A review by jazmin
From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata

5.0

Love to me was honesty. Being real. Knowing someone’s best and worst. Love was a push that said someone believed in you when you didn’t.

Reread #1 Update:
STOP. YOU GUYS JUST DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW OBSESSED I AM WITH THIS BOOK. WHY THE HECK WAS I SO CRITICAL OF IT BEFORE?? I SHOULD HAVE JUST APPRECIATED IT FOR THE MASTERPIECE IT IS. First, let me say that now that I have read all of MZ’s books, I can confidently say that Ivan and Jasmine are literally my favourite of her couples, and this book is in my top 3 of her books. It’s just… SO GOOD. The development, the struggle, the outcome, seriously. I couldn’t ask for a better book. I am obsessed.

Original Review:

⇢The Plot
This book was just…. gorgeous. Well, as gorgeous as a book can be when you can’t fully picture some of the scenes in it. I actually watched a few pair figure skating videos to get a reference for some of the jumps and moves they did.

It was also a nice change to have both the characters “hating” each other (at first) rather than just the male lead being annoying and unlikeable. This started off as an actual rivalry so it deserves that title.

As for things I wasn’t a huge fan of, I’m starting to think that it’s a common occurrence that the author has the chance to explore darker themes in her books (in this case eating disorders and diet culture) but doesn’t often take it. In this book, it was touched upon briefly how Jasmine was conscious about her weight fluctuating depending on how much she was training and the double standard when it came to pictures of her on social media vs Ivan’s, but it wasn’t really developed as much as it could’ve been, and if it had it might’ve seemed more realistic. While I’m all for romances that are only fluff, if you write a story where darker themes would logically make sense because they tie in, just include them for the sake of realism.

⇢Jasmine
Jasmine was a fun change to have as a protagonist, and I think she was the most outspoken of the main Mariana Zapata leads so far. I wish her career as a pair skater was explored a bit more (like before she joined with Ivan) because it was mentioned a bit in Dear, Aaron, and I wouldn’t have minded this book being a little longer. Yeah, I know it was already super long for a romance, That’s just MZ’s power.

“You are who you are in life, and you either live that time trying to bend yourself to make other people happy, or… you don’t.”

⇢Ivan
Ivan was, I think, my favourite male protagonist by this author out of the 5? books I’ve read by her. I mean, after he revealed that he was the pet owner of multiple dogs, a pig, and a rabbit, I was sold. He was less reserved than most of the other love-interests, and he made it a lot easier to like him than the rest of them did. 


“I love you so much, if I can’t skate with you, I don’t want to skate with anyone else.”
Holy.
“I love you so much, Jasmine, that if I broke my ankle during a program, I would get up and finish it for you, to get you what you’ve always wanted.”

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ❦ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

MY SPOTIFY ❦

MY LINKTREE ❦