A review by a_neverending_tbr
From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata

challenging emotional funny informative sad tense medium-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

4.0

There are so many things that I loved about this story. Enemies to Lovers is one of my favorite tropes, add in a slow burn and I’m usually really going to enjoy the book. This has both of those plus a “he falls first” and a reverse grumpy/sunshine trope. Ivan is just a dreamy character. His care and love for Jasmine was just straight up swoony. She’s a little harder to love but when you get into her story - you really understand why she is the way that she is. She has so much growth in this book and watching her journey to being okay with the outcome was really touching. I have always enjoyed ice skating and that aspect of the story was great. For a rather long contemporary, it never got slow or felt bogged down to me. I LOVED the epilogue because it hit everything I want in the happily ever after. 

My complaint though is the language. There were SO many f-bombs that it really became distracting and overwhelmed a lot of the story for me. I wish I could recommend this to a larger audience but I know this would bother a lot of people and keep them from enjoying the book. The spice was well outside my comfort zone as well but fairly skippable since you see it coming and it’s really only one scene towards the end of book. There are other mentions to sexual things throughout the story but nothing terribly crazy. 

Romantic Content: Very descriptive open door 
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