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dr_amy_k_west's review against another edition
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
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
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Child abuse, Cursing, Car accident, Bullying, and Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
lauraelovesbooks's review against another edition
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 wonโt work for everyone but for me personally itโs everything I look for in a book. A marriage of convenience, grump/sunshine, โenemiesโ to-friends-to-lovers story
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism and Medical content
spellbindingtomes's review against another edition
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
๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐บ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
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.
๐๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ...๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต. ๐๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ.
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.
๐๐ฆ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉต
๐marriage of convenience
๐forced proximity
๐workplace romance
๐slooow burn
๐football romance
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.
๐๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ...๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต. ๐๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ.
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.
๐๐ฆ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉต
๐marriage of convenience
๐forced proximity
๐workplace romance
๐slooow burn
๐football romance
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Bullying
Moderate: Alcoholism and Addiction
Minor: Death
Very heavy and graphic in child abuse coming from both MCs.mels_reading_log's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Addiction, Sexual content, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse
bookscatsandtats's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-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
I just freaking loved this so much. Such a real and loving love story. It is the slowest of slow burns but the payoff is chefs kisses. You will fall in love with this two!! The elevator scene! Leo! The night lights. Oh I felt all the feels. Loved.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
khloereads86's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Confinement, and Physical abuse
Minor: Alcohol, Addiction, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Car accident
milovatsi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Kinda painful. The story would have been better with some changes, like the whole drooling over this man in every chapter. And her guilt over anything and everything. Did not like the MMC. FMC was a doormat.
Don't leave your 8 wk old puppy alone!
Don't leave your 8 wk old puppy alone!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Alcoholism
Minor: Animal cruelty
Never reading this author again!frantically's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
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
3.0
Guys, I'm SO conflicted on this book!!
Was this book particularly good? No, not really. Was it absolutely addicting to listen to? Yes. Spent two days doing nothing else.
I love Aiden. What. A. Man. The quiet way he shows Van he loves her ๐ญ๐ญ the way he stands up for her ๐ญ๐ญ really had me sobbing ngl
Can't stand Van. She was so fun at first but then it just turned really pick-me and if there's one thing I HATE it's pick-me's.
Still, the relationship was so cute! Yes it was technically very slow burn but we all knew they were gonna end up together in the end and it made all the pre-relationship situations so much cuter for me.
Some other stuff I had issues with:
โ Van's family gives major Cinderella vibes but not retelling vibes, Cinderella vibes straight out of the fairytale. Completely two-dimensional. Oh and why are they assholes? Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, of course
โ Aiden is groped/sexually harassed in front of Van and she laughs about it for like ten minutes. Ew.
โ Van gets into sports! Theoretically fun but she only does it after Aiden's manager says she's fat. And there's so much focus on her losing weight, it became a bit uncomfortable
So โ why did I even like this? I don't know. I like Aiden. I like puppies. I like "I loved you from the start". The writing is good.
Will read more Zapata books, trying to find a book as great as Lukov was xoxo
Was this book particularly good? No, not really. Was it absolutely addicting to listen to? Yes. Spent two days doing nothing else.
I love Aiden. What. A. Man. The quiet way he shows Van he loves her ๐ญ๐ญ the way he stands up for her ๐ญ๐ญ really had me sobbing ngl
Can't stand Van. She was so fun at first but then it just turned really pick-me and if there's one thing I HATE it's pick-me's.
Still, the relationship was so cute! Yes it was technically very slow burn but we all knew they were gonna end up together in the end and it made all the pre-relationship situations so much cuter for me.
Some other stuff I had issues with:
โ Van's family gives major Cinderella vibes but not retelling vibes, Cinderella vibes straight out of the fairytale. Completely two-dimensional. Oh and why are they assholes? Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, of course
โ Aiden is groped/sexually harassed in front of Van and she laughs about it for like ten minutes. Ew.
โ Van gets into sports! Theoretically fun but she only does it after Aiden's manager says she's fat. And there's so much focus on her losing weight, it became a bit uncomfortable
So โ why did I even like this? I don't know. I like Aiden. I like puppies. I like "I loved you from the start". The writing is good.
Will read more Zapata books, trying to find a book as great as Lukov was xoxo
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Car accident
jackiemcee's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Child abuse and Violence
marippe's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.5
I'm starting to understand that you can always make time for the things that matter.
ykno it was fun and fresh. vanessas family stuff was sad
wish there was some sort of resolution to vanessa's trauma
aiden was a little autism-spec coded, i doubt that was intentional but it could've been interesting if it was
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse