Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - The Wall of Winnipeg and Me

This was an accidental read; not into sports-related romance, but it was on Libby's available now shelf. Wanted to like the characters more than I did. It was a longer read than expected and despite the issues I had with the story I still wanted to read to the end to see how the author was going to resolve the issues with character development, especially regarding the MMC. The first 1/3-1/2 of the book has Vanessa (FMC) engaging in what I see as overly apologetic and appeasing behaviors. As the book progresses you come to understand the back story behind her tendencies but there's little-to-no character growth around recognizing these tendencies or the motivations behind them. She lies repeatedly to those she cares about as well as to herself and there's no real acknowledgment or growth in terms of the consequences of her actions/inactions. She takes responsibility for things that aren't hers, blames herself, calls reasonable emotions and behaviors "nagging" or unreasonable, and apologizes for her anger all in the guise of "taking responsibility"; in reality, it's a lot of overcompensating for trauma. The MMC while showing emotional growth later on in the story still gets away with a lot of crappy behavior for much of the book. They don't get together until after she starts working out and loses weight and it's unclear for the majority of the book if the MMC liked her for who she was from the beginning until the book is almost over.

Content Warnings

lauraelovesbooks's review against another edition

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funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The queen of slow burn strikes again. It won’t work for everyone but for me personally it’s everything I look for in a book. A marriage of convenience, grump/sunshine, ‘enemies’ to-friends-to-lovers story

Content Warnings

garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯. 𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.

Why are football romance stories so cute?! You know that feeling when you read the first few lines of a book and you just know you'll love it. That's how I feel every time I start a new Mariana Zapata book. And The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is no exception.

I loved Vanessa from Chapter 1. She's my favorite out of all of MZ's FMCs. I related to her so much. Aiden's character development was incredible. From being so closed off and dismissive towards Vanessa in the beginning, to taking her for granted, to finally realizing his faults, and showing up to support her was so endearing and heartwarming.

This was the first book that I thought did the marriage of convenience trope perfectly. The terms of this marriage between Vanessa and Aiden was totally believable and even after they got married, it took a long time for them to build a solid friendship and trust with each other.

𝘖𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦...𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘔𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴. 𝘔𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵. 𝘔𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.

I highly recommend the audiobook. Emma Wilder and Stephen Dexter did a fantastic job! They got me hooked immediately. Mariana Zapata's writing style is addictive and compelling. The burn is so slow that I HAD to keep reading until I was satisfied. And trust me, it was all worth it in the end.

𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 🩵

🏈marriage of convenience
🏈forced proximity
🏈workplace romance
🏈slooow burn
🏈football romance

Content Warnings

ireadtoescape_'s review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If you ask me, we could have started this book from about 60% in. Most of what came before was really drawn out! 😩

It was cute, though. I’m choosing not to over-think the other stuff 🙃

Content Warnings

michbrito's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is a grumpy/sunshine, fake marriage, slow burn, sports romance novel. Both of the main characters have childhood trauma and trust issues to work through. I really enjoyed the transformation of Aiden, as he opened up and became more comfortable with Vanessa.

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