the wall of Winnipeg and me by mariana zapata

official blurb:

Vanessa Mazur knows she's doing the right thing. She shouldn't feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary. But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she's beyond shocked. For two years, the man known as The Wall of Winnipeg couldn't find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He's asking for the unthinkable. What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?

🔥🔥🔥 out of 5 steam level
⭐⭐⭐⭐/ 5 stars

Wow I cannot believe how long it took me to get into this book and also how much I ended up loving it for how long it took me to get into it!

There are a LOT of trigger warnings in this hefty book. That's right... It's hefty. Her books are SO long and this one was 673 pages! Alcoholism, physical abuse, drug addiction (side character), foster care. There is also some verbiage that could be triggering regarding suicide [ex: “he wasn’t the suicidal type, but…” There were maybe more than that if I really broke it all down but those were the majors.

It was my first Zapata book and she was described to me as the master of a slow burn. Totally agree after reading and I am here for it! But let me tell you, I was well over 100 pages into this book... maybe 175-ish and I was so close to DNFing this book.  The only reason I didn't is because I've had so many friends rave about it.  I totally get the hype now. 
As I've been away from this book I almost upped my rating to 5 stars because I've thought about this book so frequently, but it is (in my opinion) too long.  Like, way too long.  But dang, was it good!!

There was one sex scene in the book. It was probably around a three steam level- and this scene could easily be skipped. There's also cursing in it, in case that bothers you!

Aiden gave me major Joshua Templeman vibes from The Hating Game and I loved that! I do wish some of the chapters were written in his perspective.

I also stalled out a LITTLE bit in the end. I usually love an epilogue but this book was so long that I honestly didn't enjoy the epilogue much at all. After finally getting into this book though, I cruised through the middle/end of it! So a solid four stars for me!

update!

EDIT : 3/2021
I did a reread of this book! I’m so glad I did, because it was still amazing and I could catch a lot of things I missed the first time around. Having read it again- I can say that I don’t think you need to start reading this book on page one. It is too long! Instead you should start on page 58. That’s right- a full 10% into the book. You won’t have missed anything that won’t just be repeated later on in the book. In rereading this book, I can firmly say that I think it’s MZ’s best book! I could not wait to read this book, even in a reread. Every time I put it down, I was just killing time before I could pick it back up again! This says a lot to me as an avid re-reader! Also, let it be noted that I always refer to this book as “The Wall of Winnipeg” but only realized this time that the book is actually called “The wall of Winnipeg and me.” So yes, after reviewing this book so long ago- I made a change to the title in this blog post haha. Lastly, this time around I kept hearing songs that just gave me major WOW(and me) vibes! So I created a small Spotify playlist that you should listen to while you read!

EDIT: 6/2/23

I got a new copy of this book because in exciting news, this book was picked up by a publisher! It was republished and exclusive content was added (a fancy term for saying there’s a bonus scene at the end). I was feeling up for a reread so I did reread the whole thing! I was wondering if there would be a lot of new edits in the book. It wasn’t noticeable to me if there was. This still ranked about a 4 star for me. There were some things that can get annoying while reading this book, like its repetitive nature, the ily moment (wasn’t cute enough for me), and the reading the word ‘sure’ over and over again. (Example: Sure, I’d like it if I didn’t need a loan but that’s not the world we live in [I made up this line. it’s not a quote from the book but you get the idea]). Overall, there’s just something about Aiden and about the way he shows up for Vanessa (also, her nickname being Van, never does it for me). So Aiden, yet again, sweeps me off of my feet and earns this book it’s rightful 4 stars.

while reading you should…..

Watch: Love on the Sidelines

Eat: a vegan meal

Do: go for a run

Listen to: This Spotify playlist

If you like this book you should read Homecoming King by Penny Reid.

don’t forget!

click here to see MY required reading list for romance lovers.