I loved the first half of this book and the path from strangers, to friends, to romantic partners felt very natural. That being said, the end of the book did fall a little flat for me. It wasn’t bad by any means, but the confession didn’t really do it for me and felt less than romantic.

I like Ruby, she’s sweet and creative and a genuinely kind yet awkward person. However, she read much younger than a 24 year old. So much so, that at points Aaron treated her akin to the teenager that they were with on the trip. Having anxiety doesn’t make you naive or immature, I wish she had more agency.

Out of the 4 MZ books I’ve read, Aaron was by far the hardest to decipher. Of course, one reason for this is because the first half of the book is strictly emails and IMs between the two, but even in person he gave no indication that he had romantic feelings towards Ruby. I know being closed off was a part of his character, but I wish he had a bit more personality. If it wasn’t a romance novel, I would’ve been surprised that he confessed to her when he did.

Overall, I still think it was worth the read, especially since it’s on KU, it just wasn’t a knock out. 

A slow start but a wonderful end. I’m not really into the whole “couples who bicker 24/7” because it just makes them both look extremely immature for a 26 and 29 yo. It wasn’t until they actually started communicating with one another that I began enjoying the book. The playful banter was still there, but the relationship had depth.

Jasmine is a bit hard to love because she’s very short tempered and self-involved, prioritizing her love for figure skating over everything else in her life. I think

after her mom’s accident

she realized how important her family is to her and how important it is that they know how important they are to her. 

I love Ivan because even when he was being a dick he was never cruel, he just seemed mostly indifferent/immature. It’s confusing because he later says

that he’s always wanted to skate with her, so why did he act like the agreement was a burden and constantly reminded her that it was only for 1 year? My biggest complaint was how he got so angry at her when he found out she was harassed/stalked online. She didn’t owe him that info they weren’t that close.

Overall the couple had great chemistry and was very supportive of one another, I just wish they started to get along sooner.

This book is a slow burn masterpiece. I love  Vanessa and I love Aiden and I love them together. 

I’ve read a few Mariana Zapata books now and I think Vanessa is my favorite MC. She’s strong, straightforward, and mature, and has a good sense of humor and banter with Aiden. 

From start to finish I thought it was great. I also love that Vanessa didn’t compromise any of her goals to be with Aiden. I was nervous once she agreed to the arrangement she would slip back into doing assistant duties again, but she really focused on her work and her marathon training. 

Aiden was protective without being controlling, and once he warmed up to Vanessa was a very sweet partner.

I think the friendship and then romance grew very organically. 

A really good book to get to know more about Charlie and Ben. It was short, but still had some twists and turns throughout the story. I recommend it because of the price and length, but it’s also skippable.

Maybe I’ll come back to it but it’s a very long book!

While this book isn’t completely perfect, I dare say it is worthy of me giving it 5 stars. I just absolutely loved it, was enthralled the entire time, and really connected with the characters.

I’ll start with the cons because there are few: The chapters written to Julia from the dad can drag. Not even because they’re boring but the chapters with Claire and Lydia are so interesting that you’re tempted to skip ahead. And this is petty, but

I despise that Claire makes plans to get a drink with Nolan I get that he ends up being a “good” (relative) guy but he sucks. I also didn’t like using Adam as a red herring, it was never explained why he was so aggressive in the note he left for Claire, it didn’t really fit with what we know of his character.

This book is very graphic, which for me is a good thing, I enjoy novels with graphic content. That being said, the only graphic books I have read have been written by men and I don’t know if I can ever go back. It’s hard for me to describe but I could just tell this book was written by a woman (big positive). The moment you think the situation couldn’t get any more deprived, it does. 

Claire and Lydia are both arguably shitty people, or do put it tastefully I would say they’re both complex and flawed characters. They’ve experienced a significant amount of trauma so it makes sense that they’ve had a difficult time adjusting to life. 

Loved the book and was very satisfied with the ending.

I was under the impression that this is a good romance with great smut. It’s just smut, which is fine, but I was expecting more out of the characters. The priest is so utterly distraught after his first sexual counter with the Poppy that he CRIES!!! I’m fine with the taboo of him being a priest but I don’t want to drown in his guilt with him.

The final straw is that Poppy’s entire personality is being horny. She has no depth, she is such an unbelievably flat character. It’s not even that I dislike her, I nothing her, because she is nothing but horny. She written so horribly.

The smut is pretty good, but I don’t think the priest and Poppy have chemistry, just sexual tension. That might sound like an oxymoron but they are two different things.

I think it was well written and an interesting premise but I feel like protagonist was done SO dirty over and over and I felt like no one was even trying to emphasize with her, and then she just magically comes around. Fiske shamelessly called Eelyn’s brother his brother and was angry with her for following him but OF COURSE she followed Iri! Fiske would’ve done the exact same thing, but Eelyn is demonized over and over again and made to be a fool for following her brother who she thought was dead. 

The mother figure in the story is presented as nurturing and caring, but Eelyn was a literal slave to them and was made to eat facing the corner alone. Yeah, she wasn’t abused, but she was shamed and believed that she lost her place in her God’s afterlife. There were so many times where my heart wrenched for Eelyn and I don’t think the story ever made up for that. No one apologized or admitted to their wrongdoings. 

The romance was mediocre. Fiske was never really nice to her so I don’t see how either one of them developed feelings. He wanted her to die for a long time, then ignored her presence, and was nice towards her when they journeyed together but that was after he developed feelings. I didn’t hate them but I was never rooting for them and I didn’t really feel the connection. 

This review was harsh, but it honestly wasn’t a bad book. It was very engaging, I just felt like I didn’t get the pay off I wanted from the emotional suffering I felt for Eelyn. I loved her as a character and she deserved better.