Media and Bloggers Press Kit
Angelina M. Lopez, romance author and journalist, is available for interviews, podcasts, and as a contributor for articles.
It's her ability to balance these lascivious passages with pointed, meaningful storytelling that sets her work apart and makes her a writer worth returning to again and again.—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly
Click to Contact
For Hollywood inquiries, contact Alec Frankel, APA Talent & Literary Agency.
Bio
Long: Angelina M. Lopez wrote "arthur" when her kindergarten teacher asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. In the years since she learned to spell the word correctly, she's been a journalist for an acclaimed city newspaper, a freelance magazine writer, and a content marketer for small businesses. Finally she found her way back to "author."
Angelina writes sexy stories about strong women and the worthy men lucky to love them. The fact that her parents own a vineyard in California’s Russian River Valley might imply a certain hedonism about her; it's absolutely true. Once the dog dies, she and her husband plan on being footloose-and-fancy-free empty nesters in Houston, Texas.
Her first book in a new high-heat, small town, Latinx series, After Hours on Milagro Street was named a Top 10 romance of 2022 by The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and the Fated Mates podcast, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, an A+ review in Entertainment Weekly, and was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month. The second book, Full Moon Over Freedom, was named a Top 10 romance of 2023 by The Washington Post, received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist, and won an AudioFile Earphones Award.
You can find more about her at her website, AngelinaMLopez.com and at @AngelinaMLo on Instagram and Twitter.
Short: Angelina M. Lopez has been writing professionally her whole life: first as a journalist for an acclaimed city newspaper, then as a freelance magazine writer, and now as a romance author. She writes sexy stories about strong women and the worthy men lucky to love them. Her two latest releases in her high-heat, small town, Latinx series, After Hours on Milagro Street and Full Moon Over Freedom, have received in total four starred reviews, an AudioFile Earphones award, and were named top ten romances of the year in The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and the Fated Mates podcast. Angelina lives with her family in Houston, Texas. You can find more about her at her website, AngelinaMLopez.com and at @AngelinaMLo on Instagram.
latest release
Full Moon Over Freedom is the second in the three-part “Milagro Street” series, about three Mexican-American sisters who return to their small Kansas hometown to revive the family bar and, to their surprise, save the town they didn’t realize they loved. It is now available in trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook from publisher Harlequin.
BCC: Gillian Armstead-Bancroft—class valedictorian, Pride of the East Side, and once-perfect bruja, wife, and mother—is going to spend her summer getting good at being bad.
The first time she left Freedom, Kansas, behind, she did it by doing everything right.
This time, she’ll hide from the large Mexican American family welcoming her home and work in secret to break the curse that’s erased her magical life. Only by doing it all wrong can Gillian get herself and her two children away from the ghosts of her hometown by summer’s end.
Nicky Mendoza is an answer to her prayers. He was the practical solution to the problem of her virginity when they were younger, and now, as a gorgeous artist only in town for a weekend, he’s the ideal man to launch her down the path of ruination.
But Gillian isn’t the only one who’s cursed.
Nicky has been plagued by his furtive, enduring love for her as long as he’s been haunted by his cadejo, the phantom black dog that stalks his psyche. He’ll stick around to be whatever Gillian needs him to be this summer—but he won’t touch her. Touching her, then watching her leave again, will ruin him for good.
