This was a great sports romance with a major slow burn. In fact, it was probably too slow for me. This was enjoyable, but o wished it had been a faster, more complete story.

This is one fantastic slow burn romance. I feel for Vanessa and her life in a “thankless” job. Aiden is such a stubborn man who is hard to get a long with. When you finally see his cracks and icy exterior melt away you can’t help but root of them. 5/5 stars!

I will never not love this book. Van and Aiden will always hold a special place in my heart. I love the new cover and the bonus content was nice.


Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, Avon for providing this ARC to review. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise. ~

I first read The Wall of Winnipeg and Me years ago when Mariana Zapata was an indie author available mostly through Kindle Unlimited.

TWoWaM is responsible for three loves in my. life - MZ books in general, romance as a genre, and my undying obsession with a marriage of convenience. I am an absolute trash goblin for Aiden and Vanessa and rereading the book for this re-publishing was an absolute delight. Five stars again and again.

Thanks to Avon, NetGalley, and the author for an eARC in exchange for my review.

It’s no secret that Mariana Zapata is the queen of the slow burn, and The Wall of Winnipeg is no exception. In fact, this might just be one of her best iterations of that format. There’s a slow building tension between Van and Aiden, first of irritation, and then of attraction, that is totally worth it if you can hang for all of the exposition that happens before the romance.

There’s also a great cast of secondary characters who add richness and life to the story. (Zac, thankfully, has his own story, which is told in Hands Down.)

Come for the romantic tension and satisfying character arcs and stay for the well-earned HEA.

Thanks to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Vanessa Mazur is ready to move on from her job with star football player Aiden Graves. For the past couple of years, she’s been everything he’s needed—an assistant, chef, and friend (even if that friendship has never been reciprocated)—it’s time for Vanessa to make a name for herself. And why should she feel bad about quitting the job hundreds would probably kill to have? Aiden barely tries to acknowledge her presence—no words of appreciation, no pleasant conversations, not even so much as a laugh.

Imagine her surprise when her former boss arrives at her house, asking her to return and work for him. The deal is simple: get back to her previous job, and he will pay off her massive student loans, all in exchange for her hand in marriage, so he doesn’t have to return to Canada when his work visa expires. But that’s easier said than done; if Vanessa takes the deal, she’ll be stuck with Aiden Graves for five years. How can they possibly get along and pretend to be married when they never even really had a relationship, to begin with?

I’ve been a fan of Zapata’s stories for years, and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is genuinely on its own level. Zapata is the QUEEN of slow-burn romance. I understood Aiden and Vanessa’s relationship on every professional, platonic, and romantic level. Perfectly paced, The Wall of Winnipeg and Me never leaves the reader high and dry. I searched for the little moments between Aiden and Vanessa way before their first kiss. The supporting cast holds their own, and if you’ve read a few of Zapata’s other books, you’ll appreciate their cameos.

Let’s just say I was hooked from the first page to the last, and I certainly closed the book being Team Graves! Mariana Zapata strikes again!

Obviously, I've heard of The Wall of Winnipeg and Me through the Internet because I don't live under a rock but for some reason, I never picked it up before now. Well, that was a big mistake on my part. This novel has got marriage of convenience, a slow-burn love story, forced proximity, banter, a sports romance and even a only-one-bed moment. Like, what isn't there to love?

Told from MC Vanessa's POV, author Mariana Zapata writes with such compelling language that pulls me in. It reads quite quickly because I was so curious to find out what would happen next.

This new version does include some post-HEA content that makes an absolutely adorable epilogue.

I read this book a while ago when it was first published and since then it has been very hard to beat. It’s a the perfect slow burn and don’t get me started on the bonus chapter. I had tears in my eyes because of the love I have for these characters. Mariana does it again

This is literally one of my favorite books of all time. I am obsessed. I've probably read this near 20 times, and it just gets better every time I read it. The characters are so well developed, and have their own personalities that compliment each other so well. The slow burn is SO worth it and makes the tension feel that much higher. This book is all about the little gestures, and it's so much fun to see all of the little things build into a beautiful love story. The bonus content was also amazing. 10/10 would recommend!!

