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goldensisyphus's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
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
3.5
Was fully on board loving this book and all it's profound and healing moments UNTIL 85% in when the two MMCs judge our FMC for something that was completely 100% not her fault and then act like immature judgmental assholes and give her the silent treatment. It's totally emotionally abusive behavior. It's then washed over with lovebombing behavior and all supposedly ends well but that is a major red flag. Left a bad vibe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny
Minor: Medical trauma
lilaknitsandreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Animal death
spellbindingtomes's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-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
4.0
๐'๐ฎ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐'๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต.
I couldn't put this book down! Honestly, it's hard to put down any MZ book once you start. Out of all her books, All Rhodes Lead Here focuses more on the FMC's self-discovery after experiencing hurt and betrayalโcoming full circle to the place where she lost her mom.
Aurora was such a ray of sunshine even when she's been through so much. I really resonated with her grief. I loved that she wanted to go on each of her mom's favorite hikes in Colorado as a way to honor her. Aurora's resilient, hilarious, and most of all, loveable.
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ด. ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ญ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด.
The burn was slow per usual, but this time not just with the romance but with the found family aspect also. I loved Rhodes & Amos so much and seeing their friendship and love naturally grow for Aurora and vice versa was so touching and heartfelt.
This was the first MZ book that left me wanting a little more out of the romance. I also thought the last few chapters had a lot of drama which is pretty unusual for her books.
That being said, this was still an addictive and endearing read that will definitely tug at your heartstrings.
Now if you excuse me, I will be busy looking at flights to Pagosa Springs!
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ-๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ-๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ-๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ-๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐บ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ.
Read this if you love:
๐ฅพfound family
โฐ๏ธage gap
๐ฅพslow burn
โฐ๏ธsmall town romance
๐ฅพgrumpy x sunshine
โฐ๏ธsingle dad
I couldn't put this book down! Honestly, it's hard to put down any MZ book once you start. Out of all her books, All Rhodes Lead Here focuses more on the FMC's self-discovery after experiencing hurt and betrayalโcoming full circle to the place where she lost her mom.
Aurora was such a ray of sunshine even when she's been through so much. I really resonated with her grief. I loved that she wanted to go on each of her mom's favorite hikes in Colorado as a way to honor her. Aurora's resilient, hilarious, and most of all, loveable.
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ด. ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ญ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด.
The burn was slow per usual, but this time not just with the romance but with the found family aspect also. I loved Rhodes & Amos so much and seeing their friendship and love naturally grow for Aurora and vice versa was so touching and heartfelt.
This was the first MZ book that left me wanting a little more out of the romance. I also thought the last few chapters had a lot of drama which is pretty unusual for her books.
That being said, this was still an addictive and endearing read that will definitely tug at your heartstrings.
Now if you excuse me, I will be busy looking at flights to Pagosa Springs!
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ-๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ-๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ-๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ-๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐บ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ.
Read this if you love:
๐ฅพfound family
โฐ๏ธage gap
๐ฅพslow burn
โฐ๏ธsmall town romance
๐ฅพgrumpy x sunshine
โฐ๏ธsingle dad
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Classism, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
pgivan21's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A fun grumpy/sunshine, that also explores grief and the journey to find what you truly want in life. Zapata never fails to create such realistic characters with complex lives, and to build strong foundations for her main charactersโ budding relationships. No instalove here!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
kam_be's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic relationship
Minor: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
amanda_reads13's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
ranjanireviewsreads's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This is the second Mariana Zapata book I've read and I really like her style. Honestly, Rhodes and Am stole my heart. I've always been a sucker for the strong and silent with a heart of gold type. And I like teens who are cool.
Tropes:
- Small town romance
- (kind of) Single parent MMC
- Divorced FMC
- Character study
Things I liked:
-- Though this novel is a romance, I liked that the main theme was in fact grief, love, and perseverance. It gave a depth to it that romance novels usually lack (despite being written and read mainly for the romance). I loved the description of grief losing someone changes you as a person. I've never experienced it myself and I can't imagine how painful it must be; Zapata does a wonderful job of writing about it.
