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rebthebarber's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
spellbindingtomes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Why are football romance stories so cute?! You know that feeling when you read the first few lines of a book and you just know you'll love it. That's how I feel every time I start a new Mariana Zapata book. And The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is no exception.
I loved Vanessa from Chapter 1. She's my favorite out of all of MZ's FMCs. I related to her so much. Aiden's character development was incredible. From being so closed off and dismissive towards Vanessa in the beginning, to taking her for granted, to finally realizing his faults, and showing up to support her was so endearing and heartwarming.
This was the first book that I thought did the marriage of convenience trope perfectly. The terms of this marriage between Vanessa and Aiden was totally believable and even after they got married, it took a long time for them to build a solid friendship and trust with each other.
๐๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ...๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต. ๐๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ.
I highly recommend the audiobook. Emma Wilder and Stephen Dexter did a fantastic job! They got me hooked immediately. Mariana Zapata's writing style is addictive and compelling. The burn is so slow that I HAD to keep reading until I was satisfied. And trust me, it was all worth it in the end.
๐๐ฆ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉต
๐marriage of convenience
๐forced proximity
๐workplace romance
๐slooow burn
๐football romance
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism
Minor: Death
Very heavy and graphic in child abuse coming from both MCs.michbrito's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Alcoholism and Drug abuse
mels_reading_log's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse
bookscatsandtats's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
sea_tea_books's review against another edition
3.0
Happily Ever After. Spicy scenes (eventually).
And now, the cons:
Such a slow burn; like, too slow. The pacing was odd. It felt like the story was riding at 20mph through a school zone for 90% with a few bumps along the way, then suddenly floored it to two spicy scenes at the very end. The result was a clunky story that abruptly ended just as the story picked up steam. Was this why the author included not only an epilogue but also bonus content at the end, to compensate for the abrupt ending?
This book should come with trigger warnings due to themes of childhood trauma, parental alcoholism, and domestic violence within toxic families in both main character backstories.
Not a fan of the main character Vanessa continuously threatening violence against others. And the other main character Aiden being emotionally dysregulated on a daily basis. Let's not normalize these issues by excusing rage and threats as unavoidable consequences of her upbringing, or accepting rudeness and apathy as the norm because he's just a grumpy guy.
Finally, a small pet peeve (pun intended) of mine is when people claim being a pet owner is the same as or similar to being the parent of a human being. In the About the Author section, Mariana Zapata calls her dogs "her...oversized children" and she wrote "child" when referring to the dog Leo in the story. We'll have to agree to disagree on that one, Mariana.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol
storieswithannej's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
All I know for now is that I love this book and made me feel so much. I just canโt put all these feelings into words now. BRB, swooning over Aiden.
Minor: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
juliaaaaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Injury/Injury detail
lkahre's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol
darcerenity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment