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

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

63 reviews

khloereads86's review against another edition

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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

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sea_tea_books's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

3.0

First off, the pros:
Happily Ever After. Spicy scenes (eventually).

And now, the cons:
Such a slow burn; like, too slow. The pacing was odd. It felt like the story was riding at 20mph through a school zone for 90% with a few bumps along the way, then suddenly floored it to two spicy scenes at the very end. The result was a clunky story that abruptly ended just as the story picked up steam. Was this why the author included not only an epilogue but also bonus content at the end, to compensate for the abrupt ending?

This book should come with trigger warnings due to themes of childhood trauma, parental alcoholism, and domestic violence within toxic families in both main character backstories.

Not a fan of the main character Vanessa continuously threatening violence against others. And the other main character Aiden being emotionally dysregulated on a daily basis. Let's not normalize these issues by excusing rage and threats as unavoidable consequences of her upbringing, or accepting rudeness and apathy as the norm because he's just a grumpy guy.

Finally, a small pet peeve (pun intended) of mine is when people claim being a pet owner is the same as or similar to being the parent of a human being. In the About the Author section, Mariana Zapata calls her dogs "her...oversized children" and she wrote "child" when referring to the dog Leo in the story. We'll have to agree to disagree on that one, Mariana.

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juliaaaaaa's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

great trope but badly executed. look, i love a slow burn, but i was expecting more chemistry tension and build up, it didn't give me butterflies until the last chapter

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lkahre's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

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sauger's review against another edition

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lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.75

This book follows Vanessa, an assistant to the Wall of Winnipeg- AKA her stern, distant boss who plays on the defensive line of a professional football team. When Vanessa quits suddenly, her ex-boss shows up at her doorstep to ask her to come back, but not as his assistant- as his WIFE.

I thought this book was cute, and when I say the burn is slow I mean it. The relationship progression feels natural and isn’t a sudden jolt. He starts off very distant and there were times I didn’t connect with him as the love interest, but Zapata does a good job of bridging that gap naturally. I found the FMC funny without being overly silly. I did think her backstory was unnecessary traumatic as it didn’t lend a huge role to her character or plot in my opinion. Not very spicy, one short scene, so if you’re here for that you’ll go hungry. Overall I enjoyed it.

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