I've become such a huge fan of Mariana Zapata's romances. I've loved each one I've read so far! They're amazing slow burns, and always feel like I'm watching a movie or a television show. The plots are meandering, but it just works. I love it. I love slowly getting to know the characters and then settling into their lives while they sloooowly work toward a romance.
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is no exception. I loved Van and Aiden and seeing them together. Their personalities were so different, but they meshed so well, and I found myself rooting for them from the start. What really stood out to me about this book, though, were the side characters. We got to see Vanessa have great connections to other people that served well on their own but also did the work in helping to lay the groundwork of the romance. Really, it was just a fun book. I already want to read it again :)

Thank you to HarperCollins for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

full disclosure - this is the 7th time i've read this book. as soon as i saw it on netgalley, i couldn't resist. i love the new cover! loved the new content! love every single thing about this book and want everyone to read and love it as much as i do.

Vanessa was assistant to Aiden, a famous football player for years before she got frustrated and quit. But it wasn’t long before he realized he couldn’t live without her and asked her to come back. The twist? He doesn’t want her to be his assistant anymore, he wants her to be his wife to help him stay in the US.

This was the slowest of slow burns, which usually frustrated me but it worked here. The chemistry between Vanessa and Aiden was incredible and to see the way their relationship progress has the perfect amounts of tension and sweetness. THere was also a lot of emotion and depth to this book - both Aiden and Vanessa experienced different types of childhood trauma, and the way they used that trauma to help others and to motivate their success and even approach situations with empathy felt very special. This was my first book by Mariana Zapata, but it definitely will not be my last!

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This slow-burn is to DIE FOR. 1) Aiden Graves is the sexiest man alive. This is not up for debate, this is simply fact. 2) I should not be so GIDDY when they hug for the first time at 85% but I WAS SO DAMN GIDDY. The tension is delicious. Mariana Zapata is just so so so good at the slowest, most tender and tension filled burns with flawed, complex, and badass characters who get their walls broken down tiny piece by tiny piece. I just adore Aiden and Vanessa. I adore their love. I adore their life and their little team they created. It was magnificant.

"I don't know," I stuttered, "Do you love me?"

His gaze was so intent the entire world seemed to stop. "You tell me. I never stop thinking about you. I worry about you all the time. Every beautiful thing I see reminds me of you. I can't finish my practices in Colorado with out wishing you were around," he said in a steady tone. "You tell me what I feel."

This is now my third Mariana Zapata book I've read. I feel like now I know the structure of a MZ book to a T. So going into this book, you will for sure LOVE it if like the excruciating slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers, and grumpy/sunshine tropes (note: you have to like all three). The Wall of Winnipeg and Me was no exception, however, this one also has marriage of convenience and groveling which was an added bonus. The grovel trope gets me every time.

This book blew away every expectation I had. The slowburn was perfect and the characters were well-rounded, particularly the female lead This was the most level-headed romance I've read, and I loved it. Even though it felt long-winded at points, I didn't feel impatient at all. I would like to re-read this in the future and annotate it! Highly, highly recommend, especially if you want to read about adults dealing with people in a mature way and naturally falling in love.

This book is such a delicious slow burn. The characters have lots of depth and exhibit great growth. The pacing is fantastic.

The bonus epilogue in this newly released version was such a fun addition. It shows Aiden and Van later down the road and really highlights Aiden as a husband and father.
Great addition!

Thank you @avonbooks for the complimentary ebook.
Bookstagram recs have turned me into a sports romance lover and football is my favorite sport. So, of course I love a football romance book! This football romance is a super SLOW burn. For the first part of the book, I kept wondering how it was possible that the love interest, Aiden, would ever become likable. Not only does the pro football player come across as a grouch, but he doesn’t even talk to Vanessa, his assistant, much. When she quits and he begs her to come back, I was just as surprised as Vanessa. This book is a long one, but because the story is not limited to a short plot and quick resolution, it’s full of details about Vanessa’s past, the reasons that both of them seem to avoid meaningful relationships, and the baby steps that lead them to a deeper relationship. It took a while, a long while, but eventually, Aiden won me over. He never really changed his overall guarded and stoic personality, which I appreciated, but he slowly starts to show Vanessa the kind of man he can be. Every time she calls him “big guy”…I just thought it was so cute. Also, I should add that once they get to that point, this book gets spicy. I would have loved a peek into his POV, maybe for the epilogue. I originally read the indie edition of this book and love the new cover that Avon published! Plus, they added bonus content that was fun to read and showed the sweetheart that Aiden Graves is when it comes to Vanessa. 💕

