Book Review: Through My Window (Hidalgos #1) by Ariana Godoy

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“Through My Window” follows good girl Raquel Álvarez’s crush on her mysterious bad boy neighbour Ares Hildago. This is a steamy, proximity romance about first love and heartbreak.

Buy “Through My Window”

As I mentioned, “Through My Window” is a romance book that follows Raquel and Ares. They live next door to each other but their windows reflect a different reality. That’s until a chance encounter and an incident with Raquel’s Wi-Fi bring Ares straight into Raquel’s window and life.

I have to admit that the movie is infinitely better than the book. I picked up the book in preparation to watch the third and final movie of the Netflix Through My Window Trilogy in early 2024.

For the most part, “Through My Window” book is similar to the movie until the mid-point, in which the main character’s best friend, Yoshi, attempts suicide. And then the whole affair is brushed under the rug. Yoshi’s character is more developed and tangible in the movies, which makes sense because the books follow different storylines and brothers.

Similar to the movie, there were quite a few steamy scenes in this book. I enjoyed Raquel’s first experience in a relationship and her willingness to see through her desires.

I liked that we got Ares’s point of view, which helped us better understand his motives. We realize that he’s been obsessed with Raquel too, creating the puzzle pieces that will provoke their meeting and interactions.

I rewatched the movie after reading the book because I enjoyed that storyline better. The appeal I have towards the movie franchise is that Raquel is on this journey to write about their love story and how it impacted those around them and deeply changed and transformed the couple individually.

Now, as for the writing, it’s subpar – it is both cringy and juvenile. I never understand juvenile writing when the content is adult and mature. I know this is a Wattpad book (I grew up reading Wattpad!) but it had ample time for editing and rewrites.

Had I not been obsessed with the movie franchise, I wouldn’t have picked up this book and most likely DNFed it. This book felt like the first draft while the movies feel like the fleshed-out final drafts.

The essence of the story – first love, vulnerability, proximity, and modern-day WI-FI sharing – is cohesive in its themes. And the immaturity within the drama is also very characteristic of the main character’s age and inexperience.

All in all, I might be tempted to pick up the next two books even though they follow different Hildago brothers and divert from the movie scripts.

“I want to have love, experience, fun. I want so many things. But I also want someone who respects me, who yearns to be with me, who wants to be with me. I don’t want to be anyone’s toy, no matter how much I might like him.”

“how much you love yourself can be reflected in your ability to love others.”

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