Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Hands Down

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

amanda_reads13's review

lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

Bianca and Zack grew up together but lost touch. 10 years later they are back in each other's lives.

I really wanted to love this one. I did like Zac and Bianca for the most part and the overall premise, but there were just too many issues with the book.

Bianca drove me a little crazy to be honest. She is very outgoing, funny and goofy around her family, but half of the book is her spiralling into these moments when she doesn't feel "worthy" or is feeling like she is a burden. She has a victim mentality, where she has convinced herself that people don't want to be around her. She makes assumptions about people instead of communicating with them.

Why the hell would she give her ex all her money? She just rolled over and gave him everything? What the hell?

What happened between her and Zac was so strange to me. If I couldn't get ahold of my really good friend after messaging and calling a few times, I would try another way or reach out to a mutual friend. It seems weird to me that you just give up, but I guess it goes along with her "woe is me" mentality.

His jealous ex changes their phone numbers in each other's phones.

I liked Zac, but he was very flaky. I hated how he called her kiddo, it gave me the ick. While I really liked their friendship, I didn't feel a romantic connection between them. He definitely loves her like a friend and family, but there really aren't signs throughout the book that he is in love with her. I think part of the problem is that we only get her POV so I cannot really pinpoint when his feelings change or if he felt them all along.

I felt as though this could have been a little shorter as it was very repetitive and the whole "my YouTube page was hacked" part didn't add anything to the plot.

Tropes: second change, best friend, football, slow burn

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hapalyn's review against another edition

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funny 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

4.0

For those who loved The Wall of Winnipeg, I don't think you'll be disappointed in how Mariana ties up Zac's story in the best way possible! I think there were a couple icks ( their age gap is like 27/34 and they call each other "kiddo" and "old man" which is just... nah) but other than that it was pretty nice.

I saw another reviewer say they thought the romantic aspect was lacking and it seemed kind of platonic, which I think could be fairly accurate but I chose to try to envision the relationship as more tense lol. There were a lot of cutesy scenes, nothing screaming sexual tension but just like kicking your feet a little. Definitely a slowww burn

And the fmc is really... clueless honestly, so it might be a source of annoyance. Other than those minor things, I really enjoyed it and enjoyed the Vanessa and Aiden cameo.

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agent_004's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

4.0

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abicaro17's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.75

This might possibly be the slowest slow burn in the history of romance novel slow burns. Impressive. Everything about this book was adorable and so genuine. I cried and laughed all throughout the 500+ pages. The only off thing about this book was the way they made Zac seem 20 years older than Bianca. Like being childhood friends would be one thing (not my favorite thing but honestly the way this was written didn't even bother me) but Bianca kept calling him all man, he called her kiddo, and he continued to do so even when they got together. Just kinda off putting even though I know they're only seven years apart.

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carla20's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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kb33's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I love Mariana Zapata’s writing style and I love most of her books, but this was a miss for me. This wasn’t a slow burn, it was a no burn. For 92% of the book (I checked) it was 92% platonic. To start, it’s first person narrated by the mfc, but that’s normal for Zapata. It just doesn’t help when there’s almost no indication that Zac has any romantic feelings for Bianca. There was zero chemistry. And Zac was a pretty flat character, his defining characteristics are football and that he cares about Bianca. Also, him calling her “kiddo” throughout the book when he was a love interest creeped me out.

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chloenoe11e's review against another edition

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4.75

I... loved this book. This is my favorite book of Mariana's HANDS DOWN. I loved Zac's character in Wall of Winnipeg (another great read, highly recommend reading that first), and I fell even more in love with his character in Hands Down. Bianca was such a joy of a character and so likable. I'm so used to reading books with a grumpy male lead or grumpy female lead, but this book was all sunshine and it was so unexpectedly wonderful. It was just so sweet and cute and such an enjoyable read. My only complaint is that I can't read anymore of Zac and Bianca's story after they get together, as long as this book was I didn't want it to end!

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