Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

111 reviews

garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25


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spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced
  • 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

๐˜ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ต, ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต. ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ. ๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.

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. 

๐˜–๐˜ง ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ...๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ. ๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ด. ๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต. ๐˜”๐˜บ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ.

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.

๐˜ž๐˜ฆ'๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜›๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜Ž๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐Ÿฉต

๐Ÿˆmarriage of convenience
๐Ÿˆforced proximity
๐Ÿˆworkplace romance
๐Ÿˆslooow burn
๐Ÿˆfootball romance

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ireadtoescape_'s review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If you ask me, we could have started this book from about 60% in. Most of what came before was really drawn out! ๐Ÿ˜ฉ

It was cute, though. Iโ€™m choosing not to over-think the other stuff ๐Ÿ™ƒ

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michbrito's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced
  • 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


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mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • 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

This is a grumpy/sunshine, fake marriage, slow burn, sports romance novel. Both of the main characters have childhood trauma and trust issues to work through. I really enjoyed the transformation of Aiden, as he opened up and became more comfortable with Vanessa.

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khloereads86's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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sea_tea_books's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

3.0

First off, the pros:
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. 

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milovatsi's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Kinda painful. The story would have been better with some changes, like the whole drooling over this man in every chapter. And her guilt over anything and everything. Did not like the MMC. FMC was a doormat.
Don't leave your 8 wk old puppy alone!

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frantically's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Guys, I'm SO conflicted on this book!!

Was this book particularly good? No, not really. Was it absolutely addicting to listen to? Yes. Spent two days doing nothing else.

I love Aiden. What. A. Man. The quiet way he shows Van he loves her ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ the way he stands up for her ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ really had me sobbing ngl

Can't stand Van. She was so fun at first but then it just turned really pick-me and if there's one thing I HATE it's pick-me's.

Still, the relationship was so cute! Yes it was technically very slow burn but we all knew they were gonna end up together in the end and it made all the pre-relationship situations so much cuter for me.

Some other stuff I had issues with:
โ€“ Van's family gives major Cinderella vibes but not retelling vibes, Cinderella vibes straight out of the fairytale. Completely two-dimensional. Oh and why are they assholes? Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, of course
โ€“ Aiden is groped/sexually harassed in front of Van and she laughs about it for like ten minutes. Ew.
โ€“ Van gets into sports! Theoretically fun but she only does it after Aiden's manager says she's fat. And there's so much focus on her losing weight, it became a bit uncomfortable

So โ€“ why did I even like this? I don't know. I like Aiden. I like puppies. I like "I loved you from the start". The writing is good.

Will read more Zapata books, trying to find a book as great as Lukov was xoxo

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juliaaaaaa's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

great trope but badly executed. look, i love a slow burn, but i was expecting more chemistry tension and build up, it didn't give me butterflies until the last chapter

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