Ruby Santos knew exactly what she was getting herself into when she signed up to write a soldier overseas.The guidelines were simple: one letter or email a week for the length of his or her deployment. Care packages were optional.Been there, done that. She thought she knew what to expect.What she didn’t count on was falling in love with the guy.
I really loved this story. Poignant and uplifting with a few tears along the way.
SUPER SLOW BURN FRIENDS TO LOVERS ROMANCE
When I say SLOW BURN….I mean like SSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOWWWWWW BURN
Did I love it…YES I DID.
Are you wondering WHY I gave it 4 STARS?
Ok…
There were a few little reasons, you’ll find those later in my review. I just want to point out that my little reasons might not fit you so this might be a 5 STAR read for some of you. Also, a book can get 4 stars and still be such a great read! This book was the perfect Saturday read for me!
Now…THIS BOOK!!! AARON+ RUBY!! The banter back and forth between these two!!!!
I laughed so hard, SO MANY TIMES – a few times my kids needed to know if I was okay. Hands down one of the funniest books I’ve read this year. AND….know that ROMCOMS are NOT really my thing! But I do enjoy a good one every now and then. I adored the correspondence between Ruby & Aaron so much! It brings back fond times of when I made my own memories like that with my spouse when he was away. The further you read the deeper the connection becomes between these two.
I went into this one hesitantly since I am a military spouse. This is a trope that is dear to my heart so of course LOVE reading them but I can’t handle coming across books where it is clear the author did not do any research into the topic she’s writing about! With that being said, I have no idea of Mariana Zapata’s experience with our military lifestyles whether it be she has experience with that life personally or a close friend who helped her out or this woman did a fantastic job with her research. Based on my own experiences as a spouse and daughter of military men; she understood the pain and trials that our military members go through and portrayed some of them inside this book perfectly.
Now for my few little things….
I knew going in that Mariana is the queen of slow burn romances so I was expecting it to be a bit….but oh my…was it just me or did this one feel like it was a clean read for the majority of the book. I want and need that physical connection sooner in books.
Since it was such a slow burn, I feel so sad that I didn’t get to have much of these two as a true couple.
Although I loved and adored Ruby & Aaron’s interactions so much, I found myself not really caring for the heroine after a certain percentage of the book. I won’t go into why because it can definitely lead into spoilers and I don’t do that. I’ll just say that I thrive on strong heroines, so sometimes a book character will lose my interest but the other characters, the couple as a whole or the plot will keep me going to the end.
That’s what happened here..
Even after feeling the way I did about Ruby, I loved the personality that she shared with Aaron throughout the majority of the book. I ended this book loving them as a couple and completely satisfied.
This book has been on my TBR for almost a year and I’m so glad I got to finally read it!
It’s a really cute book. I like how the book started by concentrating on developing a background and the friendship before the romantic relationship. Selfishly I would have liked to see more of the romantic relationship. However this book was already quite long. But I just would’ve love to see them get their happy ending.
A truly magical read that left me with all the feels of a great story. Ruby and Aaron are great together. They both start by leaning on each other through their emails and texts until they realise they have fell for each other. I loved the advice Aaron was giving Ruby throughout giving her the confidence she needed to tell her aunt. Highly recommend.
OMG this was so beautiful!!
I absolutely LOVE the back and forth letters and messaging.
In many books that is my absolute favorite and this book is focused majority on it!
You get to step back and take it in with the speed they are taking things. Then opens up to Ruby’s POV.
Aaron, military soldier with struggles who is so real with his inner battles.
His assigned pen pal Ruby is a tiny little thing who has her own anxieties around others but forms a strong friendship through writing Aaron.
This was just a beautiful love story that I enjoyed every bit of it. I never wanted it to end.
ADDED: If you get the opportunity, add the audio to this book. Callie Dalton always does an amazing job with a MZ book but add in Teddy Hamilton – – just divine!
I loved it! And I loved it HARD. Not because it was a Mariana Zapata novel, which I have only recently discovered and cherish each and every one of them. It was because of the words on the page, and how superb they were, every single one of them.
It is not a spoiler to say that the first third of this book is letters, emails and messages between a young woman in Houston and an Army Staff Sergeant stationed overseas. I found it a refreshing and clever way to get to know these two characters and how they interacted was realistic and authentic and funny. Ruby and Aaron form a budding friendship that turns into being best friends and sounding boards for problems they are both facing.
I respected these characters immensely. We all have different personalities and not everyone is overly confident and out going. It takes some life experiences and maturing to find out who we are. I get that, especially when Rubes was at the airport…… OMGosh, I felt for her. I have been that girl. I have had that feeling of not knowing what to do next, did I make the wrong choice, and everything else she felt in that moment. My heart thumping right along with her. Aaron is my choice of a partner. He was respectful, endearing, witty and supportive. He is nudging The Wall off my top shelf some.
True to form for a MZ book, it took a while for them to become a couple, but when they did, magic. I wasn’t sure about the ending when I finished, but on reflection, I think it ended perfectly for these two. It came full circle and reading between the lines, I am happy for them. I only have one more book from MZ’s collection to round them out, and I can’t Wait For It!
I’ll have to be honest this book was recommended to me months ago and I just got to reading it now. I didn’t know what to expect from this book, but enjoying it the way I did wasn’t it. The first majority of the book is letter, emails and texts. I kept thinking to myself, this isn’t what I would typically want in a book, but I kept turning the pages, I needed more of their story, so if that was the point, well done! This was such a unique story, and so beautiful on top of it. Slow burn at it’s best in my opinion. Aaron and Ruby were two characters I never knew I needed in my life. The remarkable relationship that they built without ever meeting was beautiful and they way they acted when first meeting was so cute. I just loved everything about this book!
