“Trust me, I’ve wanted to punch you in the face a time or five.”
When the man you worshipped as a kid becomes your coach, it’s supposed to be the greatest thing in the world. Keywords: supposed to.
It didn’t take a week for twenty-seven-year-old Sal Casillas to wonder what she’d seen in the international soccer icon—why she’d ever had his posters on her wall, or ever envisioned marrying him and … envisioned marrying him and having super-playing soccer babies.
Sal had long ago gotten over the worst non-break-up in the history of imaginary relationships with a man that hadn’t known she’d existed. So she isn’t prepared for this version of Reiner Kulti who shows up to her team’s season: a quiet, reclusive shadow of the explosive, passionate man he’d once been.
Nothing could have prepared her for the man she got to know.
Or the murderous urges he brought out in her.
This was going to be the longest season of her life.
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Slowest burn ever. So slow, I don’t even think the physically touch until 30% and I got dead twitchy around 75% and had to confirm this was actually a romance novel.
Don’t get me wrong—I am NOT complaining, cuz when you remove the sexy touches, the long looks, the innuendo or overt attraction, you’re left with…alternative forms of intensity that are MELTY. Kulti is David Beckham but German, and Sal is just plain awesome. And they develop a slow roll friendship. I swear I squealed out loud when he said, “she’s my best friend,” in public and refused to deny their relationship ship to the media.
As a petulant reader…I wouldn’t have minded a few more long looks and touches…maybe one stolen kiss around 50% would have been fine. But he was her coach and that would have been wrong and neither of them was much of a rule breaker.
This book was fun. And funny. And sweet. And it turned my ovaries blue in the best way possible.
Mariana’s books are not to be missed ! Original characters with lots of sass and easy to relate to. Her male leads are fantastic and down to earth. Anything by this author is a must read!
6th book read by this author.
I haven’t read them in order ( yes I know they are all standalones but i should have read them in publication order…because if you do…you see charachters from the authors other works..I love catching up with Dex and Ritz et al ) but I adore this authors writing.
The depth of each charachter and side charachters is brilliant and I adored Sal’s dad and his relationship with Sal.
This book was brilliant with the authors trade mark slow burning love that never disappoints.
I wanted and NEEDED a longer epilogue so I’m grumpy over that , despite that I adored this book.
“Destiny is a ladder, a series of steps that takes you where you’re supposed to go.”
Kulti is the first book I’ve read from Mariana Zapata. I’ve always heard nothing but good things about her books, but as a self proclaimed slowburn hater I put her books off for the longest time because I didn’t think they’d be a good fit for me. But boy was I wrong!
“Kulti” is the story of 27 year old Sal Casillas as she navigates her life and career in professional women’s soccer, when suddenly her childhood soccer idol becomes her team’s assistant coach. Things between Sal and Kulti were not easy at first, but over the course of this book they both grow an unexpected friendship that turns into something more.
People were definitely not lying when they talked about how intense and long the slowburn went on for, but I honestly had very few moments (if any) where I felt bored by the book or that it felt like the slowburn was just dragging things out. The pace of their relationship felt steady and real, and you could totally feel the romantic tension build and build until it finally hit it’s breaking point. I also found myself absolutely loving that the female character was the one who was playing the sport. This seems to be pretty rare for sports romances, but I loved every second of it!
I will say that the only part of this story that kind of disappointed me was the epilogue, which sadly suffered from my number one pet peeve with slowburn romances. I really dislike when I read a long story with a slowburn romance, only to get a few chapters or scenes with the couple actually being in a stable relationship. So when I saw that the epilogue was only a short article describing the future of Sal’s career and that she eventually retired to start a family, I felt a little disappointed and cheated. But luckily I took a peek at the author’s website and found a deleted scene that takes place 16 years in the future. I won’t say what this scene was about, because it was so cute and fluffy that I really think you should go read it for yourself!
