Wait For It

This is the first book I have read by Ms. Zapata and might I say in all honesty I enjoyed it very much.

It was a slow building romance between characters who have baggage, a lot of love to give, and some flaws.

Diana is awesome. She finds herself a single mom to her two nephews when her brother and SIL pass away. Still trying to find out who she is, she is now the responsible one who has to be the right role model for Josh and Louie. Being childless myself but helping to raise my nieces and nephews, and now my great-nephews I can so empathize with Diana. (That just happens to be my sisters name) How do you know you are doing right by the kids? Will you loving them be enough? What happens when you screw up, will it scar them too?


Those two show more boys.....Josh and Louie.....I love the fact they are written to be normal, healthy boys. They aren't overly traumatized or suffering to be perfect or so out of control. They are boys who forget things in the morning, lose shoes for no apparent reason, ask the most embarrassing questions at the most inappropriate of times. Anyone who has a child in their life has had this happen at least once. But the fact that the love their Tia, they express it and feel comfortable speaking out when they are hurt or confused is the sign of a good open relationship with her.

Dallas, that Dallas is something else. Seperated from a wife he married really just to help her out but he stays faithful to her until they are divorced? I know, it seems like a lot more effort than it's worth for someone you didn't love and don't live with but if those are his values then who are we to question him. He even explained it to Diana in that way. He never cheated on her and if he let himself go there with Diana what would that say to Diana about what is the core of his character.

I truly did enjoy this story. It made me cry but that's a good thing. It means the writing and the story got to me so much that I could lose myself and cry. I guess now I am going to have to go back and read more of Ms. Zapata's work. show less

This is as reread of this book for me.
The first time I read it I gave it 3 stars and I really can't understand why.
This book is amazing.
I'm not a huge fan of single parent troupe but there is a lot to this one.
The kids are not props they have active roles in the story and the main driving force behind Diana, the heroine.
The beauty of this slow burn romance is in the unfolding of the emotional journey that both the Hero and heroine make so I don't want to spoil that.
The Hero is a broody one, he appears moody and unfriendly at first but you soon warm up to him when you get to know him.
One of the beautiful things about him is he is not a manwhore type.
He has plenty of opportunities but he is a principled man with a strong sense of show more loyalty.
The heroine has a complicated family dynamic and she is such a fighter.
The kids have helped her make wiser choices to live up to the responsibilities of parenthood.
It does deal with grief, losing a family member, these scenes are extremely emotional, get a box of tissues, it's heartbreaking. Also very funny at times with excellent banter.
There is family baggage and drama for the Hero and heroine.
Ex drama for the Hero but no flirting with anyone else.
It is very slow burn, don't expect them to get together quickly.
Excellent secondary characters.
Diana is best friends with Vann from 'Wall of Winnipeg and Me' and cousins with Sal from 'Kulti', both characters make brief appearances so there is a small catch up with their lives.
It's not essential to have read those two books before hand as there is nothing really revealed about their stories.
HEA. show less

Fairly low drama romance (very light steam at the end) about a woman living her life to the fullest and a man trying to move on with his. I love a neighbors story, and this romance was slow, great build, good character building, and mature. Overall, a very enjoyable read. Zapata seems to like the strong silent type in her heroes...

Easily up there as one of my favorite Mariana Zapata books. Not only is Diana one of my favorite heroines of hers (her big heart, her sassiness, her self critical nature... I just wanna give my girl a hug!) and Dallas grows on you as a strong and silent but perceptive and caring love interest, I personally cannot underscore how much Josh and Louie make this book. A sweet romance but also a really wonderful and heart wrenching book about family and family love!

This book certainly did make the reader "Wait for It." It was probably a good 89% into the book before anything actually happened with the two of them. But overall, it was a satisfying conclusion to the LONG drawn out romance-ish type of relationship those two had.

This book follows the same basic premise of the other books by this author. We meet Girl and see that her life is a mess, but she's trying to work things out. Girl then meets Boy. Boy makes it clear he wants nothing to do with Girl even though she's oddly attracted to him. (Boy may be attracted to Girl as well, but we don't know because story is told from Girl's POV). Girl and Boy become friends. But out of the blue, Boy suddenly starts acting as if he's in a relationship with show more Girl and gets kind of weird when she doesn't realize he's in love with her even though he made it clear he didn't feel that way about her before. Girl still doesn't believe Boy loves her even when he comes out and says it. Then there's some kissing and one big love scene at the end and they get their HEA.

If you're really into watching a super slow burning romance built from the ground up, then this is the story for you. But if you're impatient by that kind of thing, this book could get really frustrating. But overall, I enjoyed reading Diana's story. I wasn't entirely fond of her in Wall of Winnipeg, but she grew on me in this book. show less

This review has a few spoilers. I tried to hide them, but who knows if I did it right.


This is a good book. Thank you Sofija for suggesting it. :)

I like the main character, Diana, and her nephews, Louie and Josh. Their relationships were really great. The author did a good job of capturing what kids are generally like.

The slow burn between Diana and Dallas was fun, but it lost a tiny bit of steam for me towards the end. The drama between the 2 of them seemed a bit forced at times. Dallas wanting nothing to do with Diana at the beginning, because he thought that she was hitting on him. He wants to stand by his commitments, which is great, but it seemed overly awkward. And Diana constantly talking about how she isn't hitting on Dallas, or show more how she doesn't want to take advantage of him, was a bit much. Overall, they're a cute couple.

I really didn't like the stuff with the fire. I don't think that it was alright for Diana to have a stressed 5 year old call 911, while she ran into a burning building. I'm glad that Ms. Pearl and the cat were alright, but Diana had two kids that needed her, kids who had already lost too much. show less

Such a great book, the sequel to the Wall of Winnipeg, this book follows Vanessa's best friend Diana. Diana has been there, done that and has the t-shirt. She is fiesty, and bossy, and will do what it takes to take care of her nephews. She moves across the street from what seems to be the Oscar the grouch of the block. His name is Dallas...and they live in Austin Texas. Dallas, is the perfect match for Diana, he is easy going and laid back. I don't want to give too much away, as I hate spoilers. I love this authors writing, because even though it is romance, it's not all sex, sex, sex. She sets the story, develops the characters, and lets them set the pace. I absolutely love that. This book gets 2 thumbs up from me.
This book is quirky, show more funny, and I really hope to see more of the secondary characters in their own books, perhaps Tripp. show less