Slow Burn
Reread September 2019
Why didn’t you all tell me how wonderful this is in audiobook?
If you didn’t know, the first half of the book is emails and DMs. And each narrator reads what they send so it’s like the main characters are having a conversation. None of the awkward man/woman trying to sound like the opposite sex. I LOVE IT.
Is it too soon to read it again?
First Read – July 2017
Mariana Zapata, can we be best friends?
She is definitely becoming one of my favorite authors. And I will always be on the lookout for her book releases. Her slow-burn romances leave me dangling from the edge until I am whisked away by the lovebirds’ attraction and chemistry.
Dear Aaron is no exception. Ruby gets paired with soldier, Aaron, by the Help a Soldier foundation. She reaches out to him for months before Aaron caves in and responds. It was revealed that Aaron was going through a heartbreak while dealing with being deployed. Ruby’s quirky emails helped bring Aaron out of his funk, and he quickly became her life coach. He gave her tips, tricks, and advice on life, careers, and dating. I’ve heard a lot of negativity about the first half of the book being emails and instant messaging, but I LOVED it! I just wish I could say that about the second half of the book…
I was so excited to see Aaron and Ruby meet for the first time. I thought they would have an awkward meeting, due to Ruby – of course, and then it would be flirting and teasing until they indulged in some sexy time. *wink-wink* When in actuality, they have multiple awkward moments followed with some family drama and “he/she doesn’t want me more than a friend” moments. Nothing squee-worthy happens until like 90% of the book. WTF?
Overall, I still really, really enjoyed this book. Zapata’s character are always so down-to-earth, geeky, and relatable. She has yet to let me down! Although this book didn’t blow me away, it still wowed me. If you love a good slow-burn and/or military romance, this one is for you. 😉
It was great book that I think everyone who likes romance should read! 10/10
Slow burn
I have become an amazing fan of this author! I have binged listened and read all this authors works in the recent past.
I have always attempted to give ‘star’ ratings on my completed reads, just as a tracking method for my titles that I have completed. I have unlimited packages for audio, kindle, and utilize the local/state library.
However, I do not check the ‘I recommend this book’ unless I am willing to reread a book and or a series.
[I read about 5-15 books a month through kindle, and I listen to about 15-30 books monthly]
I have a full life as a nurse, professor, wife, daughter [daughter in law], sister, and mother. I love to read and love a thousand other lives by turning the pages in countless books.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide a review. Happy reading 🙂
I don’t think I could love this book more. Every single thing about it spoke to me. It starts out as a series of letters when Ruby takes on a military pen pal. As a family member of several soldiers who when they were deployed let me know just how much they appreciate any kind of messages from stateside, I truly got how important the connection can be.
“It breaks my heart. Not every injury is physical. People don’t realize that.”
In true Mariana Zapata form, Dear Aaron is the slowest of slow burns, a real friends to lovers story and the reader is taken along for the whole journey.
The author’s humor and imagery completely captivate. I’m at a loss as to how to express just how much I’m in love with MZ’s writing!!
*I listened to the audiobook for a reread and loved it even more with the amazing narration!
“I was smiling at him cautiously and he was giving me that smirking little smile that seemed like it had secrets stitched in some compartment below his practically flawless skin.”
Slow burn
Dear Aaron is all about the long game! Tension, feelings, and lust building over time. Every little thing adding up to a chaotic need.Leaving the reader a desperate, needy swooning pile of hope.
I love these two together. I just wish we got a bonus epilogue of Aaron and Him meeting the first time! lol. I need that to happen ASAP.
I LOVED this book! It was so cute, emotional and just simply wonderful. I definitely recommend this author and this book.
I enjoyed the 1st half of the book. Connecting via IM/text was the way I met my husband years ago before online dating was even a thing, so I really loved watching these two fall into a routine together.
The second half just didn’t have the sizzle for me. The meet up killed me. I had this whole airport moment dreamt up in my head.
The secondary characters that were present were not necessary and I wished it were just Aaron and Ruby developing on the feelings that were obvious to everyone, except Ruby.
The writing was well done, but I found myself skimming and I did continue to the end. I just didn’t have a strong connection to the relationship that I thought I would beyond the computer.
This book was fantastic. The author nailed the format with the emails and I found myself unable to put it down as the sow burn pulled me in.
The characters are refreshing and their conversations are like what people in the real world have which is actually a nice change from a lot of books.
The love that grows between them
Is slow and beautiful, and as a reader I became invested quickly in their lives.
I’ve got a life lesson for you: don’t start a Mariana Zapata book before bed if you work the next morning.
Unless you have coffee! Then it’s survivable so go ahead and read on.
You may know by now that I love Mariana Zapata and everything she writes. But I’m afraid of starting them. WHY? I still don’t know. But I had Dear Aaron on my Kindle since June 13th, just waiting for me, taunting me.
Then I hit a rut. What to read? Nothing I own sounds good. Queen J took charge and assigned me Dear Aaron. Ugh, it was maybe the only time I enjoyed my homework.
I’m not going to sit here and gush forever (yes I will), I’ll just say this story was just as engaging and addicting as every other book Mariana Zapata has ever written. Actually, I gotta go. I need to read it again. TTYL.
Written in unusual [in good way] format. You keep wanting to find out more!