-- I loved the community feeling of this book. Usually, the small-town romances I read leave me feeling a little underwhelmed when it comes to the presence and importance of supporting characters. But with All Rhodes lead here, I had no complaints. The main character is still very much Aurora and that is made very clear; but to see the impact kind people have on her is great and something I will be looking for in other books.
-- I loved the character journey Aurora took. There was no specific development per se; but I could just feel the loneliness in the beginning, the slight hope of companionship in the middle, and the love of family in the end. This is possibly my favourite thing to read about; someone lonely finding their forever family.
Things I didn't like:
-- Ngl, I cringed every time Rhodes said "Buddy" or "angel face"
I also felt a whole fucking zoo in my chest whenever he said "angel" or "sweetheart" so I guess that makes up for it? Either way, slightly cringe.
-- Rhodes was not the greatest in terms of character development. He was much less explored than Aurora - and while I fully believe this novel is much more a character study than a romance, it still would have been nice to see a little more of Rhodes that the rushed history-and-interests exposition we did get.
-- As a result of Rhodes less-than-ideal development, I wasn't quite on board with the romance. It was sweet and mature but I believe it could have been much better.
-- I am not totally on board with Zapata's writing. There was a lot of repetition of stuff that would have had more impact if it was mentioned only once. For example, when Aurora would think about her mother, I could feel her grief and anger and loneliness but I also got super frustrated because these thoughts would go on for paragraphs at a time. They would say the same thing, just in slightly different words. I skipped paragraphs and even pages (I used an epub so they weren't really long)
-- Continuing with the writing, I sensed a struggle to balance exposition, internal narration, and dialogue. Either the exposition was too long or the dialogue was. As a result, the narration really fell flat at places where it should have kept my attention.
Overall, I really did like reading All Rhodes Lead Here despite my slight frustration with the writing.
Would recommend to fans of romance, but more specifically, character driven stories that border on character studies.
Spice: ๐ถ.5
- One detailed scene, some mentions.
โ๏ธโ๏ธ* SPOILER FOR The Wall of Winnipeg and Me AND All Rhodes Lead Here* โ๏ธโ๏ธ
-- I made a comment on the epilogue of The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, about how I didn't like the inclusion of kids. It felt cheap, like a ploy intended to appeal to readers who wanted that ending. However that is not the case here. Getting married, having kids was a very satisfying conclusion for Rhodes and Aurora.
Tropes:
- Small town romance
- (kind of) Single parent MMC
- Divorced FMC
- Character study
Things I liked:
-- Though this novel is a romance, I liked that the main theme was in fact grief, love, and perseverance. It gave a depth to it that romance novels usually lack (despite being written and read mainly for the romance). I loved the description of grief losing someone changes you as a person. I've never experienced it myself and I can't imagine how painful it must be; Zapata does a wonderful job of writing about it.
-- I loved the community feeling of this book. Usually, the small-town romances I read leave me feeling a little underwhelmed when it comes to the presence and importance of supporting characters. But with All Rhodes lead here, I had no complaints. The main character is still very much Aurora and that is made very clear; but to see the impact kind people have on her is great and something I will be looking for in other books.
-- I loved the character journey Aurora took. There was no specific development per se; but I could just feel the loneliness in the beginning, the slight hope of companionship in the middle, and the love of family in the end. This is possibly my favourite thing to read about; someone lonely finding their forever family.
Things I didn't like:
-- Ngl, I cringed every time Rhodes said "Buddy" or "angel face"
I also felt a whole fucking zoo in my chest whenever he said "angel" or "sweetheart" so I guess that makes up for it? Either way, slightly cringe.
-- Rhodes was not the greatest in terms of character development. He was much less explored than Aurora - and while I fully believe this novel is much more a character study than a romance, it still would have been nice to see a little more of Rhodes that the rushed history-and-interests exposition we did get.
-- As a result of Rhodes less-than-ideal development, I wasn't quite on board with the romance. It was sweet and mature but I believe it could have been much better.
