The Wall of Winnipeg and Me in Some Like It Hot!

Apr 23, 2016 Sera rated it it was amazing

Shelves: marriage, sports, unputdownable-slump-bump, 6-star-books, go-to-author, funny, friends-gave-it-5-stars, slow-burn

Ahhhh this book! This is a long one, and it is incredibly slow burn romance which I thought might bore or frustrate me but nope it was so good I gobbled it right up and I didn't want it to end the whole time trying to pace myself. The heroine Vanessa OMG she was such a breath of fresh air, not typical in any way and this was me most of the time

And Aidan Graves

I love the strong silent types.
It was just...

This is my first 5 star read in a while and I am planning on making my way through this ...more

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May 11, 2018 Nance rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-boyfriends, e-book, contemporary-romance, favorites, all-time-favorite-romantic-reads, sports-romance, books-read-2018, 10-best-books-of-2018, slow-burn-romance

Damn, what took me so long to read this book??? I loved it!!! The slow-burn. The football. The romantic relationship building. The main characters. The supporting characters. Just so phenomenal! I couldn’t stop reading for the life of me until the final page was turned. And, now that it’s over, I’m sad. Just another awesome book by the incredible author, Mariana Zapata!!!

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Aug 18, 2016 Tracy rated it it was amazing

Great book

This book kind of took me on an emotional roller coaster. It was the 2nd book of Mariana's I read. I definitely wasn't expecting after I laughed so much with Lingus I was expecting something similar, but I was so very much surprised with this book.

Vanessa has an f'd up past and Aiden has the same, but you would never know as they are both so closed off with each other. Aiden needs Vanessa to marry him to get his permanent green card. As they peel back the layers of each character you ...more

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Nov 29, 2016 Kimberly rated it liked it

Shelves: texas, cooking, alcoholism, humorous, housekeeper, insecure-heroine, celebrity, football, graphic-artist, vegan

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. What I Liked/Worked
I laughed out loud in the first chapter when Aiden knew Vanessa flipped him off and called her on it. The author did a great job of Aiden wanting a dog in the very first chapter which Vanessa gives him for Xmas in chapter 24. I also thought the author did a good job explaining why Vanessa is so insecure due to her chaotic family/childhood. I really like romance novels that include social issues. This novel showed what can happen with an alcoholic parent even if she recovers la What I Liked/Worked
I laughed out loud in the first chapter when Aiden knew Vanessa flipped him off and called her on it. The author did a great job of Aiden wanting a dog in the very first chapter which Vanessa gives him for Xmas in chapter 24. I also thought the author did a good job explaining why Vanessa is so insecure due to her chaotic family/childhood. I really like romance novels that include social issues. This novel showed what can happen with an alcoholic parent even if she recovers later in life. Due to her addiction, the older three sisters' issue may stem from fetal alcohol syndrome and both Vanessa and her brother, Oscar. Even though Aiden seems removed, selfish and doesn't care, he shows his anger, and the fact that he is hurt, that Vanessa is quitting with his treatment of her. I really liked the line on page 63, "...when the sky was still sleepier than it was awake." One of great aspects of this text was that it clean and tight. Thank-you Ms. Zapata for not having many, if any, grammatical errors. Very refreshing in a time when there are so many authors who rush to publish and don't worry about the details. I also enjoyed that the love story was developed. I could go on about the great things in the text, but I'll stop here.

What I Did Not Like/Didn't Work
One of my biggest gripes and the reason I did not grant more stars to this text is the length. WAY TO LONG. There is too much internal monologue. It also slows down the action. An example of this in on page 121. Why is a whole paragraph needed for hanging up the phone. The reader knows the decision she has to make. And that is yet another reason with all of the internal monologue, too much repeating of the same thing. With so much Vanessa narration, we don't get to see a lot and are told more. An example of this is in chapter 15 with the physical altercation between Vanessa and Ricky, Susie's spouse. I would have liked to see that scene instead of be told about it from Vanessa. I would have loved to have read more interaction between Vanessa and Aiden after they make love, but the text was very long at that point and I was tired of reading. I also did not like the title. Not inspired at all. It seems like a working title that stuck. Even, "How Football Changed My Life" would be an improvement.

Questions/Observations
Still not sure what to make of Aiden not knowing where she lived and didn't know her personal phone number. Chapter 22, in contrast, clearly demonstrates how much Aiden does know about Vanessa and in chapter 8 he uses her loans, which she has told no one about, as a way to get her to marry him. Chapter 6 is when Aiden pressures Vanessa to marry him after she suggests it. I wondered if he already started falling for her and if he was going to admit his feelings for her. I was also curious if Aiden played her to get her to suggest something more permanent solution. I was also curious about the names of the boys. They are named Sammy and Gary. I would have thought they would have been named after Aiden's couch, Leslie and his grandfather. ...more

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