Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - All Rhodes Lead Here

Mariana Zapata is really the Queen of Slowburn Romance, and I've missed reading her books.

I loved the characters that we got to follow in this book. Both Aurora and Rhodes felt like real people. And because of that, I still really enjoyed it even though the romance didn't feel as prevalent as I would have liked it. I did like that it felt realistic and you could see their feelings grow.

However, this felt more like a plain contemporary story or a character study for at least two-thirds of the book.

I did really like the exploration of grief and unconventional families.

But I think I just wish that I liked the conclusion more. It felt like it wrapped up too quickly.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

takarakei's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional 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

2.75

Unfortunately I didn't realize going into this that it's a 600 page romance, or I would probably not have read it. No romance needs to be that long imo. MZ writes slow burn, but there's slow burn and then there's... whatever this is. The two main characters barely interacted or talked for like the first 30% of this book (which is like 200 pages). The first HALF of this book could have been severely edited down in terms of content because I was just reading too many mundane details that my brain was shutting down.

Which honestly sucks because the last 20% of this book is really good! Once you *actually* start to see the tiniest spark (aka they have conversations) between the main characters I enjoyed it. I really liked the development of the relationship between Aurora and Tobias' son Amos (tbh she has more interactions in the first half of the book with Amos than Tobias). There's a hard hitting part at the end regarding Aurora's grief over her mom that got me a bit misty.

I'm not sure that I needed her ex to come back begging for her, I felt that was extraneous.

Overall I'm not sure I really vibed with Aurora as a main character and she made some really dumb ass decisions in this book that irked me (hello hiking on your own when you are clearly not an experienced hiker and your mom disappeared while hiking??? please make it make sense). Also this is a self published book moving to traditional publication and the arc I read had some super repetitive parts and several typos that I hope are fixed before it's published...

I have some other books by this author on my list that I will read, but I'll be checking the page count before I do.

🌶️3/5

Content Warnings

cathyo_113's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed The Wall of Winnipeg and Me and wanted to read more of Mariana Zapata’s books. This book was such a slow burn and angsty and I wanted more.

This book is based on Aurora De La Torre and she is moving back to a place that was once home and she knows it’s not going to be easy especially after she lost her mum in this town. She is trying to restart her life and a small town in the mountains might be the perfect remedy for a broken heart. However, after a long drive she is looking forward to getting to her rental. There is just one problem – the landlord didn’t rent it out, his younger son did. The landlord is a grumpy, older but gorgeous man, but it looks like he won’t be getting along with Aurora anytime soon. He has given Aurora a month to find new accommodation. Will she be able to find accommodation before the month is out? Will she be able to find peace in this town that once broke her heart?

I knew going into this that this was going to be a slowburn. But I think this is the slowest burn I've ever read, the whole time I was screaming at my kindle going kiss her kiss him, just kiss already! I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the grumpy and protective man to reveal his feelings. The storyline started on a bit slow and was like where’s the plot but then there was just a chapter that the switch flipped, and I was intrigued. I wanted to know what the big deal her ex-husband was, i was like why is she keeping it a secret on how shitty her ex-husband is. Aurora was damaged but was still a shiny star and still so kind and I loved her, I want her and Yuki to adopt me. Yuki was amazing and I loved how kickass she was. But the main star of the show was Amos, that kid saved this book and got it from 3 stars to 4. He was so adorable and sweet and I just love him, there was times where I had to remember that he was a teenager because I just wanted to pinch his cheek and give him a hug.

I love Rhodes, don’t get me wrong – in a uniform, older, grumpy and overprotective – sign me up. I just wanted to get into his brain. I would have loved for this book to be dual POV. I think it would have made it a five star for read for me. I just felt like we were shut out when I wanted to know why he was stone walling Aurora. I wanted to get inside his brain, it was like a switch flipped and he went from grumpy to I want to touch you in a chapter. I want to know what changed, what stopped him.

I love Mariana Zapata and I can’t wait to read more of her work.

Content Warnings

karenreadsbooks's review

Go to review page

hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this book but not quite as much as I expected to. I liked the main characters and the situation that got the couple together. And I do love slow burn romance--but this one felt too slow in some places. Not the romance part but the pacing of the book. It felt more dragged out than it needed to be, which meant I didn't feel as close to the characters as I would like.

Content Warnings

meganpbennett's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

2.0

I started reading this on vacation and zoomed through the first half of so of the book. Once I got back from vacation, it felt as though the book dragged on. It was interesting, but a lot more emotional and darker than I was expecting. I found it very hard to read and very hard to stay interested in to finish.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the free eARC!

Content Warnings

emilyfrenchie's review against another edition

Go to review page

inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

romancereader's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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? It's complicated

5.0

I really enjoyed this book i loved the kinda man that Tobias Rodes is 😍😍😍 i almost died when he called her after she left and asked very concerned where she was going and then he showed up to where she said she’d be before she hung up on him and told her how much he loved her and how his son told her they were mad but never wanted her to leave and they begged her to come back Tobias is every women's idea of a good man he was a gentleman he cared for her whereabouts and safety even mad at her he still couldn’t hide any concern he had for her i also loved when he ran to the hiking location she’d be at after she was out to late and he was such a grumpy man and lord have mercy when she got him in the mood ifykyk he was very spicy not insanely though but he was indeed spicy i loved the ending to when Kaden came after Aurora and she picked Thobias Rhodes over Kaden infront of both of them and then at the ending finding out that Tobias Rhodes and Aurora got married had a baby and she was pregnant i loved it so much this book was so good this was the first one i read by this author and i wasn’t disappointed i rated it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Content Warnings

More...

Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata

crispybaconator's review

bcope84's review against another edition

chelseazhao's review against another edition

takarakei's review against another edition

cathyo_113's review against another edition

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

karenreadsbooks's review

meganpbennett's review against another edition

emilyfrenchie's review against another edition

__romancereader__'s review against another edition

romancereader's review against another edition