7.15k reviews for:

Kulti

Mariana Zapata

4.19 AVERAGE

nicoleherz's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

Stop saying poop
This is not a slow burn romance this is just slow

Was really excited to read this with all the great reviews, but couldn’t get onboard with main characters humor, the age gap, or the slow burn that was a bit too slow :/

extra 0.25 added bc the last few chapters had me in a chokehold

was put downable, hard to binge, very slow progress (theres slow burn and then theres slow burn ygm)
lots of plot holes and things left unanswered which meant the ending didnt feel massively satisying
not masses of back story esp for kulti, harder to connect to characters as a result
too long, ended up being repetitive
didnt really find myself eager to read (but i dont like football so fair enough)
why so much poop talk??

honestly this is by far my most favorite slowburn !
emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

I wanted to quit this so many times but apparently I'm a masochist because I actually, somehow, managed to finish it. The summary had me expecting a sort of self-insert wish fulfillment story, which I wasn't opposed to. Who among us hasn't had a crush on some international celebrity? An international athlete even? And yeah, that's what this pretty much was. Only there were times that even I had to suspend a little too much belief. Add to that I couldn't stand either of the main characters. Though Sal was a little easier to take, after a while I hoped the story would just be about her and her journey. Relationship-wise, for most of the book, I was rooting for Sal to end up with ANY character except Kulti. He came off as a complete a-hole, and I couldn't understand why we were supposed to root for them, or even him alone. Enemies to lovers has never been my favorite trope, and this book is another reminder of why. The near-constant poop references didn't help either. I get that imagining someone you like in the least sexy situations possible can be a good deterrent for thoughts you'd rather not have, but good grief, enough was enough.

another book i forgot to leave a review for when i read it.

anyway.

Kulti is literally Roy Kent and i will stand by that until i die. i loved this book and i think it’s what got me back into the romance genre from what i remember. if people like slow burn romances this is like… THE slow burn romance

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ though it may be subject to change….

can you guys believe i dropped this book way back when because of the age gap? and honestly i think i still aged them down in my mind haha but cmon im almost sal’s age and i cannot imagine being with anyone older than 31!!!! but whatever
i am a soccer lover and i am so glad this book exists because i feel like there’s really no sports romance books that are for soccer??? Sal is great even though at some points i was like it’s ok to be a bitch!!! but at the end of the day that’s not who she is and its fine. at some parts i felt like Kulti was too problematic and had a temper problem and i wish that was delved into more honestly but its ok bc he made up for it in the end…
some of my gripes:
-the amount of times ‘Bah’ ‘Blah’ ‘big girl socks’ and ‘poop’ were mentioned as well as the adjectives for kulti’s eyes lmao. just became overkill at one point
-eric (her brother) not being in the book AT ALL despite her being sooo close to him as well as Kulti almost ending his career by injuring him? also Sal just forgot that Kulti called Eric an imbecile? i wish we had gotten a scene of them meeting and some reconciliation
-Ceci. i guess she never got character development but with how much she was mentioned i thought she would…
-Sal’s ankle.. with how much it was mentioned in the beginning i definitely thought one of the plot points was going to be her injuring it and being out for a few weeks or months. even though we got that with the concussion, the ankle was mentioned so much it just seemed fitting

that’s all i could think of for now, overall i really enjoyed it and it made me swoon but definitely some things that bugged me

RR: 17/06/25-18/06/25

This is how you write slow burn romance! Rey and Sal will always have a special place in my heart. I love how I fell in love at the same pace as them, from arguing like 'old married' couple to being friends to lovers LOL.

Re-reading them after a while and still felt the same feelings when I first read it, perfectly shows the masterpiece this book is. I had so much with them.



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I can’t describe how much i love this book !!

Kulti and his schnecke