This was cute. It was a nice slow burn, and its been a while since I've read a slow burner. It gave the right amount of angsty situations but I was missing some things from this.
-felt like it could have been hornier (Can you image the dirty talk potential? Mr. All Quiet and Mighty?)
-would have loved some freakout before kissing him the first time, and freaking out before hand about other things. Yes we did get a lot of internal monologue, but I wanted her to have her own urges.
-would have loved to see some sort of loyalty towards her from the beginning that she didn't notice (not the last note we got near the end)
- A few less mentions on his hugeness. Yes we get it, he's big. His nickname references an immovable object... we get it.

Don't get me wrong, I was hooked. But after the beginning I was sitting there thinking that we're really here clapping for the bare minimum. Sure he turns out later to be thoughtful and that is how the story is so compelling, but it was a little too off the deepend for me. I think I would read more from Mariana Zapata.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book. This beautiful, giant, wonderful, incredible, heartwarming book. The way I’m feeling after finishing it is as close to one of Aiden’s hugs as I’m gonna get.

I seriously adore the heck out of this book. It is EVERYTHING. This is my second Mariana Zapata book. I’ve only ever heard amazing things about this book for years and I’m annoyed it took me this long to finally get around to read it. I was so graciously given an ARC by the publisher since it was republished with a new cover and extra content and that was the push I needed to read this beauty.

I’ve been in a reading slump for the past 2 months and haven’t gotten myself to read more than a chapter or two each day. I read 5 hours of this book today… this book broke me out of my slump. I was just so hooked on these characters and all of the side plots going on. I HAD to know what would happen next and see more of Aiden and Vanessa’s incredible relationship evolve. The things I would do to get Aiden’s POV… lots and lots and lots of things… just saying.

This story was so many things and it brought out so many emotions in me. Mariana Zapata was able to manipulate my emotions throughout this entire book and I absolutely love when an author can do that. She also truly is the queen of slow burn. This just had me on the edge the entire book just begging for the scraps I was given. The chemistry, the tension, the ~moments~… everything was just so beautifully and perfectly written.

This is a book I just know I’ll think about randomly throughout my day and how much I adore it. This will also without a doubt be a book I love to reread over and over again because of how perfect it is.

*Thank you Avon and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Where has this author been hiding? I loved this book and can’t wait to read more by this author. Lots of slow burn, mental health rep and loved their dynamic. Perfection.

Mariana Zapata is one of the most consistent authors, and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me was exactly what I expected, which means I obviously loved it.

Slow burn, grumpy sunshine, with a little age gap - that’s what we got! I adored it. And Vanessa especially was such a great character. I loved how she wasn’t afraid to put Aiden in his place and show she stood up for herself. She had some damage for sure, but she knew her worth, which made her probably my favorite character from a Mariana Zapata book.

If you’ve read All Rhodes Lead Here, when I say Aiden is like Rhodes but even more monosyllabic and gruffer. Hard to believe, but it’s true. He makes no apologies for who he is, and I respect him for that. His growth through the book was my favorite thing, and while he’s never going to ahv4 a big group of friends seeing him open up was magic.

Each Mariana Zapata book I read becomes my favorite, so no surprise that The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is my new favorite.

Sloooooow burn, holy cow. But rewarding at the end, when Aiden and Van finally got their brains working. Fun characters, good world-building, great writing.

I absolutely LOVE that Mariana Zapata's books are finally being traditionally published. I've been a massive fan for years, so I'm excited these books will have the wider audience they deserve!! (And the exclusive new content is fun, too!)

Vanessa has been the personal assistant for football's Aiden "The Wall of Winnepeg" Graves for two years, and enough is enough. Quitting her thankless job to focus on her freelance design work feels good if a bit scary. What she doesn't expect is Aiden to show up begging for her to come back, Or for him to ask her to marry him so he can get his green card and stay in the United States, What's a girl to do?