-- I am not totally on board with Zapata's writing. There was a lot of repetition of stuff that would have had more impact if it was mentioned only once. For example, when Aurora would think about her mother, I could feel her grief and anger and loneliness but I also got super frustrated because these thoughts would go on for paragraphs at a time. They would say the same thing, just in slightly different words. I skipped paragraphs and even pages (I used an epub so they weren't really long)
-- Continuing with the writing, I sensed a struggle to balance exposition, internal narration, and dialogue. Either the exposition was too long or the dialogue was. As a result, the narration really fell flat at places where it should have kept my attention.
Overall, I really did like reading All Rhodes Lead Here despite my slight frustration with the writing.
Would recommend to fans of romance, but more specifically, character driven stories that border on character studies.
Spice: ๐ถ.5
- One detailed scene, some mentions.
โ๏ธโ๏ธ* SPOILER FOR The Wall of Winnipeg and Me AND All Rhodes Lead Here* โ๏ธโ๏ธ
-- I made a comment on the epilogue of The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, about how I didn't like the inclusion of kids. It felt cheap, like a ploy intended to appeal to readers who wanted that ending. However that is not the case here. Getting married, having kids was a very satisfying conclusion for Rhodes and Aurora.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death and Pregnancy
Minor: Homophobia
TW/CW: -- Death of parent (mentioned often; off-page) -- Grief (severe) -- Allusion to suicide (minor) -- Sexual content (graphic) -- Pregnancy (minor-moderate) - high-risk pregnancy (35+)mrsboomreads's review against another edition
2.75
I have thoughts. (Mild spoilers)
Iโve been duped. This was billed as a romance novel and, not it! This is contemporary fiction with a itty bitty, teeny tiny side portion of excruciatingly slow romance. Manage those expectations!
What I loved:
โข I enjoyed Auroraโs character arc. She grows up and stands up to her crappy ex and get out of the dead end, toxic, financially/emotionally relationship, then heals her heart and starts over in her hometown.
โข Honoring her late motherโs memory by following her love of hiking was beautiful, and the descriptions of the scenery and hiking were ๐๐ป
โข The Ex drama was well done. Aurora was great at standing up for herself.
โข The female friendships, old and new (โone is silver and the other goldโ ๐ต)
What irked me:
โข Rhodes goes far beyond the grump in a sunshine/grump trope. Try grizzly.
โข The pet names. Omg, please no more. I cringed every time through this progression from Rhodes calling Aurora โkiddoโ to โAngelโ to...โBuddyโ ๐ฅด Make. It. Stop.
โข The slooooooooooooooow burn. I understand building anticipation but, this was so drawn out that I almost did not care if they ever got together. And the pay off was meh. Far too little, far too late.
If this had a bit of an accelerated burn, dropped the nicknames, and was edited by about 150 pages? It could have had 5 star read potential.
Iโve been duped. This was billed as a romance novel and, not it! This is contemporary fiction with a itty bitty, teeny tiny side portion of excruciatingly slow romance. Manage those expectations!
What I loved:
โข I enjoyed Auroraโs character arc. She grows up and stands up to her crappy ex and get out of the dead end, toxic, financially/emotionally relationship, then heals her heart and starts over in her hometown.
โข Honoring her late motherโs memory by following her love of hiking was beautiful, and the descriptions of the scenery and hiking were ๐๐ป
โข The Ex drama was well done. Aurora was great at standing up for herself.
โข The female friendships, old and new (โone is silver and the other goldโ ๐ต)
What irked me:
โข Rhodes goes far beyond the grump in a sunshine/grump trope. Try grizzly.
โข The pet names. Omg, please no more. I cringed every time through this progression from Rhodes calling Aurora โkiddoโ to โAngelโ to...โBuddyโ ๐ฅด Make. It. Stop.
โข The slooooooooooooooow burn. I understand building anticipation but, this was so drawn out that I almost did not care if they ever got together. And the pay off was meh. Far too little, far too late.
If this had a bit of an accelerated burn, dropped the nicknames, and was edited by about 150 pages? It could have had 5 star read potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Gaslighting
percervall's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Itโs the mother of all slow burn. The main character doesnโt sound like a woman in her early 30s, more like a 25 year old. It is โจsteamyโจ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
shuelace's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy, and Mental illness