A review by jcpdiesel21
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata

3.0

There's a good book in here, buried under a couple hundred superfluous pages and a main character who it took me a while to warm to. I liked the broad strokes of this story with a woman returning to her childhood home for some recentering after a difficult breakup, but it took quite a bit of patience to get through at times. My favorite characters are Amos and Rhodes; it was great to learn each new morsel of information about these two withdrawn yet stand-up guys, and I wanted so much more of them. By contrast, it was a lot to constantly be within Aurora's headspace, especially when she acted much younger than her age and kept throwing herself into situations where she needed help but resisted asking for it. That being said, the tale does hit several satisfying emotional beats in the final act that ultimately made it worth reading, and it was pleasing to see how Aurora ended up fitting so nicely with Rhodes and Amos.

Note: this book contains some pretty terrible terms of endearment. "Angel" and "sweetheart"? Very cute and acceptable. "Buddy"? NO, not even with the explanation. And don't get me started on "Tober" and "Tobers"; Tobias is a lovely name!