Scan barcode
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy
__romancereader__'s review against another edition
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
Graphic: Pregnancy, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Sexual content, Blood, Cursing, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Not all content warnings are about the main characters some are and some are about the characters you hear/see about in the book 😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🙃🙃🙃ranjanireviewsreads's review
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: 🌶.5
- One detailed scene, some mentions.
❗️❗️* SPOILER FOR The Wall of Winnipeg and Me AND All Rhodes Lead Here* ❗️❗️
-- 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: 🌶.5
- One detailed scene, some mentions.
❗️❗️* SPOILER FOR The Wall of Winnipeg and Me AND All Rhodes Lead Here* ❗️❗️
-- 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+)selincck's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Abandonment, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
More...