I just want to say this. I am so super happy that Mariana Zapata is finally getting the recognition she deserves. I saw that this includes a bonus chapter and requested it on that alone. I've read this book years ago and it's still one of my favorites of all time. This book may be chunky but I read it in one night when I did. Mariana could write a grocery list and I would read it. Her books make me feel things really deep down where I thought I buried stuff. I will forever tell people to buy and read her books. And I want the physical copy of this one because that cover is gorgeous.

Most important thing to know about this book
"Touch my wife again and I'll break every bone in your goddamn body "

Second most important thing
MZ is the queen of the SLOWEST slow burns you'll ever read BUT it's always worth it.

✨Fake marriage
✨No third act breakup
✨Football player MMC
✨Personal assistant FMC
✨SLOW burn
✨A huge smile on your face 😊

Loved this one. I've read it a few times now and it will always be a favorite.

The slowest slow burn with a sassy heroine and a grumpy hot football player. Even though I’m not a huge fan of slowburn, I enjoyed this story.

I'm having a hard time knowing where to start with my review - I loved everything about this book! It was sweet, funny, tear-jerking, and heart-warming. More than that, this was so much more than just a romance - the plot was emotional and the side characters were - for the most part - endearing.

Vanessa and Aiden's dynamic was truly addicting from the beginning. From the moment she walked out, to the moment he begged her to come back, to the promise violence glittering in his eyes when he realizes she's been hurt, I was enthralled. The chemistry and tension built and built, making me desperate for "that moment", and I was not disappointed when I got it. The epilogue and the bonus content even made me tear up, sad that it was over.

This book is a true romantic masterpiece, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

The only thing I was surprised to find missing was a content warning. Some of the content in this book could be triggering for victims of DV. It was pretty consistently alluded to or mentioned throughout the book, and I would have thought there would be a warning provided for those who need it.

Ahh I don't know why I waited so long to read this, this was such a warm slow-burn read! The book is pretty long, and it's probably the slowest slow-burn book I've read, but the interactions and character development are so sweet, that I could never keep the book down ❤️

It's a marriage of convenience + sports romance + forced proximity book, and the deliberate transformation of the MCs' relationship to annoyed/indifferent acquaintances to friends to lovers was really wholesome and sweet.

TWs - both the MCs have had traumatic childhoods, so most of the TWs are about that - domestic violence by parents, domestic violence by siblings, domestic violence leading to permanent scarring, bullying, sexual assault by groping and repeated verbal harassment, domestic violence by a partner (faced by secondary character)

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

There is a lot of hype with this book so I was excited to finally get a chance to read it myself.

A grumpy football player needs to ask a big favor from his ex-assistant who walked away after deciding to find her own passion. The slow burn is real but it just makes the love burn brighter.

If you love big strong athletes who will literally do anything for the woman in their life this is the book for you.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟕 = 𝟒 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬
𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 = 𝟒 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 + 𝟏 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝

★ Thank you to NetGalley and M.Z., for an advanced copy to review!

𝗔𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 (𝟯𝟱): The best defensive player in the National Football Organization. A vegan. Hardly ever cusses and rarely loses his temper. A loner who doesn't have friends, and never had a relationship. Only loved 3 people in his life (his deceased grandparents and Leslie, his old high school football coach). His whole life revolves around football.

𝘈 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘺, 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘢𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘧, 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘴𝘴.

𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝘇𝘂𝗿 (𝟮𝟲): Aiden's assistant/housekeeper/cook for 2 years.

𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼❟ Vanessa met her goal of saving up a whole year's salary. Now she can quit working for Aiden and be her own boss. She wants her own small business doing graphic design work. In order to make that happen, she had to pinch pennies and work a lot of hours.