Mariana Zapata is QUEEN of the slow burn romance. Aiden and Vanessa are obviously gone for each other, but if you're waiting for on-page steam, you'll be waiting,,,and waiting...and waiting some more. But in my humble opinion, it's worth the wait. I absolutely loved their slow friends-to-lovers love story. It's such a gradual, realistic metamorphosis. And can we talk about the cute new cover? It makes me want to dye my hair teal.

A huge thanks to Avon and Netgalley for my advance reader copy.

LOVE Mariana Zapata and Love the wall of Winnipeg. This new cover is gorgeous and stands out on the shelf compared to the older one. Aiden and Vanessa are *chef's kiss*. Their relationship is dynamic and the chemistry is Beyond hot. MZ is known for her slow burn storytelling, but let me tell you, it is not noticed because the chemistry between these two is so intense. excellent read.

Read if you like:
💕 Opposites Attract Romances
🏈 Football Player MMC
🧹 Workplace Romances
⛅️ Grumpy x Sunshine
🔥 Slow Burn Romances

This book!!!! This book truly defines what slow burn means and I am so obsessed! I love the workplace romance with the hints of enemies to lovers vibes that this book has.

It was truly beautiful to see the way the two loved each other with different love languages in a way that showed they truly loved each other it just looked different than how they thought Love should look.

If you want a slow burn but beautifully written romance I highly recommend checking this one out as it was such a pleasure to read and worth the thickness to eat up all the goodness of their love story and the wonderful side characters in their lives!

Thank you so so so much to the publisher, Avon, for my ARC in exchange for my review!

I read this years ago and kept swearing I’d reread it soon, so when I got an advanced copy from Avon Books, I couldn’t wait to dive in! I’m happy to report I loved it just as much this time around!

Thoughts:
-Vanessa is such a fun, spunky powerhouse. She isn’t scared to put people in their place - especially her stoic football star boss
-Watching Aiden open up through the book is painfully slow but sooo rewarding. You get to fall in love with him throughout the book - especially during the Christmas chapter, I mean come on! 😍
-The grumpy/sunshine dynamic was fun and sweet
-Learning both of their tragic backstories brought great depth to Aiden and Vanessa. It helped you understand their personalities in a real way
-I said this 5 years ago and I’ll say it again - Zac needs his own book
-I typically don’t love marriage of convenience tropes, but it worked so well with this story and these characters

Even 5 years later I’m still in love with this football romance. If you haven’t read it yet, get on it! If you have, check out the new cover and bonus content. I highly recommend this read!

Thank you Mariana Zapata, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Mariana Zapata, Avon, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a long book, but worth it. I liked it a lot. I loved all the characters. I laughed out loud multiple times during their interactions. One of my favorite quotes:

"I love you, big man."
"I love you too, Muffin."

I mean swoon! Aiden is the definition of a book boyfriend.

4.75⭐️ | 📖The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by: Mariana Zapata | 📅 Pub Day: Tuesday July 4, 2023

Boy, oh boy, was this a great read! This would have been a full 5 star for me but I am horrible and impatient and detest a slow-burn so that was hard, but ultimately in the end totally WORTH IT!!! The slow-burn aspect allowed all the characters and their feelings to be fully flushed out which was a nice added bonus that I don’t always get in the quick 250-300 page romances I usually read!!! AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE NEW COVER AND THE BONUS CONTENT👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Read this if you like:
✨Sport Romances
✨Slow Burn
✨Marriage of Convenience

Special thanks to Netgalley, Avon Books, Harper Voyager US, and Mariana Zapata for the eARC copy in exchange for my honest review!

This is the second time I have read this book and I still enjoyed it a second time round

This is definitely a very slow burn book and even though it is a marriage of convenience and you might think there would be a bit of faking it for friends/family/wider public but there isn’t really - not that it detracts from the story, but it would be nice to get to read some more fluffy scenes.

I liked the chemistry between the two main characters, and also their relationships with the wider background characters and I think the arc of their relationship was written well.

I really like the small cameos from Diana from ‘Wait for It’ - I’m a a sucker for easter eggs in books

I don’t think this time round I would give it a full 5 stars, but a solid 4.75