The Wall of Winnipeg and Me

Talk about a sloooooow burn.

I guess Zapata is known for her slow burn romances? I did not know that going into this book. So when I get to the 80% mark and I can count the number of kisses with one hand, minus a few fingers, I should have been peeved, right? Except I wasn’t! I was totally into it! Wow, Zapata is good!

Vanessa is the put upon, totally undervalued assistant to the famous football player, Aiden Graves. She’s scrimped and saved and done everything in her power to be able to pursue her dreams. So, even though she was planning to quit, when Aiden pushes her over the edge with some real shitty behavior, she decides it’s time to burn some bridges. Guess what happens? Aiden shows up at her door and demands that she marry show more him so he can get his greencard! And he’s willing to pay her quite a lot to do it!

Heck yeah, Zapata uses that forced proximity trope to push her characters together! But once they are in the same house, there are a lot of little, quiet scenes, moments really, where Aiden and Vanessa connect or exchange a touch, a look, that builds the tension and romance between them. I lived and died for these moments. I loved them so much, I wasn’t even that mad that because of the first person POV, Aiden remains a bit of a brick wall (pun!) even through the end of the book. show less

I’ve been seeing this book everywhere and now I get it. I’m surprised at myself because I thought there’s no way this big oaf is going to endear himself to me and then he went and did it anyway. I thought Vanessa was going to be my one true love of this novel and I was so happy to be wrong. I ended up loving them together. I appreciated that she made him work and it wasn’t a switch flip Insta-love situation. I do wish that Aiden had been a smidge more forthcoming with his words to her because he let her flail and shouldn't have done that.

The part of this book that made me love him was after her solo trip home and he wanted to make a speedy clandestine trip back to have a conversation with her sister's husband. Shouting for Zach show more to get his car for an alibi made me snort laugh.

You saved the spice for the 97% mark though. Girl.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own. show less

I read Under Locke a long time ago and loved it and i saw this and thought i'd give it a go.

So it's Vanessa and Aiden, she works for him, he is a sports star who is out on injury time. She works really hard for him, going above and beyond the basics (no funny business) and he doesn't say thank you, apologise when he's rude (he's rude alot) and is generally awful to work for.

Van has enough and decides to leave... he turns up, he needs a favour...

I loved this book, the writing is amazing. Van at first admires Aiden, physically yes but more his work ethic but he kills it as he's so awful, she never has any illusions they could be together and this is really realistic. Also he never gets involved with women, he is too focused on work, i show more loved this so nice not to read about a man-whore. He is a dream.... if you like the quiet ones.

Aiden is fascinating, at first i wanted to hear his POV but its all from Vanessa's, this makes it all the more intriguing.

Loved it.

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what a journey this book was

I genuinely loved this book. Vanessa was very easy for me to love. She’s such a strong character. Aiden was harder to love but it got easier and easier as the book went on. I do always love a man that is precious with his words and time so when he gives them to you you know they mean something. He didn’t play any games. And neither did Vanessa. I loved their trauma bonding and how protective they were of each other too. They both deserved better and it was sweet that they were able to find each other.

My favorite thing about this book is that it’s almost 500 pages of the slowest slow burn ever. It felt so much more real that way though. They went through every stage two people go through together in show more this book. They slowly made their way into a friendship and then it just kept growing. It was honestly refreshing to me because there wasn’t a ton of body objectifying or flirty behavior until the very end. It was two people genuinely getting to know one another and falling in love. It was pretty great.
I wish there was a tiny bit more resolution with their families (Susie needs to be in prison) but it’s honestly fine. This is a good one :) show less

4,2 stars

I don't read that much straight romance (for various different reasons) so it was a pleasant surprise how enjoyable I ended up finding this.

The writing was good, the characters felt real and relatable (well, at least for Vanessa) and I loved how slow burn this was. This was a prime example of how you build a relationship that leads to love (instead of having two attractive people lay eyes on each other and mistake lust for meaningful connection, which seems to be the case too often with any kind of romance books).

I'm also glad that the sex scenes were sparse and only happened at the end, because I'm not sure if I'd had kept reading had they occurred earlier in the storyline. Because I gotta tell you, I wasn't really feeling show more them (which could just be me though, because like I said, these aren't really my usual cup of tea).

The highlight of the story, for me, was Vanessa. She's so smart, and funny, and independent, while also conscious of her faults. I think this book might have actually rated closer to five stars for me, if it had ended maybe a chapter or two before the epilogue. Still, this was a book that had me openly giggling while I was walking to the bus stop, so I can't really fault it all that much.

(I also forgot to add that I loved Zac's character! I love it when books portray healthy friendships between men an women without them being used as plot devices to a) make the Love Interest jealous or b) cause a love triangle. Zac also didn't feel like "just a friend". He wasn't "just" anything, he was one of Vanessa's closest friends, and he remained her close friend even after she hooked up with Aiden.) show less

This one is hard to rate....most of the book was a 3 but the last 30% made me bump it up. If the first 70% hadn't been so slow going with TOO many of Van's thoughts it would have been a 5 star favorite. I really did enjoy getting to know Van, Aiden, and Zac! The writing was done well....I'm just not a lover of reading a characters every thought. It is definitely not an instant love type of book. The main characters aren't intimate until close to the end. I really, really wished the timeline had been just a bit different. I wanted the last 30% to last longer. I didn't mind the slowness in the beginning either as I was getting to know the characters but it just dragged on forever. Aiden is a big, quiet, shy type of guy but still alpha. He show more was a great character and I liked Van's quirkiness! show less

Absolutely relentlessly heart-thumpingly satisfying.

Our MCs are a stone cold star defensive player (cannot recall what position) in the NFL raised by his grandparents and largely abandoned by his mother and his personal assistant, a semi geeky people pleaser who was raised in a terrible family and for a time in a loving foster home. Both have issues trusting, but they get a rhythm going that works for him. When she quits (she has been squirreling away all of her money to start her own graphic design business) he freaks even though he has barely shared a civil word with her in the past. He ends up giving her an offer she can't refuse (no details) to stay with him for the next five years and they circle round each other before they show more recognize the ways in which they fit together, and then for a longer time as they both deal with pushing down the boundaries they have drawn around themselves.

There is nothing about this book that would identity it as a book I would love. I don't hate it, but grumpy-sunshine is not my favorite trope. (The addition here of forced proximity really helps.) It is heartwarming (there is even a puppy), largely sex free, the male lead is not a chatter so there is little in the way of fun banter, and it is New Adult. But doggone it is a book I did love. I feel glowy. Just a perfect fairy tale of a romance. show less