Reviews:
The Washington Post - Top 10 Romance Novel of 2023
AudioFile Magazine - Best Audiobooks of 2023 and winner of Earphones Award
Library Journal’s Romance Pick of the Month
The second in Lopez’s excellent Milagro Street series lands newly divorced Gillian back in her hometown of Freedom, Kan., to face demons both figurative and literal — and the first person she runs into is Nicky, the bad boy artist who taught her pleasure many years before. This incredible second-chance romance seamlessly blends Mexican American history and magical realism along with heat, angst and humor.—Alexis Daria, The Washington Post, Top 10 Romance Novel of 2023
Stacy Gonzalez's fierce narration of Lopez's second-chance romance is a stormy yet satisfying listen…. Gonzalez's boundless sensitivity to the longings of the heart completely transforms the story through her audio performance.—AudioFile Magazine, Best Audiobooks of 2023 and Winner of Earphones Award
Both spellbinding and sexy, this romance is an adventurous tale of the cursed and the blessed, and the community that raised them. VERDICT: In this second installment of the “Milagro Street” series, Lopez (After Hours on Milagro Street) interweaves history, Hispanic culture, magic, and passion in a modern-day love story.—Library Journal, ★ Starred Review and Romance Pick of the Month
Lopez works her own brand of literary brujeria in the second vibrantly written addition to her Milagro Street series, following After Hours on Milagro Street (2022), by crafting a scorchingly sensual love story. Lopez not only artfully incorporates family and friendship into the plot, she also illuminates the essential role Mexican Americans have played in the Midwest past and present—Booklist, ★ Starred Review
This series is one part small town romance, one part magical realism, one part absolute FIRE...l'm wild about her heroines, who are women who have to reconcile frustration and anger and big feelings before they win their happily ever afters, and this book is a fresh, modern banger.—Sarah MacLean, New York Times bestselling author of Knockout
With Full Moon Over Freedom, Angelina M. Lopez delivers a masterfully crafted second chance love story that aches as deliciously as it burns. With its deft blend of history, inspired social commentary, phenomenal character development, and scorching chemistry this book reads like Laura Esquivel’s and Susan Elizabeth Philips’s perfectly sexy love child. Gillian and Nicky are a couple for the ages and Freedom, Kansas is the new gold standard for small town romance. An absolute powerhouse of a romance. The kind of book that reminds me why this genre owns my heart.—Adriana Herrera, USA Today bestselling author of A Caribbean Heiress in Paris
Small town childhood friends to lovers, with a dash of second chance and a generous helping of heat? Yes, please! Full Moon Over Freedom is luscious and magical and unapologetically grown-up. Lopez is remaking the romance genre one gorgeously sexy book at a time.—Sierra Simone, USA Today bestselling author of Priest
Full Moon Over Freedom is a layered, complex look at love and identity and the complications of starting over when you're haunted by both the near and distant past. Gillian is a fully realized heroine--fierce, flawed, wounded, and so determined--and readers won't soon forget her and the magic she brings to the page.—Kate Clayborn, author of Georgie, All Along
Cover: Click image for high resolution version.
Order link: https://linktr.ee/fullmoonoverfreedom
First in the series
After Hours on Milagro Street is the first in the three-part “Milagro Street” series, about three Mexican-American sisters who return to their small Kansas hometown to revive the family bar and, to their surprise, save the town they didn’t realize they loved. It is now available in trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook from publisher Carina Press.
BCC: Guapo pobrecito, her grandmother calls him. The “poor handsome man.”
Professor Jeremiah Post, the poor handsome man, is in fact standing in the way of Alejandra “Alex” Torres turning Loretta’s, her grandmother’s bar, into a viable business. The hot brainiac who sleeps in one of the upstairs tenant rooms already has all of her Mexican American family’s admiration; she won’t let him have the bar and building she needs to resurrect her career, too.
Alex blowing into town has rocked Jeremiah to his mild-mannered core, but the large, boisterous Torres clan is everything he never had. He doesn’t believe Alex has the best interest of her family, their community or the bar’s legacy in mind. To protect all three, he’ll stand up to the tough and tattooed bartender with whom he now shares a bedroom wall—and resist the insta-lust they both feel.
But when an old enemy threatens Loretta’s and the surrounding neighborhood, Alex and Jeremiah must combine forces. It will take her might and his mind to save the home they both desperately need.
