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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Slow burn sweetness
Childhood best friends single point of view
Standalone
Bianca had a teenage crush on her long time friend when he went off to be a pro footballer. The two had lost touch for ten years, but a family emergency brings Bianca back into his life. Their careers and personal lives have flipped with Bianca on the verge of success and Zac potentially at the end of his. Will they be able to repair their friendship now or will past hurts and wrongs get in the way?
Read in basically a day. Loved the WDW references. The story was really Bianca’s and I liked the journey and her internal dialogues.
Childhood best friends single point of view
Standalone
Bianca had a teenage crush on her long time friend when he went off to be a pro footballer. The two had lost touch for ten years, but a family emergency brings Bianca back into his life. Their careers and personal lives have flipped with Bianca on the verge of success and Zac potentially at the end of his. Will they be able to repair their friendship now or will past hurts and wrongs get in the way?
Read in basically a day. Loved the WDW references. The story was really Bianca’s and I liked the journey and her internal dialogues.
UGH DNF!!!! I can't with the cringy over the top endearments and nicknames these two have for each other. Its so so cringy and I hate it! Plus, the ml is such a Texan stereotype I just keep picturing him as Matthew McConaughey and its not helping!
I enjoy the detail, length, and emotions in Mariana Zapatas books! It was fun to see Zac again, who we met in The Wall of Winnipeg and Me”. I enjoyed the entire cast of characters. My only quibble was that Zac continued to call Bianca “peewee” and “kiddo”. It creeped me out a tad but not enough to keep me from enjoying the book.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
^ My actual reaction when I finished this book
I'm an absolute sucker for anything that [a:Mariana Zapata|5760202|Mariana Zapata|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1330380214p2/5760202.jpg] writes, so when I found out we were getting a Zac book (one of my favourite characters from one of my favourite Zapata books, [b:The Wall of Winnipeg and Me|29367958|The Wall of Winnipeg and Me|Mariana Zapata|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456774327l/29367958._SY75_.jpg|48358625] I knew I was never going to emotionally recover from it.
"I needed to keep moving forward, because I sure wasn't planning on moving backward."
This book hit on so many of my top tropes in romance: 'brothers' best friend, there's only one bed, friends-to-lovers. It was a beautiful balm to currently weary soul and it made me start to believe in love again (that may be a stretch, but it was absolutely incredible).
One of the things that I love about Zapata's characters is the fact that she writes them as having flaws and allows them to be flawed. They're human. They're not treated badly because of their flaws, they're written as complex characters and it really lets you get into the character and empathise with them. Bianca is a fiery little nutcracker who loves her friends and family fiercely, with a heart that has been bruised a lot of times in her past. Zac is just a pure ray of sunshine who is trying to get his life back on track and only ever wants to do the right thing.
The cameos from Ivan&Jasmine and the Graves clan were beautiful, I was so excited to see them again. I thoroughly enjoyed the family relationship that Bianca had with Connie and Boogie, it felt like how I would want a family to be. I hope we get to see more of CJ and Amari because ♥‿♥
I'm now on my way to finish working my way through the rest of Zapata's books.
It’s the “kiddo” for me…
I get slow burns. I like slow burns. I don’t like slow burns where the MMC calls the FMC “kiddo”. Maybe if he stopped even halfway through it would have been better but it continued in the entire story. It made the romance less believable. Also, the FMC’s inner monologue was tough to read with how repetitive it was.
I get slow burns. I like slow burns. I don’t like slow burns where the MMC calls the FMC “kiddo”. Maybe if he stopped even halfway through it would have been better but it continued in the entire story. It made the romance less believable. Also, the FMC’s inner monologue was tough to read with how repetitive it was.
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I felt like this was Mariana’s weakest book in terms of character development. Bianca felt inconsistent and a lot of her inner dialogue felt repetitive and with little evolution until she suddenly did a 180 in the last 10% of the book without a good reason. If it wasn’t for the Lukov and Graves cameos, I would probably rate this lower.
