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, … 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?
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Mariana is the Queen of slow burn romances and this book is one of her best!
I Loved it!
Let’s start with saying that I’ve always wanted to read this author but insisted that I had to wait until her books would be released in my country so I could buy a paperback and not a Kindle version of it. Last June this book was finally published and I had a hard time finding it, but I finally did. I read it in a stressful moment of my life and it happened to be a good distraction from life.
The title of this book reminds me of a title of a movie, and I feel like the intent of the author was to tell the story in a cinematic way. The scenes were written in a way that our main female protagonist and only storyteller, Vanessa, would reveal us things but also leave some other things for us to find out in the right moment. Maybe in some parts her way to tell the reader what was happening was too much like a diary and it seemed as if she was talking too much without any progress, but in the end besides some parts that I would have cut of this “inner dialogue”, everything fell into place despite we only got Vanessa’s POV.
I didn’t find it an issue that we only have the main female character telling the story. I’m usually not picky about the POV, as long as I like the story. I read some reviews with people complaining that they needed Aiden’s side of the story to understand how and when he fell for Vanessa, but I think it’s not necessary because you can see these signs if you read the story carefully. (view spoiler) Perhaps this story was not for you. Since this is a slow-burn kind of book, it was normal that the “signs” of love would appear much later. But this is why I liked this book. It didn’t contain insta-love and the progress between the couple has a steady, believable pace, and not the usual contemporary romance pace when after one chapter the two MCs are already in love and want to have sex. So if you like a story with a long development and that is built step by step, moment by moment, this one doesn’t disappoint. Or at least, it didn’t disappoint me because it also didn’t fall into boring cliches of CR books. There were a lot of pages and I wanted even more, but I think that the closure of this book was perfect and every end was tied in the epilogue.
I can’t wait to read the book about Vanessa’s bff Diana and I have no idea if the author has the intention or has already written a book about Zac. I think it would be funny.
Mariana has to be tied with Jane Austen as the Queen of Unhurried Flames. The wait on this one was extra long. Vanessa was super snarky and I loved her. I laughed out loud at many things that she said. She was loyal to a fault and it was endearing. Aiden was tough and brooding but had a soft heart. No one had penetrated it until Vanessa. The sad part is that probably no one had tried. I would have liked a little more of a twist at the end, but I was so happy that the two of them FINALLY were able to admit what they were to each other. I really didn’t want to stop reading this book and it kept me entertained even though it was so long.
I love, loved this book. Marianne Writes wonderful books. Barely any sex but a great story. I’m only sorry that I have read all of her books.
Love this book! It was a slow burn and I would have loved more of the book with them actually together. I would also love some outtakes from Aidens POV or the book from Aidens POV.
Be certain your e-reader is fully charged. Chores are complete willing to loose sleep or wake up early for more reading. Trying how in the world finding next read to top this one.
You knew it had to happen. You will see it coming. Part of you will still question it’s validity, until you see it for yourself.
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me was great. Just enough angst, self doubt, and feels to keep you in the midst of it.
I am blown away. This is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. Its a shame that its taken this long for me to read this book, but boy am I glad I did. I’m not sure much can compete with the amazingness that is this book.
This book seriously tugged on my heartstrings. I was so addicted and never wanted Vanessa and Aiden’s story to end. I fell completely in love with the both of these characters who are so different from one another and their relationship is so complex that it made the story that much more enjoyable. The slow burn was almost too much for my mushy heart to take.
So this is probably hands down my favorite sports romance. You will not be disappointed. I honestly really loved this book. It brought me so much joy. Mariana Zapata is an phenomenal author and her writing is something that I can’t help loving. It draws you and makes you fall in love. The characters, the relationships, the emotions, and oh goodness the romance is explosive.
This isn’t a conventional romance as the bulk of this book is about 2 stubbornly self-reliant people finding a spark of connection with each other that slowly builds in tiny moments of body language and paying attention. On the one hand it is a fantasy of “a scrappy gal finding love with a millionaire football super muscle-y hottie”, but Aiden & Vanessa are real characters who have the opposite of insta-love. They have to work hard to build their relationship & figure how to move from polite, to friends, to loves. Vanessa has a lot of narration as she tries to make sense of her experiences that force her to examine herself and her assumptions about Aiden. This book is a strong example of showing how two people grow together when they work at it.
This is a great story of flawed characters. I’m glad that the obvious cliche traps are avoided, making this an exploration of two characters getting to feel safe with each other, and have fun together…not a bunch of wacky situations that keep them apart.
A very enjoyable read.
This was my 1st book by Ms Zapata & took me on a reading binge of all her works!
This book captured my interest to the end. Witty, romantic, and satisfying. Yes, you should read it.
Wow…just wow
This is the second book I’ve read by this author ( the first being lingus ) I can honestly say that I adored this book.
I’m a sucker for a good romance…BUT HOLY FOOTBALLS…this was a great romance!!
