Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - From Lukov with Love

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata

9 reviews

ollie_again's review against another edition

2.75

I really wanted to love this book. And I was almost sure I would despite the fact the first book I read by Mariana Zapata wasn’t a hit for me. But I wanted to give her another chance, and ice-skating romance with enemies-to-lovers trope sounds right up my alley. Zapata is known as the queen of slow burn and I truly love slow burn romances, so me not liking her books did not sit right with me. So, I tried again.

And the slow burn itself would be perfect *but* things which bothered me in The Wall of Winnipeg and Me bothered me here. Mainly the bits of internalized misogyny here and there, not like other girl vibes in certain parts, sex scene which put me off, why bother with a condom and some more.

One of the most prominent offenders is the body shaming. In this book it is constant from the beginning until the end. You hear about chubby Jasmine, fat Jasmine, cheat-day-every-day Jasmine, chunky Jasmine, Ivan's heaviest partner etc. And that is from Jasmine herself, *the love interest* Ivan, Jasmine’s family… basically everyone at some point talks shit about Jasmine’s body. Mostly veiled as jokes and if it happened couple of times, I could get over it, but it was all the time. I understand that talking about bodies in context of being professional athletes is realistic, but it was not just that. Example being that Jasmine has small boobs mentioned several times, her family laughing about her not hitting puberty with--at that point a guy who she did not like (and said so to her family)--, and my “favourite” was her start-sex-scene-thought:

“I’ve never been happier that from the moment Mom had given me permission to shave—right after I’d hit puberty and hair grown in everywhere—that she’d stressed how important it was to do it every day.”

Thanks Jasmine’s mom, because body hair is gross! Right? Even more stupid is Jasmine’s mom has earlier a whole monologue about all bodies being beautiful.

Another thing that bothered me is the plot line involving stalking. Sexual harassment over internet which never gets resolved.

Ivan finds out, gets protective and pissed off at Jasmine about it for some reason too... aaaand it isn’t talked about again. Why include it at all if there is no proper follow up?

Why include it at all if you do not give it proper attention.

And my last point is about the aforementioned sex scene. I would be perfectly content to there not be one, but there is. The line:

“I’d never tell Ivan, but it hurts. At first.”

Like… why? Why would you not mention a discomfort to your sexual partner? It such a minor thing but it took me out of the scene completely. It could be written in million other ways without mentioning of *not-mentioning* it.

To not just pick on the negatives, the book is very readable. Some scenes were pretty cute, and I really liked the ice-skating parts of it. Even though I was annoyed with every character at some point, I think they all made sense and were not flat. I enjoyed that Jasmine’s relationship with her family was complex and not as easy.

It is annoying that I could not enjoy the book more, and I probably would love it if I read it when I was 16. But back then I was not aware of misogynistic language (and more problems) in certain romance novels (I am sure if I reread some of the books I read back then, I would be horrified). I would probably eat everything in this book up, thought it is reasonable to shit on yourself over small boobs etc. Unfortunately, I read the book at 26 and this stuff grates on me.

After giving two chances and a half (DNFd Under Locke pretty much 20p in) and reading article about the transphobic language Zapata employs in her other book, I can safely say I won’t be rushing to pick another book by her. Never say never, but at this point I’d say Zapata is not for me.

Content Warnings

meret00's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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chloenoe11e's review

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emotional funny 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

3.0

Extremely slow, which I know is Zapata's style but this one was hard to get into I almost gave up. Least favorite of her books so far. It's hard to live in the main character's head because she can be very unlikeable, but that's part of her character and she acknowledges it. I wish there was more character development on her end, but the character development for the love interest, Lukov, was great. <spolier>I was very dissapointed that Jasmine couldn't even give Lukov a proper "I love you too" or even just "I love you", instead of a rushed "Love ya" in the middle of sex...anticlimactic.

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pulita's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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ididnotmakeapie's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

3.25

more graphic than I had thought it would be, did skip a couple scenes.

There were a few really, really poignant, emotive scenes.

the part where Jasmine (and Ivan) deals with the emotional abuse her father hurls at her and the way she talked about her dyslexia!! The handling of it made me very happy. Jasmine and Ivan's talk in the aftermath of Jasmine's injury, I liked that it did actually lead to a proper conversatio and then subsequent reconciliation.