Reviews:
The Washington Post - Top 10 Romance Novel of 2022
Entertainment Weekly - 10 Best Romance Novels of 2022
Fated Mates podcast - Best of 2022
An Amazon Best Book of the Month for August 2022Amidst some of the hottest love scenes put to paper this year, Angelina M. Lopez interrogates big subjects like gentrification, assimilation, and what calling yourself an "American" really means. Her vibrant story of the ways that love, acceptance, and kinship can weave together in a tapestry with the threads of work that undoes erasure is both powerful and swoon-worthy.—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, The 10 Best Romance Novels of 2022
Lust, animosity and forced proximity make for a potent cocktail in this emotional enemies-to-lovers romance…. Lopez excels at penning strong women who know exactly what they want, but what makes this romance shine is the way she reveals the vulnerabilities and pain hiding behind Alex’s tough exterior….—Adriana Herrera, The Washington Post, Top 10 Romance Novel of 2022
One of my very favorite books of the year is After Hours on Milagro Street, the most recent book by Angelina M. Lopez, who’ve we’ve talked about before because I actually think she is the reigning queen of the bad-ass/possibly unlikeable heroine….You guys, this is, bar none, one of the best contemporaries of the year and I’m so excited for you all to read it.—Sarah MacLean, Fated Mates podcast, The Best Romance Novels of 2022
Angelina M. Lopez has already proved that she can spin the divinely soapy and filthy into resonant romantic gold, but she amplifies that with this first title in her new series. Inspired by her own upbringing as a Mexican American in Kansas, Lopez offers a steamy love story that is also a repudiation of whitewashing history for the sake of upholding narrow definitions of what it is to be American….After Hours on Milagro Street is about not only uncovering forgotten (or deliberately obscured) histories, it's about restoring the narrative of our collective past and the contributions of a rich tapestry of peoples whose story is often reduced or erased altogether. Romance is almost always an inherently political genre in the ways it asserts its messages about sexuality, pleasure, power dynamics, and more. But Lopez raises that to the next level, making a profound statement about being an American amid absolutely mind-blowing sex scenes. It's her ability to balance these lascivious passages with pointed, meaningful storytelling that sets her work apart and makes her a writer worth returning to again and again.—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, A+ Review
Sparks fly and tempers flare in the passionate, un-put-downable rivals-to-lovers romance that launches a sizzling new series from Lopez…Reserved Jeremiah and ballsy Alex shine as Lopez expertly peels back their layers, and together they make an endearing power couple. Lopez seamlessly blends high-heat romance with discussions of Alex’s heritage and the fascinating history of 19th-century Mexican immigrants to the Kansas plains. This is a treasure.—Publishers Weekly, ★ Starred Review
The story moves quickly, with engaging writing and a complex, layered plot that pulls readers into Jeremiah and Alex’s developing relationship. Verdict: Lopez’s likeable protagonists, with immediate chemistry and connection, shine in this steamy novel. Recommended for general purchase.—Library Journal, ★ Starred Review
Not since Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper mixed it up personally and professionally in Ball of Fire has there been such a marvelously mismatched yet inevitably perfect-for-each-other pair of protagonists as Lopez’s sexy mixologist and sweet professor. They generate plenty of sizzling chemistry and muy caliente love scenes. Combine with an engaging plot that celebrates Mexican American history, and you have a romance with both heat and heart.”—Booklist
Sensual, scorching, and steeped in luminous, glimmering prose, After Hours on Milagro Street is proof that Angelina Lopez is the new queen of small town romance—and of our hearts! - Sierra Simone, author of Priest and A Merry Little Meet Cute
Just the other day a friend asked where the alpha heroines are at. Well, I know one of them can be found in the pages of After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina Lopez…. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a change-up from lighthearted romcoms but not willing to go full-blown angst, anyone who appreciates an alpha heroine, and anyone who loves a big family, ghosts, and page scorching sex!—Elizabeth Everett, author of A Lady’s Formula for Love
For my steam lovers, let me tell you, we jump into it quick. Suspenders, bow ties, and cable knit sweaters have never been hotter.—Melissa Gill, Books Recs by Mel
I love so much about what Angelina Lopez is using this book (and presumably series) to achieve. This is a new kind of romance genre for me; it is much more about alpha-females and fighting for what you want....This story is big on themes of fighting for the voiceless, preserving the past, and sticking it to the man. It's rare that a contemporary romance novel teaches me history, but After Hours on Milagro Street really did something new.—Griffin, Goodreads review
Cover: Click image for high resolution version.