I though Aiden was written brilliantly, he was a standoffish rude plant pot…who slowly morphed into some kind of mr wonderful ( I did not see that coming…in fact I was rooting for zac to steal Vanessa up till 50% )
Then BOOM…the elevator scene!!! Brilliant just brilliant.
Vanessa was great, spunky, spirited and flawed by insecurity ( but let’s face it…who isn’t..flawed ) I loved how she changed through the book too…all her practical rough edges were smoothed away.
This author has a writing style that just sucks me in and here I find myself after a few hours of solid reading…with readers remorse because this book…OH THE FEELS!!!!
Brilliant brilliant book!!
I’m falling in love with Mariana Zapata’s Writing .. i’m starting to read all her books i’m reading my third one at the moment …
Wow with The Wall of Winnipeg and me!! is the story of Aiden and Vanessa ..
Vanessa have been working as a PA personal assistance to Aiden more than two years. during these two years he has been very quiet and very focused on his NFO career .. he doesn’t want to have any type of relationship with anybody, he doesn’t do friends or family or girlfriend or anything .. he is just a man really focused on his career and that made him hard to approach .. he is very emotional unavailable ..
Vanessa can’t stand him, she continuously flips him off lol i love that and she doesn’t even take his sh….. she is the only one who really understand him even if he doesn’t want to admit that.. she is the only one who knows everything about him, his routine, taste and likes… his food preferences and even his own rituals.. their relationship is not a good one .. thanks to Aiden character.. he is an impossible stubborn man.. and he is used to that everybody follows his wishes and orders..
until one day Vanessa had enough.. something happens that makes her feel terrible when Aiden doesn’t protect her and defend her from his mean Personal Agent..
Vanessa leaves but Aiden wont let her stay so far for so long.. he will come to her with a proposition that at first she will refuse but after a few modifications she agrees to return to Aiden.. and thats when everything will start to change between them …
Vanessa wants to fight for what she wants, her career as designer.. and Aiden needs a green card to be able to stay playing on the NFO in USA.. will she be able to help him to stay in the US?
both have terrible past with dysfunctional families and siblings, they really are not worth their time.. Aiden has a sad past and Vanessa wow just wait until you meet her freaking hell sister.. she is just a maniac or the devils sister lol …
You have to read this book, the love between them will grow slowly and you wont even see it.. is very sublet but is beautiful to see how these two are fighting their feelings, they don’t really want to face it, until they cant stop it..
you are going to laugh a lot with Vanessa she is so funny.. and you are going to love her because she is strong too.. i just can’t stop reading these books and The wall of winnipeg and me has become one of my favorites for sure..
This is the first book I read from this author. It was with Kindle Unlimited so I read it for free. I loved her story and characters so much, that I bought it and sought out her other books and bought those too. I was delighted to find a new author who creates such well crafted stories that I don’t hesitate to buy any of her new releases.
So I found this book on Goodreads and it sounded good. While looking at this I noticed the author’s last name and it sounded really familiar to me. Well then I realized it’s because I have another book on my to-read list that is by the same author. Kulti, which I’ve seen many good reviews on, is another book by the author so I thought “yes I will have to read this.”
Well as I have stated in an earlier post that it is NFL Draft for three days, so I wanted to read a football romance. I am ecstatic that I chose this one. I was on an emotional roller coaster on this one. I sort of fought with myself on what I would do if I was in Vanessa’s shoes. After a couple hours of fighting with myself (which I got weird looks from Y over) I have come to the conclusion that I would have swallowed my pride like her and said yes. But I also have a thing for big over six foot muscly guys.
I am blown away. The writing was phenomenal. I liked Aiden and Vanessa’s relationship and how it grew to be more. Zapata did an amazing job writing these two. I love how Aiden starts to open up more to Van. He was so adorable. My favorite part would have been Christmas. Really, really wanted to cry a little. A happy cry though. Zapata also hit a topic that are sensitive to some people. Abuse. She writes about family abuse and of significant other abuse. Both are categorized under domestic abuse. I cringed at some parts of the book.
From where Van and Aiden come from it’s nice to see that it didn’t drag them down. They wouldn’t let the past rule over them and take control. Susie was a real surprising character to me. To have so much hate towards someone who didn’t do anything to her just… wow. I felt bad for Van. I really did. She had to put up with so much while growing up. Then her and Aiden together was at first a little boring but the more I read and the more Aiden opened up to Van, I really started to enjoy the book. The teasing Van give Aiden is funny. Aiden then starts to tease back and he’s slightly funnier.
The epilogue was amazing. I was so happy reading it. I definitely like this book and will be giving Kulti a shot for sure.
Now fair warning if you want a fast pace story and the characters are already under the sheets by 50% don’t read this. If you want a slow build romance with a HEA, this is the book for you. Seriously the heated part isn’t until the end. It was perfect. So worth the wait. You won’t be disappointed.