𝗔𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗩 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴:
⚠️ Making V cancel an appearance at the last minute.
⚠️ Being unfriendly/rude/insensitive.
⚠️ Allowing his manager/agent (Trevor), to talk bad about V without saying anything.

𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟰 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀❟ Aiden works hard to get V back.
This was the annoying part of the book. It wasn't fun being inside of V's head, listening to her repetitious thoughts.
𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐖:
🗨️ She and Aiden were never friends.
🗨️ He's never been nice to her.
🗨️ He didn't care about her feelings.
🗨️ He hurt her.

Aiden is Canadian and wants to stay in the U.S. Vanessa tells him to marry an American citizen. So Aiden decides to marry V. It takes a sincere apology, and an offer to pay off V's substantial college loans plus a house, to convince her to do it. They agree to 5 years.

𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
🗨️ It's illegal/a felony
🗨️ She didn't want to go to jail/prison.

⚡𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟬 (𝟮𝟴%)｡⚡Is when the plot improves greatly. The heartwarming story of acquaintances who become friends who gradually fall in love, begins. It may seem like a slow-burn while reading, but the whole book is only approx. a 6-month period.

Out of all of M.Z.'s books, this is my favorite.
The only one I could reread.
𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗠｡𝗭｡ 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 -
🦄 🇺‌🇳‌🇮‌🇨‌🇴‌🇷‌🇳‌ 🦄

🇼‌🇭‌🇾‌ 🇮‌ 🇱‌🇴‌🇻‌🇪‌🇩‌ 🇮‌🇹‌:
♥ It felt real. When it comes to contemporary romances, I need a sense of realism.
♥ Both MCs were good people I could relate to. They weren't perfect, but they worked hard and did the best they could.
♥ They believed in communication. No senseless drama or miscommunication.
♥ There's depth, descriptions, character development, and relationship development.
♥ The story kept me interested from start to finish. No skimming or skipping.

💖 𝐌𝗒 𝐇𝖾α𝗋𝗍 𝐒ⱺα𝗋𝖾ᑯ when the MCs started 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 their feelings for each other. Aiden was amazing!! If I ever had a "book boyfriend" bookshelf, Aiden would definitely be on it. His actions went above and beyond to show his love. So many heartfelt moments between the MCs. I highlighted a lot while reading, which I wish I could share in the Notes & Highlights.

𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗠｡𝗭｡:
🚫 This didn't have pages spent on sports.
🚫 There's no bathroom humor.
🚫 The swearing is minimal.
🚫 There are no juvenile characters.
🚫 There's no annoying heroine.
❤ The love developed slowly, but still could be seen & felt.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲 & 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲:were so good!
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 takes place 5 years later. [Aiden is on a team in San Diego, and they just finished the final playoff game, earning them a spot in the Superbowl. They now have two young boys. Aiden is retiring from football. (hide spoiler)]
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 takes place 10 years later. [ They now have a daughter as well. (hide spoiler)] Aiden takes V back to the Las Vegas wedding chapel, where they first got married. This time he wants to do it right.

𝘏𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴. "𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰. 𝘚𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦."

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦."
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦," 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

"𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘨𝘶𝘺." 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘹-𝘣𝘰𝘴𝘴, 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦.
"𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘰, 𝘔𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯."

★ If you're going to read any of M.Z.'s books, this is the one I recommend.
(I can see why it's her top-rated book.)

✦ 𝟮 𝐅α𝗏ⱺ𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝐐υⱺ𝗍𝖾𝗌: ✦

𝗩: "𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦."

𝗔: "𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘝𝘢𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰, 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬."