Zac felt like a great character though. One of my favorites. His character development did feel genuine. He deserved a better heroine.
Zac felt like a great character though. One of my favorites. His character development did feel genuine. He deserved a better heroine.
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-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:
Complicated
4,5/5
Great book. Childhood friends to strangers to friends to lovers.
They have that connection where they instantly become sort of like kids when together and just joke around all the time.
I only took -0,5 because of one specific trope: her being in love with him(one-sided) when they were younger(even though it’s normal because she was a minor and he wasn’t). Then when they were older she fell in love with him again and she was the first to tell (I would have preferred if he declared his love first to sort of balance the fact that she had loved him before).
- Zac and Bianca
- Zac used to be teammates of Aidens. He’s a quarterback
- Bianca stills works at Lenny’s old MMA gym but since the gym was sold the new bosses are terrible
- She’s only staying at the gym because her friend still works there and she doesn’t want to leave her alone with all the work
- She’s 27
- His grandfather was in the hospital and her cousin (Zacs best friend) asked her to tell him that because Zac wasn’t picking up.
- She saved his life when they were kids
- They haven’t seen or talked to each other in 10 years. She had messaged and called him but he didn’t answer.
- She used to be in love with him when she was younger, but he didn’t know.
- He used to be poor but now is a millionaire. She met him when he had nothing
- He wasn’t in his old team anymore
- She went to tell him at his house and he was having a party there. At first he didn’t recognize her but then when she said who she was he connected the dots and hugged her. Then she told him about his granddad. He was so sad and asked her to drive him “home”. She offered a hug and he accepted. And he asked her to stay and see his grandpa with him.
- He was 34 now and 6’3
- He used to call her Peewee and she used to call him Snack Pack. She was little Texas and he was big Texas
- He has a golden retriever personality
- His MO was different hookups, a lot of different beautiful girls
- He calls her darlin’
- She does YouTube and short videos for the internet about her cooking
- She went for lunch with her cousin Boogie and Zack tagged along: she was nice to Zack but guarded at the same time.
- Boogie asked them to be his best man and maid of honor (even though Zac and Bianca didn’t like the bride). He was marrying her because she was pregnant
- Ohhh the women swooning over Zac
- He calls her kiddo lol she’s 27
- Zac started messaging her and asked her to come over after work, but had to take a call and left her alone for an hour and after that she left. Then he called her asking her to come back. She said no. So he showed up at her house to apologize.
- Zacs roommate CJ was a fan of Bianca’s cooking channel!
- She gave him a pep talk saying not to give up trying to still play even if he was 34 and his previous team replaced him. After he received a call from one team.
- We went to do a video for charity at her gym
- She has more than one million subscribers
- Zac found out that she did watch tube.
- It’s sad that he’s surprised about her life. It just shows that he never looked her up.
- They went to the dealership
- He is texting her a lot and seeing her videos
- OHHHHHHHHH apparently he had texted her and she didn’t respond and he asked about her. And she did the same with no answer too. Something is fishy here. And boogie didn’t tell Zac that she was living in Houston too.
- So now that everything is on the table they are starting over with their friendship
- He is still wanting to find a team but having difficulties
- They went to the supermarket together
- She was going to film some videos with her nephews but they became sick so CJ and another football player, Amari, replaced them.
- Zac came over and they start joking around just like old times and he helped her film a new video and then joined her as a guest. It was so friking cute and funny.
- Now they are going to her cousins quincenera: she blew her back in the trampoline: Zac was gettin fawned over by a lot o women; they danced.
- Him hearing about her ex of five years who tried to sue her to get money from her channel
- They went to the hotel but she forgot her room key so she stayed at his place and they took a separate shower and he lent her clothes
- He called her Bibi
- He was hired for one year for a team but as a backup
- At the hotel room, she told him that she used to have a big crush on him when she was younger. Love how she said it was nothing and she was over it and she was just a kid at the time and he didn’t like that hahah
- HAHHAHA them wrestling like kids and she was tickling him: who’s your daddy she asked. He said you’re my daddy now I guess.