I enjoyed the way the actual *romantic* relationship between the two main characters came to be.

I really liked Jasmine's family, all the character's were very vivid and well characterised. Also liked the casual rep from Jojo and James' marriage.

The A and B plots all intertwined well to create the overarching theme of Jasmine's renewed confidence in herself.

I liked a lot of what Jasmine herself had going on as a character and her drive is inspirational.

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lisa_m's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Okay I have to say, this book was a disappointment. I didn't know how tho rate this book for quite a while.
The beginning was amazing. I liked the plot, I liked the characters and I liked the writing style. My favourite thing about this book is the humour. I laughed so so much while reading it! I absolutely loved the bickering and just the general dynamic between the main characters. It was fun to see them fighting in a sort of childlike manner even though they are 26 & 29.

Throughout about half of the book I really thought I would give this book a five star rating. It was funny and really fast paced. I didn't like the characters individually that much but as we got to know more about them I started to like them.

List of things I didn't like:
- Jasmines constant distrust and unability to communicate her feelings even though we as readers get to read them so they are obviously there
- All of the things that are brought up for no reason and then never explained:
Why did Lukov say he only wants to partner up with her for one year and thats it - even though we later find out that was never his plan? Why is Jasmine so disliked by the public? There are so many mentions and so little explanation. What did Peter say about her? Why did he choose another partner? What is up with the ugly costume Ivan got so protective about that initially started their bickering?
- The things that got explained and where just so underwhelming:
The reason they didn't talk about Mindy? - lame I expected something wayy jucier
The reason Ivan always had to go home? - Cute but he does mention that Ellie always comes by to feed them and take them for a walk so..?)
- That Lukovs sister who is supposed to be Jasmines best friend is only really mentioned once?
- I hated that they did not only make fun of each other for superficial reasons but also stuff they were really insecure about.
- Also consent is very much non existent in this world. She is always talking about how they don't have personal space because they are figureskaters. When he first kisses her she just 'lets him do it' since he was happy? Idk I just really didn't like that.

One of the biggest reasons I was disappointed by this book was Ivan Lukov though. He has such potential and I really liked him in the beginning. When he started to be super nice to her I liked him even more but then he just became a douchebag.
- He finds out Jasmine has a stalker AND GETS MAD AT HER? Why can't he just be supportive?
- He constantly makes her do things she doesn't want to do and EXPLICITLY TELLS him she doesn't want to do (Like the naked Fotoshoot or not wanting to go to his place etc)
- He makes fun of her for things she is already really insecure about and doesn't even stop that when he finds out why or she tells him she doesn't like it
- He calls her 'Meatball' which on it's one is one of the ugliest nicknames ever and I would hate to be called that even just once. And Jasmine obviously hates that Nickname to and tells him that but he still doesn't stop and even uses it during his proposal???
- Ivan is just so demanding all the time. I don't like it. ( His character is very inconsistent in my opinion)

I honestly just think it's a toxic or at least unhealthy relationship. They could have been really cute if they worked on their behaviour. If this book was about teenagers they could grow up, see their mistakes and have a healthy relationship but they didn't. They are already adults completely set in their ways and I don't like it.

Okay so that was a long rant about all the things I didn't like. Now to the things I enjoyed:
- I kind of liked the family dynamic
- I loved their bickering and the humour
- I loved the enemies-to-lovers aspect (even though like I said it was kind of toxic but it could have been so good!)
- I liked the 2 instructors

Yeah that's it. I can't find anything else I liked. I think his is a unpopular opinion but I think I'm just mad this book didn't like up to it's potential and my expectations.

I do 100% understand why people do like this book though. Like I said, I really enjoyed reading it but it just wasn't for me.

Content Warnings

louisa_pennyfeather2021's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-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

4.75

I love this book, it makes my hopeless romantic heart cry tears of joy!

Content Warnings

astoryofpages's review

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing 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

3.75

Whoa, incredible! I wasn't expecting that kind of romance, everything was so smooth and cute ☺️ Ivan isn't a bad guy, and I loved the grumpy/sunshine trope but with the female character being the grumpy one 🥰 I expected a bit more rivalry between the two main characters, and I would have loved to see more skating contests 😅

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the_paperbackprincess's review

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challenging emotional funny lighthearted 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? No

4.0

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