Mariana Zapata knows how to write a slow burn romance. I absolutely fell in love with her writing while reading From Lukov with Love and this book further supported this. I enjoyed following Aiden and Vanessa throughout the novel, highly rooting for them all throughout. Can't wait to read my next Mariana novel.

I am not really a fan of slow burn, but this book still gave me the good vibes and cheesy feeling for a romance book. The story started slow but I still enjoyed it. I would still recommend this for people who wants an easy read and wants a feel good book. Beautiful writing and a great one.

Mariana Zapata's "The Wall of Winnipeg and Me" is a slow-burn romance novel that captivates readers with its deep character development, engaging storyline, and the intricacies of personal growth and relationships. The book centers on Vanessa Mazur, an assistant to Aiden Graves, a professional football player known as "The Wall of Winnipeg." What starts as a job Vanessa feels underappreciated in evolves into an unexpectedly heartfelt journey.

Vanessa Mazur is ready to leave her demanding job as Aiden Graves' assistant, yearning for a life where she can pursue her passions and dreams. Despite her resignation, Aiden, who is usually stoic and detached, asks her to stay and makes an unexpected proposal: marry him to help him secure a permanent resident status in the United States. This pragmatic arrangement soon becomes more complicated as they start living together and begin to understand each other on a deeper level.

Be forewarned, this is a SLOWWW burn and much longer than a lot of folks think romances should be. I enjoyed it overall, but it was definitely a long wait for the payoff. Additionally, I found Aiden's behavior in the first part of the book borderline abusive. You understand as the story develops why he is the way he is, but it's hard to watch him treat Vanessa so poorly.

Honestly, this one just didn't stick out to me. I really don't have any memory of it while coming back to write this review.

A good slow burn that all romance lovers will love to read. While it is a slow burn it has a much needed story that leads to the spice. Men that play football. 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free copy of The Wall of Winnipeg and Me in exchange for my honest review.

The slow burn on this book was INSANE. Zapata tortured her readers for 80% of the book. Thankfully, the story was entertaining enough that I didn't care. Aiden and Vanessa were a wonderful dynamic, especially with Zac in the mix. I do wish the Christian thing was covered more. It just wasn't as satisfying an end as I'd hoped.

Vanessa Mazur is the assistant/housekeeper for Aiden Graves bigshot football player. The plan was always to quit but when she does, Aiden shows up wanting her back.

This is totally a slow burn romance and it took me a bit to get into it. Once I did though it was hard to put down. It is a lovely coil of learning about the characters and if Aiden and Vanessa can work it out. I liked Vanessa from the beginning. Aiden is a jerk but he makes more sense as the book goes on. Over all this was a pretty great read.

This is a very well loved book by many people, and I would definitely recommend trying it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher

This was the slow burniest slow burn ever. I did find the book very charming. I adored Vanessa. But I did not understand the appeal of Aiden, other than muscles. He was too taciturn way too late. It shouldn't have taken 300 pages to get him to speak for a significant period of time.

A slow burn for sure but one that is sooo worth the wait! I loved this book, I lovd the characters, I loved their love, I loved everything about it!!!!

Definition of a slow burn... Typically I like a little more of a mid burn but this one was just too good. I appreciated characters (MC was't *too* quirky), and enjoyed the plot. This is definitely one of my favorite Mariana Zapata books!

I rated this book between a 3 and a 4. I really liked the slow burn of the romance. The story was cute and I had a great time reading it. I found it kind of hard to like the MMC but it was good!

This book, I actually read years ago and kind of forgot that I did. Okay, but to be fair, it was during my period of reading a lot so, it kind of just gotten lumped in and forgotten with a lot of other books.

But this time around, I actually started to remember it after a few chapters and was pretty excited to read it again with fresh eyes.

Typically, I don’t do the slow-burn thing. I appreciate a quick, scorching (not the same as spicy) romance where the couple just seems to get it from the start. But this book’s characters were so amazing that watching them realize their feelings for each other was tons of fun.

Mariana Zapata is known for her lengthier books and slow-burn love. And I get why she’s so popular. The ride this book took me on, even after reading it already, was so incredibly enjoyable.

Aiden was the perfect grumpy to Vanessa’s lovely sunshine. I was hooked from the start with this one!

I was never a fan of sports rom coms or romances. But I've quickly discovered that I love a good hockey rom com. Who would have thought I would fall for a hockey player even if it's only in the pages of a book. There's just something about them that you don't even feel like your reading a sports romance.

This book was my introduction to Mariana Zapata and I devoured this book in one day! It hits all my favorite tropes and just the grumpy sunshine aspect of it was perfect!

The slooooooowest of slow burns. I mean, s.l.o.w. But so, so good. The character build up is wonderful, the plot flows so nicely, and the protectiveness was elite. I won’t lie - I struggled through the first 25% because we get it, you quit your job! But keep on keeping on and I promise it’s TOTALLY worth it! Aiden Graves is an elite book boyfriend and the book is worth a read for that alone! Thanks for the opportunity to read!

This is a good book. The two main characters are Vanessa and Aiden. Vanessa worked for Aiden as his assistant. She quit to start her own business. Aiden ask her marry him to help him stay I the country. She accepts his offer because he said he would pay off her student loans. There is an attraction. They each have issues but together they work them out and fall in love.

This took a minute to get into because I was so annoyed by Aiden in the beginning. I was like how can we change our opinion of him, he's so self centered. But I knew I just had to wait, I love Mariana Zapata's writing and her setups for awesome situations. There were so many times where Aiden showed up and he was amazing and then the book just flew by.

I received this book for free for an honest unbiased review from Netgalley.

I wish more books were this well written. Characters were witty and the setting fantastic.

I feel like this may be such a controversial opinion buuuuut, this wasn’t my fav. It didn’t really hook me. This was my first MZ book and I don’t know - I don’t think this lived up to the hype, and now I’m nervous to try another. There was such a slooooooow burn. And I honestly feel like it just starts slow in general. I almost DNF’d this book (which is soooo rare for me) bc it took me weeks to get through the first half. It brought me back to my Archer’s Voice days (which, if you don’t know, I wasn’t a fan of either).

I truly wish we had a dual POV. While they’re grumpy and enemies, it would have been amazing to know what Aiden was thinking. Because it really felt like stuff was one-sided and I think that may have been what contributed to the book not hooking me like I was expecting. And the spice??? Like… it doesn’t happen until like 98% done and it wasn’t even all that much.