Great book. Childhood friends to strangers to friends to lovers.
They have that connection where they instantly become sort of like kids when together and just joke around all the time.
I only took -0,5 because of one specific trope: her being in love with him(one-sided) when they were younger(even though it’s normal because she was a minor and he wasn’t). Then when they were older she fell in love with him again and she was the first to tell (I would have preferred if he declared his love first to sort of balance the fact that she had loved him before).
- Zac and Bianca
- Zac used to be teammates of Aidens. He’s a quarterback
- Bianca stills works at Lenny’s old MMA gym but since the gym was sold the new bosses are terrible
- She’s only staying at the gym because her friend still works there and she doesn’t want to leave her alone with all the work
- She’s 27
- His grandfather was in the hospital and her cousin (Zacs best friend) asked her to tell him that because Zac wasn’t picking up.
- She saved his life when they were kids
- They haven’t seen or talked to each other in 10 years. She had messaged and called him but he didn’t answer.
- She used to be in love with him when she was younger, but he didn’t know.
- He used to be poor but now is a millionaire. She met him when he had nothing
- He wasn’t in his old team anymore
- She went to tell him at his house and he was having a party there. At first he didn’t recognize her but then when she said who she was he connected the dots and hugged her. Then she told him about his granddad. He was so sad and asked her to drive him “home”. She offered a hug and he accepted. And he asked her to stay and see his grandpa with him.
- He was 34 now and 6’3
- He used to call her Peewee and she used to call him Snack Pack. She was little Texas and he was big Texas
- He has a golden retriever personality
- His MO was different hookups, a lot of different beautiful girls
- He calls her darlin’
- She does YouTube and short videos for the internet about her cooking
- She went for lunch with her cousin Boogie and Zack tagged along: she was nice to Zack but guarded at the same time.
- Boogie asked them to be his best man and maid of honor (even though Zac and Bianca didn’t like the bride). He was marrying her because she was pregnant
- Ohhh the women swooning over Zac
- He calls her kiddo lol she’s 27
- Zac started messaging her and asked her to come over after work, but had to take a call and left her alone for an hour and after that she left. Then he called her asking her to come back. She said no. So he showed up at her house to apologize.
- Zacs roommate CJ was a fan of Bianca’s cooking channel!
- She gave him a pep talk saying not to give up trying to still play even if he was 34 and his previous team replaced him. After he received a call from one team.
- We went to do a video for charity at her gym
- She has more than one million subscribers
- Zac found out that she did watch tube.
- It’s sad that he’s surprised about her life. It just shows that he never looked her up.
- They went to the dealership
- He is texting her a lot and seeing her videos
- OHHHHHHHHH apparently he had texted her and she didn’t respond and he asked about her. And she did the same with no answer too. Something is fishy here. And boogie didn’t tell Zac that she was living in Houston too.
- So now that everything is on the table they are starting over with their friendship
- He is still wanting to find a team but having difficulties
- They went to the supermarket together
- She was going to film some videos with her nephews but they became sick so CJ and another football player, Amari, replaced them.
- Zac came over and they start joking around just like old times and he helped her film a new video and then joined her as a guest. It was so friking cute and funny.
- Now they are going to her cousins quincenera: she blew her back in the trampoline: Zac was gettin fawned over by a lot o women; they danced.
- Him hearing about her ex of five years who tried to sue her to get money from her channel
- They went to the hotel but she forgot her room key so she stayed at his place and they took a separate shower and he lent her clothes
- He called her Bibi
- He was hired for one year for a team but as a backup
- At the hotel room, she told him that she used to have a big crush on him when she was younger. Love how she said it was nothing and she was over it and she was just a kid at the time and he didn’t like that hahah
- HAHHAHA them wrestling like kids and she was tickling him: who’s your daddy she asked. He said you’re my daddy now I guess.