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A review by shaun_trinh
Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin by Mariana Zapata
5.0
This is my 2nd Mariana Zapata book and she had me hooked again!
I loved this book and something that surprised me was just how much I loved the supporting cast. Typically in romance books I tend to just care about the main couple, but here I was in love with Gabby's friendship with Eli, Mason, Gordo, and Carter. In the first half I was actually a lot more invested in her relationship with them then I was with Sacha. HOWEVER, Gordo was given dust and received little page time compared to Eli and Mason.
I loved how sincere and genuine their friendship was and all of the little details the author put into making it authentic. Their banter was amazing, the support they had for one another, and the small gestors they did, all great. Especially Gabby and Eli, I thought the braiding thing was so sweet. One of the best friendships I've ever read.
I really liked how Gabby was "one of the boys" but also didn't shy away from just being a woman. A lot of times in romance with this trope, the female character is often written as detesting "girly" things, and has a lot of bravado about being one of the boys, but that wasn't how Gabby was. She embraced both and never made a big deal about. It felt natural and it felt right.
Sacha was also really cool. I liked how well he bounced off of Gabby's personality and that he was an actual nice guy, and not a "nice guy." He had clear interests, always had good banter, and his scenes with Gabby were always highlights. Whether that was getting food, hanging out in hotel rooms, playing a game, anything. He always brought a great vibe to the page and reminded the reader why we're rooting for them.
I also appreciated that the romance with Sacha started out as a great friendship first. Romances usually just start with that, the romance, but here we really saw these two characters grow a natural and sincere bond to one another that made us understand why they were so compatible and meant for each other. They felt like real best friends who would take a bullet for one another, and it wasn't forced or out of the blue, it was earned. All of their moments together felt so sweet and intimate and really kept me invested in the book despite there not being really any serious conflict. In the end they fell in love and had their happily ever after, and I completely understand why. I was sold on their chemistry and relationship.
I was a little worried about how they were going to end Gabby's story because by the end of it she still had no idea of what she wanted to do, which was the motive for her going on this tour and it wasn't given really any page time. I was concerned they were just going to make her follow Eli and Sacha around on tours as just a lazy way to handle it. But I'm happy with how that side plot worked out with her not just following Eli or Sacha anymore as a merch girl but is actually running a website for their and 15 other bands for merch. So technically she still their merch girl, but it's now her own business that she's running that she's the boss of that incorporates her love for the bands she toured with.
While I did love this book there are a few things I wish were done differently.
Firstly I didn't really get the whole point of introducing Sacha's mother as a rich snob. She kind of threatened Gabby , judged her for not having her life situation figured out, and pretty much insulted her as well. It just didn't cultivate into anything and had no affect on the plot or any character development at all. The mom isn't even really brought up again afterwards.
Next, this book kind of follows a similar character/romance formula to Zapata's other book, "The Wall of Winnipeg and Me." In the sense that the main character keeps convincing themselves that their love interest isn't actually interested in them. Beyond all reasonable logic and reasoning. In "The Wall of Winnipeg and Me" I understood it a little more since the love interest in book had a multitude of reasons to give the main character unease about his feelings, and even then in the latter quarter it got a little questionable. But here Gabby but quite literally gaslighting herself over and over about Sacha not liking her. Like when he overheard Sacha's 2nd phone call with his ex in the car and then somehow convinced herself that he didn't like her and didn't want any commitments. She was pulling shit out of thin air and I was so confused on how she got to that conclusion. She was the definition of "creating your own problems" like Gabby!!! What's going on in that head of yours??? She would just constantly convince herself that he wasn't interested even after he started calling her cute, adorable, baby, and cuddling up with her. It just got to the point that I thought it was ridiculous just how hell bent Gabby was on manipulating herself.
To go off of the call that Sacha had with his ex, that should not have been what Gabby and Sacha "got together" from. Because as I just said it was completely ridiculous. Gabby was being mess about it and got all sad and bummed out which lead to Sacha needing to convince her that he was, in fact, into her. Starting their relationship. Which did not feel earned! In the grand scheme before this it was earned, but the actual moment itself felt rushed and incomplete. There was all this slow burn, and then the moment the two main characters finally get together it's off of the back of our main girl gaslighting herself for no reason? It just didn't sit right with me and took me out a little.
Also related to the two paragraphs above, I would have appreciated a little more conflict and contrast between Gabby and Sacha. We weren't really given any actual flaw about Sacha, nor a deserved conflict to contrast the two. I loved how this was a heart-warming read, but I also wish the differences between the two were highlighted more and made them more distinct. While at the same time showing that there is an actual conflict that holds some type of stakes that they get work through. Romance was great as it was, but I think it could have been even better.
