dare you not to fall in love with Ander and Santi as you root for their love as it unfolds. ”
— Audrey • Belmont Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Meticulously crafted, Ander & Santi Were Here left me without words but with so much to say. You will fall in love with these characters as they fall for each other, and you'll laugh with them, fear for them, and hope for them to find a way through a situation that is all too real. As always, Avi Roque's narration enhances the reading experience, truly bringing the story to life. ”
— Miriasha • Phoenix Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Ander & Santi Were Here is the queer YA book the world needs right now. Filled with so much queer joy, profound queer love, and delicious Mexican food, it'll warm your heart, bring tears to your eyes, and make you want some tacos ASAP. Avi Roque's narration brings all the characters, but Ander in particular, to brilliant riotous life, and the depiction of immigration injustice will ensure Ander and Santi get lodged in your head just as much as your heart. ”
— Lauren • Chapterhouse Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Sometimes, you pick up a book, not knowing much about it, and are caught up in the characters' lives, hoping and wishing for the best for them. Ander & Santi was that way for me (especially on audio; Avi Roque is fantastic narrator) - I found I cared about both Ander and Santi, and was invested in their future together. Which, for me, is all the hallmarks of an excellent story, well-told. ”
— Melissa • Watermark Books
"[Avi] Roque's warm and musical narration is utter perfection. They capture Ander and Santi's fear with vivid immediacy and also infuse their voices with bubbly happiness. In moments of tenderness, their breath catches. They switch easily between Spanish and English and use a half-dozen unique accents for different characters. This audiobook is a heartbreaking, joyful love letter to queer Latinx communities."- AudioFile
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe meets The Sun is Also a Star in this YA contemporary love story from Jonny Garza Villa, Ander & Santi Were Here, about a nonbinary Mexican American teen falling for the shy new waiter at their family’s taqueria.
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.
A Macmillan Audio production from Wednesday Books.
JONNY GARZA VILLA (they/them) is an author of contemporary young adult literature with characters and settings inspired by their own Tejane, Chicane, and queer identities, including the Pura Belpré Honor Book Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun and Ander & Santi Were Here, a Bookshop.org Best YA of 2023 selection. Whatever the storyline, Jonny ultimately hopes Latines, and, more specifically, queer Mexican American young people will feel seen in their writing. When not writing, Jonny enjoys reading, playing Dungeons and Dragons, visiting taquerías, listening to Selena, and caring for their many cacti children. They live in San Antonio.
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Reviews
"In Santi, Garza Villa has done a superb job of verisimilitude, taking their readers into the precarious life and circumstances of an undocumented teen. The love between the two teens is beautifully realized without a false note, proving that Garza Villa is as much an artist as Ander." - Booklist, Starred Review
"[A] blistering tale of enduring love and communal care." - Publishers Weekly
"Explores love and growing up viewed through artistic lenses.... A relevant coming-of-age journey." - Kirkus
"This book is a living, breathing love letter, and I felt every beat of it. Jonny Garza Villa’s fiercely vulnerable writing leaves a permanent mark." – Becky Albertalli, award-winning author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda
“Beautifully heartbreaking. This book will fill you with warmth while breaking you to pieces, and the tears you shed will be completely worth it.” - Dustin Thao, New York Times bestselling author of You've Reached Sam
"With a swoony romance full of sex positivity, humor, and PAIN, Jonny Garza Villa will destroy your heart and piece it back together and you will thank them for it." – Sonora Reyes, author of The Lesbiana's Guide To Catholic School
“A beautiful ode to holding on—to our precious family histories, to home wherever we choose to make it, and most importantly, to love.” – Laekan Zea Kemp, author of Pura Belpré Honor book Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet
"Jonny has done it again. Ander & Santi Were Here is at times hilariously debauched and painfully poignant, both a warm testament to community and love as well as a fiery call to action. I'll read anything they write, and you should too." -Aaron H. Aceves, author of This Is Why They Hate Us
"Ander & Santi Were Here is a uniquely soft heartbeat—devastating in its truth and profound in its beauty. JGV offers their readers another brilliant story, one that arrives ready to expose the truth of living and loving undocumented in America. At its core, ANDER AND SANTI is both a love story and a loud message made up of undeniably romantic moments, great banter, clutch-your-pillow flirting, and raw exposure to obstacles the Latine community meets head-on every day. Ander, Santi and Jonny Garza Villa have given readers a kind of poetry within this story that is meant to move you." – Cam Montgomery, author of By Any Means Necessary
"A romance that knows no borders, Ander & Santi Were Here is a rich, relatable, Latine story not soon to be forgotten." – e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, ALA winning author of the Fat Angie series
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