A review by wilybooklover
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

slow-paced

1.5

This is called a slow-burn, but like... where is the burn?! It’s just slow! It felt like there was next-to-no relationship development even going past the halfway mark. Slow-burn isn’t just a book where the couple doesn’t get together until the end; it’s about a slow build-up of feelings and tension and that was just lacking in this book. Vanessa had more interaction and chemistry with Zac than Aiden (and I think I would have liked this book more if she had ended up with him instead). 

Speaking of slow: this book was way too long for absolutely no reason. It needed a really good edit because it’s just full of repetitive filler that serves no actual purpose to the story. We get it, the hero is big. And the single sex scene was just bad. I don’t know if I can forgive this book for making me read the phrase ‘hot pipe’, 'mushroom tip' and 'pink sac' all in the same sex scene. 

Aiden is characterised as grumpy but really, he’s just a selfish arsehole who only thinks of people in terms of what they can do for him. He doesn’t appear to care for anything or anyone but himself and his career. He actually gets angry whenever someone points out he's been a dick; he seems to think it's his right to be as awful as he wants to people and they just have to take it. He's way too pushy in trying to get Vanessa to marry him — no means no, dude. And on top of all that, he’s just dull with zero personality. I don’t understand what Vanessa sees in him. And I didn’t particularly like Vanessa either; she was completely lacking in self-awareness and literally laughs when Aiden is molested (her words) by a fan. There was quite a bit of misogyny in how she thinks and talks about other women, particularly the other WAGs.  

It wasn’t all bad — I liked the scene in the lift, and the marriage of convenience was plausible in a contemporary setting for once. But that was not enough to rescue it from all of the rest.