So overall I still loved this book. I'll probably be reading another book from Mariana Zapata in due time as she just had me hitched in both of the books I've read by her. I highly recommended reading this book, `twas a great time
I loved this book and something that surprised me was just how much I loved the supporting cast. Typically in romance books I tend to just care about the main couple, but here I was in love with Gabby's friendship with Eli, Mason, Gordo, and Carter. In the first half I was actually a lot more invested in her relationship with them then I was with Sacha. HOWEVER, Gordo was given dust and received little page time compared to Eli and Mason.
I loved how sincere and genuine their friendship was and all of the little details the author put into making it authentic. Their banter was amazing, the support they had for one another, and the small gestors they did, all great. Especially Gabby and Eli, I thought the braiding thing was so sweet. One of the best friendships I've ever read.
I really liked how Gabby was "one of the boys" but also didn't shy away from just being a woman. A lot of times in romance with this trope, the female character is often written as detesting "girly" things, and has a lot of bravado about being one of the boys, but that wasn't how Gabby was. She embraced both and never made a big deal about. It felt natural and it felt right.
Sacha was also really cool. I liked how well he bounced off of Gabby's personality and that he was an actual nice guy, and not a "nice guy." He had clear interests, always had good banter, and his scenes with Gabby were always highlights. Whether that was getting food, hanging out in hotel rooms, playing a game, anything. He always brought a great vibe to the page and reminded the reader why we're rooting for them.
I also appreciated that the romance with Sacha started out as a great friendship first. Romances usually just start with that, the romance, but here we really saw these two characters grow a natural and sincere bond to one another that made us understand why they were so compatible and meant for each other. They felt like real best friends who would take a bullet for one another, and it wasn't forced or out of the blue, it was earned. All of their moments together felt so sweet and intimate and really kept me invested in the book despite there not being really any serious conflict. In the end they fell in love and had their happily ever after, and I completely understand why. I was sold on their chemistry and relationship.
I was a little worried about how they were going to end Gabby's story because by the end of it she still had no idea of what she wanted to do, which was the motive for her going on this tour and it wasn't given really any page time. I was concerned they were just going to make her follow Eli and Sacha around on tours as just a lazy way to handle it. But I'm happy with how that side plot worked out with her not just following Eli or Sacha anymore as a merch girl but is actually running a website for their and 15 other bands for merch. So technically she still their merch girl, but it's now her own business that she's running that she's the boss of that incorporates her love for the bands she toured with.
While I did love this book there are a few things I wish were done differently.
Firstly I didn't really get the whole point of introducing Sacha's mother as a rich snob. She kind of threatened Gabby , judged her for not having her life situation figured out, and pretty much insulted her as well. It just didn't cultivate into anything and had no affect on the plot or any character development at all. The mom isn't even really brought up again afterwards.
Next, this book kind of follows a similar character/romance formula to Zapata's other book, "The Wall of Winnipeg and Me." In the sense that the main character keeps convincing themselves that their love interest isn't actually interested in them. Beyond all reasonable logic and reasoning. In "The Wall of Winnipeg and Me" I understood it a little more since the love interest in book had a multitude of reasons to give the main character unease about his feelings, and even then in the latter quarter it got a little questionable. But here Gabby but quite literally gaslighting herself over and over about Sacha not liking her. Like when he overheard Sacha's 2nd phone call with his ex in the car and then somehow convinced herself that he didn't like her and didn't want any commitments. She was pulling shit out of thin air and I was so confused on how she got to that conclusion. She was the definition of "creating your own problems" like Gabby!!! What's going on in that head of yours??? She would just constantly convince herself that he wasn't interested even after he started calling her cute, adorable, baby, and cuddling up with her. It just got to the point that I thought it was ridiculous just how hell bent Gabby was on manipulating herself.
To go off of the call that Sacha had with his ex, that should not have been what Gabby and Sacha "got together" from. Because as I just said it was completely ridiculous. Gabby was being mess about it and got all sad and bummed out which lead to Sacha needing to convince her that he was, in fact, into her. Starting their relationship. Which did not feel earned! In the grand scheme before this it was earned, but the actual moment itself felt rushed and incomplete. There was all this slow burn, and then the moment the two main characters finally get together it's off of the back of our main girl gaslighting herself for no reason? It just didn't sit right with me and took me out a little.
Also related to the two paragraphs above, I would have appreciated a little more conflict and contrast between Gabby and Sacha. We weren't really given any actual flaw about Sacha, nor a deserved conflict to contrast the two. I loved how this was a heart-warming read, but I also wish the differences between the two were highlighted more and made them more distinct. While at the same time showing that there is an actual conflict that holds some type of stakes that they get work through. Romance was great as it was, but I think it could have been even better.
So overall I still loved this book. I'll probably be reading another book from Mariana Zapata in due time as she just had me hitched in both of the books I've read by her. I highly recommended reading this book, `twas a great time