Order link: https://linktr.ee/AfterHoursonMilagroStreet
DEBUT Book
Lush Money was named a Top 10 Romance Debut of 2020 by ALA’s Booklist. It is available in trade paperback, mass market paperback, audiobook, and ebook from Carina Press. It’s the first in the three-part “Filthy Rich” series, about powerful, wealthy women who get what they want because they’ve earned it. The second and third book in the series, Hate Crush and Serving Sin, are available now.
BCC: A marriage of convenience and three nights a month. That’s all the sultry, self-made billionaire wants from the impoverished prince. And at the end of the year, she’ll grant him his divorce…with a settlement large enough to save his beloved kingdom.
As a Latinx woman, Roxanne Medina has conquered small-town bullies, Ivy League snobs and boardrooms full of men. She’s earned the right to mother a princess and feel a little less lonely at the top. The offer she’s made is more than generous, and when the contract’s fulfilled, they’ll both walk away with everything they’ve ever wanted.
Príncipe Mateo Ferdinand Juan Carlos de Esperanza y Santos is one of the top winegrowers in the world, and he’s not marrying and having a baby with a stranger. Even if the millions she’s offering could save his once-legendary wine-producing principality.
But the successful, single-minded beauty uses a weapon prince Mateo hadn’t counted on: his own desire.
Reviews:
Lopez’s clever and captivating variation on the CEO trope is full of fairy-tale glitz and glam.—Top 10 Romance Debut of 2020, Booklist
Romance often gets belittled for its escapism, but what Lopez offers is almost a publishing magic trick in itself. She delivers that escapist fantasy in spades – what could be more outlandish than a billionaire CEO and her sexy prince? But then she digs into the wounds and hard work underneath that fantasy, exposing the truth that a happily ever after in the context of reality is all the more rewarding.—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly
Lopez successfully flips the gender switch on the wealthy CEO trope while at the same time incorporating a generous dash of fairy-tale glitz and glam into the captivating storyline of her marvelous debut. And when these elements are combined with engaging characters and an abundance of boldly sensual, vividly rendered love scenes, you have everything fans of sexy contemporary romances could ever crave—Booklist (Starred Review)
Fans of fake-relationship romances will delight in this fresh spin on the trope. —Publishers Weekly
Lady Billionaire meets Hot Prince meets marriage of convenience in Lush Money, a sexy, emotional and pitch-perfect romance by Angelina M. Lopez. ...As their lives inevitably become more entwined, their relationship just as inevitably becomes more than just sex, making for a novel that subverts classic romance tropes in an extremely satisfying way. —Maya Rodale, NPR Books
Sweeping, sensual, and rawly emotional, Angelina M. Lopez crafts a debut that matches a strong, complicated heroine to a beautiful, tortured prince, and spins a swoon-worthy fairy tale for the 2019 reader. Lush Money is a gorgeous story full of heat and feels—and tons of sexy, royal fun! —USA Today Bestselling Author Sierra Simone
Lush Money was nothing I expected and everything I needed. It took the billionaire and marriage of convenience tropes and flipped them on their heads. A bold, millionaire heroine, a sexy prince of a hero, an exhilarating power struggle and off-the-charts chemistry and passion that had my Kindle smoking. It's the perfect dirty fairy tale. —USA Today Bestselling Author Naima Simone
Cover: Click image for high resolution version.
Talking Points
Born third generation Mexican-American in small southeast Kansas town; raised in Kansas and Oklahoma.
A part of Gantz Family Vineyards, a Pinot Noir vineyard in Sonoma County’s acclaimed Russian River Valley owned and farmed by her parents.
Eloped to Vegas; married for 20+ years.
Career as a newspaper journalist, freelance writer, and digital content consultant with a story in the Newseum.
Longtime romance genre fan and advocate: Began reading in the sixth grade, began writing in mid-twenties.
Favorite writing-craft topics: how to write alpha heroines, how to write bonkers books, how to turn tropes on their head.
An advocate of ending the stigma around mental health issues.