A review by girlgetsbook
From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata

funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Well, what a ride. I started this book and got through the first 200 pages easily, and then... hit a wall. Because I couldn't get over how the main character was so rude and how much she cussed at anything and anyone. Someone would lightly bump into her and she would call them names in her head, there are long scenes where she would stubbornly refuse to do something that clearly was for her own good and in one scene she bullied a group of 13 year-olds, which is very telling, because I think she read like a 13 year-old, when she's supposed to be 26. Other characters like her brother were also pretty immature and even Ivan, though he showed his mature side later, had a very childish dynamic with her. Besides my rant I genuinely cared about the characters and they felt very real to me, even though it took me AGES to finish this and I almost DNFd it, it definitely had so great moments and some great topics, like the criticism and sexism Jasmine faces just for existing as a woman of color in sports, besides not agreeing with how some of her actions are viewed as charming rather than childish and stubborn (like when she was sick) I still cared about her happiness which says a lot about the way Zapata built the world in this book. I still feel like some descriptions were too long and they broke the dialog most of the time, which wasn't always amazing to begin with, and disrupted the pacing of the scenes, and it did also have a lot of hints of fatphobia throughout which didn't sit super right with me. I'm a little traumatized by the reading slump and reader existential crisis this put me in to ever pick up another Maria Zapata book (I wanted to read Kulti but I'm very very scared) seeing I'm not very good at DNFing. But we'll see. Either way I'm glad I read it, though it could easily be 200 pages shorter. 
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