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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
Ok only reason it didn’t get five stars is bc I hated the protagonist. She was giving “cool girl” and pick me also her long inner monologues made me want to kms. But the slow burn was *chefs kiss* and I loved Rey.
It took me several tries to finally get into this book. I really enjoyed another one of this author’s books and absolutely hated another book she wrote so I wanted to give this one a try. It took a good quarter of the book for me to finally get invested in the characters and the story. I just couldn’t connect or feel it all at first, it eventually came and I ended up really enjoying it!
Sal is an amazing soccer player who is willing to do anything for the team. When her childhood crush/soccer dream guy/favorite player who is supposed to have been retired joins her team as a coach, she is but isn’t thrilled. He is moody and completely ignores the team. She also has reason to really dislike him as he and her other star soccer player brother had a major incident that caused headlines.
She doesn’t like confrontation which at times bothered me because I don’t think she should’ve let some things go. However there are many things I did like about her, she’s strong and stubborn at times, she’s caring and fame hasn’t gone to her head. She does what she feels is necessary to keep the peace.
Reiner Kulti had it all and has nothing to really show for it. He is alone and in many ways depressed. However, he has a passion for soccer and then Sal is there when nobody else is. He has nobody. He is drawn to Sal because of her talent and frustrates him knowing she could be so much more.
I liked him but boy he did need help and felt Sal helped him in ways that many books don’t show. You don’t need sex to help someone. She challenged him in the sport and in many ways that made him really have to think, move and change. I appreciated that a lot.
What I really appreciate a lot about this book and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is the very slow process in these books. This is a very slow burn, it shows a slow change of hearts and growth and character development. That leaves a lot of room for an actual storyline and plot instead of, “Oh, I think you’re hot and you have problems but let’s have sex and it will all get better.” no, this actually has a good plot and lots of time given to grow feelings and what-not.
Overall I really liked it. It took a bit for me to get into it at first and then I couldn’t put it down.
Sexual Content: heavy
Language: moderate/heavy
Drugs/Alcohol: mild
Violence: mild
Sal is an amazing soccer player who is willing to do anything for the team. When her childhood crush/soccer dream guy/favorite player who is supposed to have been retired joins her team as a coach, she is but isn’t thrilled. He is moody and completely ignores the team. She also has reason to really dislike him as he and her other star soccer player brother had a major incident that caused headlines.
She doesn’t like confrontation which at times bothered me because I don’t think she should’ve let some things go. However there are many things I did like about her, she’s strong and stubborn at times, she’s caring and fame hasn’t gone to her head. She does what she feels is necessary to keep the peace.
Reiner Kulti had it all and has nothing to really show for it. He is alone and in many ways depressed. However, he has a passion for soccer and then Sal is there when nobody else is. He has nobody. He is drawn to Sal because of her talent and frustrates him knowing she could be so much more.
I liked him but boy he did need help and felt Sal helped him in ways that many books don’t show. You don’t need sex to help someone. She challenged him in the sport and in many ways that made him really have to think, move and change. I appreciated that a lot.
What I really appreciate a lot about this book and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is the very slow process in these books. This is a very slow burn, it shows a slow change of hearts and growth and character development. That leaves a lot of room for an actual storyline and plot instead of, “Oh, I think you’re hot and you have problems but let’s have sex and it will all get better.” no, this actually has a good plot and lots of time given to grow feelings and what-not.
Overall I really liked it. It took a bit for me to get into it at first and then I couldn’t put it down.
Sexual Content: heavy
Language: moderate/heavy
Drugs/Alcohol: mild
Violence: mild
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol
Minor: Domestic abuse
Sal and Kulti’s friendship progression is so perfect. Enemies to friends, I love how they fight to express themselves, and how that plays into a particular plot thread. Sal’s initial Kulti reaming is really great, but my fave moments of their developing friendship were the ball kick she gives him at practice, the car rides, and how he starts to make himself at home on her couch. I liked that they worked toward this friendship, and that it wasn’t all about romance for them.
The soccer parts are kind of glossed over. Nothing specific really happens, and the games are always over in a paragraph. Soccer does serve as a major plot backdrop, but the majority of the first half is essentially Sal going to and from soccer. I loved the scenes where Sal and Kulti are playing together, but I would have liked more from their matchups. Since Kulti is such a world superstar, I expected more about his moves on the field, and actual pointers from him for her on the field.
