I Want it That Way is first in a trilogy about college housemates in Michigan. Nadia, the heroine of this book, works hard in school and also works hard at a local daycare. As the book opens, she and her friends are moving into their apartment and Nadia has a chance meeting with their downstairs neighbor. These chance meetings start morphing into something deeper as Nadia and Ty start having evening chats on their respective outdoor decks.

Nadia learns that Ty works and also attends college, all while raising a four-year-old son as a single father. The connection deepens and starts to move beyond balcony chats when Ty enrolls his son at the daycare where Nadia works. Their love story is at once adorable and also a bit gritty. Each has difficulties to work through, and we see Nadia and Ty both learning how committed they will have to be to make a relationship work. Their story is often romantic, but not always pretty. It’s good stuff, though.

Ty has had to grow up earlier than the average college student so that he can be a good father to his son. And he is. Seeing how Ty sacrifices and cares for his little boy makes him a very endearing hero. Nadia has to help put herself through school, so she’s certainly not spoiled, but she’s still somewhat idealistic. In her interactions with her roommates and others, she’s refreshingly transparent much of the time and even if she wasn’t the most mature of heroines, there’s a sweetness about her that I found likable.

The side characters in this book are a treat, too. I know they will have books of their own, but in the meantime, I enjoyed meeting Nadia’s roommates. At times the author has a tendency to overexplain things and all that narrative dedicated to things I could largely have figured out in context drew me out of the story. However, aside from that quirk, I enjoyed the writing and liked how Aguirre created a world that reminded me somewhat of the emotions and issues of my own college years while also feeling thoroughly modern.