Overall “Kulti” was an incredible sports romance with characters that I couldn’t get enough of. It’s been over a day since I finished it, and I already feel the need to reread. I feel completely confident in giving “Kulti” 5/5 stars, and I am so excited to read more books from Mariana Zapata.
if calling someone bratwurst, taco, pumpernickel, or pretzel face isn’t foreplay then I truly don’t know what is.
“ ?” . “ ’ ? ’ .”
UGHHHH THESE TWO ARE SERIOUSLY ON ANOTHER LEVEL. I’M IN LOVE WITH SAL AND REINER. LIKE SERIOUSLY AND UTTERLY AND WHOLLY IN LOVE WITH THEM.
“ , ’ ?”
this is top-tier romance, don’t even argue with me on this. somehow, Mariana Zapata managed to make Sal and Reiner hurl insults at each other since their first conversation and over the course, made the same insults affectionate. I didn’t know I had the energy for this book but when I started reading it, I was all in. even when Reiner was a grade-a asshat, there was just … love. so much of love that I impatiently waited for over 500 pages to finally see unveiled. and it was so, so worth it.
Sal Casillas(h)? yeah, I adore this chick. she was one of the strongest, most determined, and smart female characters I’ve read about and would do literally anything to get what she wants. and the way she supports the people she cares about? god, Sal, I didn’t think I could fall even more for her. I usually hate telling instead of showing and it did get annoying at points in this story when it happened too much but her inner monologue was so damn hilarious to read that I couldn’t even hate the author for adding a bunch of paragraphs about it. also Jenny and Harlow are the greatest friends anybody could ever ask for. seriously, Sal, Jenny, and Harlow’s trio was immaculate and I literally loved all of their interactions.
and Reiner Kulti, please, please, please marry me. I never knew it was possible to fall in love with a character in a book without even reading a single dialogue from him from a better part of the beginning of the book, but it happened. I swooned over his arrogance and ignorance like the whore I am without even hearing the man speak. and when we started getting breadcrumbs of his interactions with Sal? oh, I was going mad. this was the slowest burn of slow burns I’ve ever read because I don’t remember the last time I went batshit crazy and got excited over the h and H making eye contact.
, , , , .
yes. I was whooping over that and I’m not even embarrassed.
, , , . “,” . .
these were literally their interactions almost halfway into the book and I wasn’t even pissed, you know why?
.
BECAUSE THIS WAS HOTTER THAN ANY SMUT SCENE I COULD’VE READ.
also, can we talk about the Casillas family? I’d PAY them to adopt me. like seriously. Sal’s parents were such great side characters that made the book even better. how her father supported every decision she made and Sal’s tight-knit relationship with him was so perfect, I might’ve shed tears. and her father’s obsession with Reiner? PLEASE I WAS LAUGHING MY ASS OFF. I LOVE THIS MAN. also the way he was massaging Sal’s shoulders when they were arguing? swoon-worthy, man. so, so damn swoon-worthy.
“, .” , ’ . , .
you hear me? top. freaking. tier. romance.
I could gush for pages about this epic, epic read. It’s trademark Zapata, long, detailed and the slowest burn, and that’s exactly its charm. It’s a book you hunker down and lose yourself in with some phenomenal characters, you live their life with them for the duration of the read (and some time after!). The Taco and the Sauerkraut and their relationship had me hooked. I raged, I had a happy tear and just genuinely adored this story. It spoiled me for other reads (make that ruined), and I also said the same about The Wall of Winnipeg and All Rhodes… Do yourself a favour and read this, you won’t be disappointed.
Kulti:
“You’ll have a team with me wherever we are, with whatever we are playing.”
The words in the English language are not enough for me to describe this book. Maybe German. But I somehow seriously doubt that too. I finished this book in four hours. Absolutely no regrets.
As with all Mariana Zapata books, this one is a slow burn and probably the absolute slowest seeing as the first non-two word exchange between these two is some ten chapters in. Admittedly, it was hard to get through that, but I knew that Mariana Zapata wouldn’t disappoint and she most certainly didn’t.