𝐅α𝗏ⱺ𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝐌ⱺꭑ𝖾𐓣𝗍𝗌:
🤗 Aiden learns that V is afraid of the dark (due to being locked in a closet as a young child). When the lights go out during a storm, he goes and stays with her in her bedroom. Later, he buys her a bunch of nightlights, and even keeps one in his room.
🤗 All the times that the MCs talked and shared about themselves. We learn that Aiden and V both have tragic backstories. They become the family they never had.
🤗 All the times that Aiden was there for V when she needed him.
- Passing out candy for Halloween.
- Going with her to her brother's college basketball game.
- Helping her decorate for Christmas.
- Surprising her by showing up to the book convention.
- Taking care of her after her long runs to prepare for the marathon.
🤗 The many times that Aiden stood up for and defended V.
🤗 When they both cried watching, "The Land Before Time".
🤗 When Aiden was there for V after she finished the marathon. This is when they said I-love-yous for the first time. And shortly after, they had their one and only sex scene. Which, BTW, was worth waiting for!

thank you netgalley for the arc !

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 3.5/5 stars *ੈ✩‧₊˚

read if you like:
♡ there is only one bed
♡ sid the sloth from zooptopia speed slow burn
♡ grumpy x sunshine
♡ marriage of convenience
♡ “who did this to you”

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ the wall of winnipeg and me is the mother of all slow-burns and its pacing arguably makes or breaks it depending on who you ask. right off the bat and without ceremony we’re thrown into the dynamic between remarkably forbearing personal assistant vanessa mazur and her brusquely (all too often trespassing into the realm of rudely) taciturn employer, the uber-famous football player aiden graves. no sooner have we gotten a feel for the nature of their relationship (or lack thereof no thanks to aiden), mazur’s quitting to little reception from her thankless boss. vexed beyond measure, she heads off on her own, ready to finally trail-blaze her own career-path. but shock of all shocks, not much time passes before her former boss shows up on her doorstep all but pleading for her to return to him… and this time with a far more intimate job description than before.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ i’m a fierce proponent of the slow-burn dynamic so make of that what you will when reading my review; in my eyes, as a rule of thumb, it lends the most credence to fictional relationships. suspension of belief is absolutely paramount when it comes to a good read. for such a mulish and set-in-his-ways character as aiden, zapata apprehends clearly that she’d need to give him breathing space to grow as an individual before cementing him and vanessa as a unit. the aiden we’re confronted with from the first page would flounder in any kind of healthy relationship and as would vanessa herself, if not to the same degree. their interactions together bloom from a tentative fragile bud to a rose with thorns as they are not perfect by any metric and it is their ‘thorns’ and idiosyncrasies (at times grating to others around them as let’s be real, they’re not perfect) which whilst softening are never truly clipped off. aiden at the end is still a uniquely stubborn and to the point man, vanessa’s still going to be carrying the load of her childhood - but aiden is now giving expression to his affection for vanessa and it’s clear she herself is on her way to accepting her wounds if not licking them. zapata keeps their journey as a couple faithful to their characters and never falls into the death-trap of insta-love which always ekes out its pitiful existence by having the couples subsume one another like some kind of sexual canibalism. also, the light banter was tasteful and harmonious with the size of their personalities which were very modest; a nice change from so many larger than life romance characters.

p.s. honorary mention of the sexiest quote in existence:
“touch my wife again, and i’ll break every bone in your goddamn body”


in a very different vein, the grievances i have with this book stem from vanessa’s belaboured mentions of how ‘big’ aiden is. she harped on about it so much i started to fear i’d been swindled into reading a big foot fanfic. seriously, we get it. he’s the closest living relation of an ape and is so big and manly with bristles and grunts and a ‘big pipe’ and dinner-plate hands. it got to the point i docked off a whole star for it. the other wayward half star hitched a ride far away because i felt that structurally there was no big climax or ‘aha’ moment. even in a more staid romance novel like this where there’s a scant amount of angst, you need a climactic moment. you can’t just kind of toddle along which is exactly what happened in the last couple of chapters.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ conclusion:
although there are heavy themes contained within the wall of winnipeg and me, in particular, references to horrific familial abuse and neglect, zapata pens a light-hearted, steady-handed and sweet grump meets his beaming match which lives up to its hype.

