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A review by mrsboomreads
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata
2.75
I have thoughts. (Mild spoilers)
I’ve been duped. This was billed as a romance novel and, not it! This is contemporary fiction with a itty bitty, teeny tiny side portion of excruciatingly slow romance. Manage those expectations!
What I loved:
• I enjoyed Aurora’s character arc. She grows up and stands up to her crappy ex and get out of the dead end, toxic, financially/emotionally relationship, then heals her heart and starts over in her hometown.
• Honoring her late mother’s memory by following her love of hiking was beautiful, and the descriptions of the scenery and hiking were 👌🏻
• The Ex drama was well done. Aurora was great at standing up for herself.
• The female friendships, old and new (“one is silver and the other gold” 🎵)
What irked me:
• Rhodes goes far beyond the grump in a sunshine/grump trope. Try grizzly.
• The pet names. Omg, please no more. I cringed every time through this progression from Rhodes calling Aurora “kiddo” to “Angel” to...”Buddy” 🥴 Make. It. Stop.
• The slooooooooooooooow burn. I understand building anticipation but, this was so drawn out that I almost did not care if they ever got together. And the pay off was meh. Far too little, far too late.
If this had a bit of an accelerated burn, dropped the nicknames, and was edited by about 150 pages? It could have had 5 star read potential.
I’ve been duped. This was billed as a romance novel and, not it! This is contemporary fiction with a itty bitty, teeny tiny side portion of excruciatingly slow romance. Manage those expectations!
What I loved:
• I enjoyed Aurora’s character arc. She grows up and stands up to her crappy ex and get out of the dead end, toxic, financially/emotionally relationship, then heals her heart and starts over in her hometown.
• Honoring her late mother’s memory by following her love of hiking was beautiful, and the descriptions of the scenery and hiking were 👌🏻
• The Ex drama was well done. Aurora was great at standing up for herself.
• The female friendships, old and new (“one is silver and the other gold” 🎵)
What irked me:
• Rhodes goes far beyond the grump in a sunshine/grump trope. Try grizzly.
• The pet names. Omg, please no more. I cringed every time through this progression from Rhodes calling Aurora “kiddo” to “Angel” to...”Buddy” 🥴 Make. It. Stop.
• The slooooooooooooooow burn. I understand building anticipation but, this was so drawn out that I almost did not care if they ever got together. And the pay off was meh. Far too little, far too late.
If this had a bit of an accelerated burn, dropped the nicknames, and was edited by about 150 pages? It could have had 5 star read potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Gaslighting