Sal will tend to ramble a lot more than necessary combined with her thinking the same P word repeatedly. It felt too verbose and sometimes unpleasant, and minimally 1/5th of the book could have been sacrificed because of that alone. I had a list of other things that bothered me and/or felt unbelievable, like Sal’s repeated use of BGS (iykyk), how she plays the dumb card when it comes to Kulti checking her out, and her use of exaggerations like ‘the most serious look she’ll ever witness’, ‘the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen’, but this other post really sums up a lot of the issues I had, and more. I grudgingly gave this 3.5 stars rounded up because I still enjoyed it, it kept my interest, and I’m a fan of the Sal + Kulti duo.
The soccer parts are kind of glossed over. Nothing specific really happens, and the games are always over in a paragraph. Soccer does serve as a major plot backdrop, but the majority of the first half is essentially Sal going to and from soccer. I loved the scenes where Sal and Kulti are playing together, but I would have liked more from their matchups. Since Kulti is such a world superstar, I expected more about his moves on the field, and actual pointers from him for her on the field.
Sal will tend to ramble a lot more than necessary combined with her thinking the same P word repeatedly. It felt too verbose and sometimes unpleasant, and minimally 1/5th of the book could have been sacrificed because of that alone. I had a list of other things that bothered me and/or felt unbelievable, like Sal’s repeated use of BGS (iykyk), how she plays the dumb card when it comes to Kulti checking her out, and her use of exaggerations like ‘the most serious look she’ll ever witness’, ‘the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen’, but this other post really sums up a lot of the issues I had, and more. I grudgingly gave this 3.5 stars rounded up because I still enjoyed it, it kept my interest, and I’m a fan of the Sal + Kulti duo.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Yes
THIS TAKES THE CAKE AS MARIANA ZAPATAS BEST BOOK!!!! The queen of slow burn has done it again (and I’m not joking they don’t get together until the 90% mark). This book was everything I wanted from a sports romance and bonus points for the mf being the sports player. This was also real enemies to friends to lovers. Use this as your sign to read this book if your struggling which MZ book to read!!!
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
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:
Complicated
4 1/2 stars, and rounding up because I love Mariana Zapata and her slow burn sports romances. Almost 600 pages, and I read it in less than 24 hours. It was a weekend, and an audiobook, the perfect combination for book immersion. I also have the paperback, and I kept it by my side the whole time, to see how things were spelled, like schnecken and just to make sure I was tracking.
It's got soccer, which I don't really care that much about, but sports story interest me. It's got a player who meets her former childhood crush. So there is a bit of an age difference (13 years), but they are both clearly adults as Sal is 26 or 27, a grown ass woman. And there is the workplace forbidden love aspect, always good for some conflict and potentially cringe-worthy. They were all pulled off perfectly.
Sal is awesome sauce. She kicks ass and doesn't whine and does the right thing even when it sucks. I choose team Sal.
Rey is somewhat less awesome. He's silent and moody and shouts mean things and then doesn't say thank you to people. But Sal likes him. So I want Sal to get what she wants. The heart wants what it wants. I want to read more Mariana Zapata. I have several on ebook, but the key to me is getting them on audiobook because then I get it done. There go all my Audible credits, as I can't convince my local library to carry them. I've tried, oh lord, I've tried.
It's got soccer, which I don't really care that much about, but sports story interest me. It's got a player who meets her former childhood crush. So there is a bit of an age difference (13 years), but they are both clearly adults as Sal is 26 or 27, a grown ass woman. And there is the workplace forbidden love aspect, always good for some conflict and potentially cringe-worthy. They were all pulled off perfectly.
Sal is awesome sauce. She kicks ass and doesn't whine and does the right thing even when it sucks. I choose team Sal.
Rey is somewhat less awesome. He's silent and moody and shouts mean things and then doesn't say thank you to people. But Sal likes him. So I want Sal to get what she wants. The heart wants what it wants. I want to read more Mariana Zapata. I have several on ebook, but the key to me is getting them on audiobook because then I get it done. There go all my Audible credits, as I can't convince my local library to carry them. I've tried, oh lord, I've tried.