Vanessa is Aidan "The Wall of Winnipeg"'s personal assistant until she can't take it anymore and quits. But when he shows up at her door with another type of offer, she can't seem to refuse.

This was a hard one for me. There were a few things that I liked in here but a lot more that I didn't like.

What this book has to offer:

Slow burn: this book is the definition of a slow burn. The characters don't get together for a very very very long time. And there is a good amount of tension in here but I felt it was a little too drawn out.

Opposites attract: I enjoyed Vanessa. She's smart and sassy. She's also very strong and independent. Aidan is quiet. For me he was a little too quiet. Vanessa mentions that she never sees him smile and that was exactly how I pictured him. He's too stoic and standoffish.

Fake marriage: I enjoy this trope, and it was done reasonably well here. The reason they get married makes sense and it forces their proximity and bonding. But, again, it was too slow for me.

"My wife" "My girl" "Who hurt you": All three of these are in here. These were the parts that I loved. There was definitely a pay off with all of the slow burn, but most parts were too drawn out for me. I looked forward to these parts, and they were there!!

All in all, if you are a fan of slow burn romances, you will definitely enjoy this one!

-fake marriage
-opposites attract
-slow burn
-football

This is my second time reading this book and I enjoyed as much as I did the first time reading it. Mariana Zapata knows how to do slow burn and this book didn’t disappoint. Plus it’s another one of my favorite tropes: Grumpy/Sunshine.. 🥰🥰
.
Vanessa is Aiden’s personal Assistant, hired to not only cook and clean but also keep his football schedule in order. Aiden is the ultimate grump, I mean always broody, and forever moody. Gives one word answers shows no emotions other than annoyance. Vanessa quits, she has had enough and Aiden didn’t appreciate her or say good morning to her in the two years she worked for him. While he’s adored by all his fans as the “Wall of Winnipeg” and is the leading defensive end in the NFO league he’s Vanessa’s total pain the ass. Then Aiden comes to her and begs her to come back. He needs her help and will do anything to have her help him. He really needs her because his job and his livelihood depends on it.
.
Aiden was a total asshat! I couldn’t have killed him with kindness the way Vanessa did. She was so good to him despite his moody disposition. We later come to find out why he’s the way he is and see that he and Vanessa have a lot more in common than they thought. These two have a lot of family trauma and they help one another get through it. By the end of the book, I was swooning over Aiden. He ended up being so darn cute and sweet. We learn that the “big guy” is such a softy. Vanessa also was a kick ass FMC as she didn’t back down when Aiden wanted to be grumpy and moody. Just one little thing annoyed me. The constant reminder of how big and wide and large he was. He plays football, he’s a big guy, we got it. The constant reminder was annoying but it didn’t take away the cuteness of the book. Mariana gave us the ultimate slow burn. Even though I knew what was going to happen by the end I was squirming to get to when “ANYTHING“ happened.
.
Such a good read. All the feelings. An awesome ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read. I’m glad to have been able to read it again.

Vanessa Mazur is an assistant to the top defensive end in the NFO, Aiden Graves. He is grumpy, surly, demanding, and completely focused on football and she can't take it anymore. But after only a couple weeks he's begging her to come back. He needs her help to get his green card to stay in the country. Stay married for five years and he'll pay off her crippling student debt. She wonders how she'll ever be able to make it five years, but the more she gets to know the man behind the giant reputation the more she realizes she falling for him.
I was excited to see that this book with one of my favorite couples is getting republished with a cute new cover and bonus chapter. MZ is the queen of the slow burn and I don't think Aiden's complicated character could be written any other way. He is extremely introverted and seems cold, but for the people he cares about he's loyal, caring, protective, and a total teddy bear. I enjoyed reading the subtle changes to his character the more time he spent with Vanessa and the little clues to his true feelings that she completely missed. Vanessa was a great character herself, overcoming a difficult childhood to get what she wants out of life, not afraid to be herself. This book was well worth a reread... or two or three lol.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.