Heroically, I braved through that burn and was met with the absolute sweetest romance between two people who have made it to my list of my favorite literary characters ever.
Sal is absolutely hilarious, relatable, down-to-earth, dedicated, kind, and overall a woman I could really relate to. I adored her so much and being in her head the whole time through this book was honestly, a treat. I love the way she is so forgiving, and is always, no matter what, kind.
Kulti? I’m beginning to wonder if the urge to slap the heroes is a theme in Mariana Zapata books, because my goodness, why wouldn’t this man open his mouth and talk? He drove me absolutely insane in frustration and then absolutely over the cliff in love with him. His random sweet moments, his insistence on being around her all the time, his jealousy, his everything made me swoon so hard for him.
Honest to God, if I don’t find my own Kulti, I’m quitting life. I just want someone to love me the way he loves Sal.
The family scenes in this book were beyond heart-warming (her dad is the best character I will fight you on this) and Sal’s friendship with her teammates is everything.
This is only my second Mariana Zapata book; I don’t understand how these books just get better & better but I’m so willing to keep going down this path to find out. This story was exquisite and honestly, it was my honor to even have laid eyes on it.
Queen of slow burn. This has got to be one of my top 5 romantic books.
The story was great, the whole book builds everything up wonderfully. It didn’t feel as though the author was just simply filling up empty space, everything that was written was important to the characters. You can’t help but fall in love with them. My personal favorite was the MC’s father.
This isn’t an erotic romance, it’s a story about two people who fall in love.
I will never get over Sal and Kulti. All hail the queen of the slow-burn, Mariana Zapata.
So many readers have raved about Mariana Zapata’s novels and while it took me a hot minute to actually read one I am so glad I listened to their recommendations. Zapata’s novels are extremely unique and her ability to bring such an epic love to the pages while also slowly building the romance within the story is incredible. I smiled a LOT when I was reading this one and watching the characters grow TOGETHER was an amazing experience for me.
I think one of my biggest dislikes about this book though is how SLOW the romance was. I get it, everyone told me it was slow, but I couldn’t believe the snail pace of the story! I’m not even saying this in a bad way, but it’s important to note that when readers say it’s a slow burn they really mean it. How slow you ask? Well, the book is just about 600 pages, and the romance doesn’t even start until about 460 pages in . I was a tiny bit annoying for me, but when the romance did appear it was pretty impressive! So, I am looking past the lack of romance until the story is almost over because Mariana nailed the ending.
Since this is an older book, I’m not going to make this a long-winded review. I will say though that if you enjoy sports romances where the characters play soccer , a grumpy and slightly unlikable hero, and slow burn romances, then this book is for you! I can’t wait to read another one from her!
4.5
Spanish & English Opinion
ESP ::
Esta historia no se parece a alguna otra que haya leído. Es un “Sports Romance” con Rey y Sal como protagonistas.
Hay mucha tension y su amor se construye poco a poco, aunque la relación tiene elements de destino que la hacen más emocionante.
Sentí como si estuviese con Sal, viviendo todo lo que le pasaba. Me encantó.
ENG ::
This is not like any other book I’ve read before. It’s a sports romance with Rey and Sal as the MCs.
Lots of tension and some angsty moments. The relationship gets built little by little, nevertheless it also has amazing kismet elements.
I really enjoyed this book. Sal had us living the romance along with her.
My favourite one
No one writes slow burn like Mariana Zapata does. I’ve read so many books that it’s rare for me to be truly wowed, but she does it for me every single time. Kulti was the first of her books I read and it gave me all the feels. The pace and her writing style made me feel so invested in the characters. I could not get enough. Sometimes I wish I could go back and unread it, so I get to experience Kulti for the first time all over again.
I adore Sal and Kulti–they are so flawed and so mismatched they are perfect. I am a big fan of Ms. Zapata for her sports romances, but this was my introduction to her and its still my favorite. Kulti is the enigma you want to dislike but you come to understand Sal’s desire to understand him and maybe even empathize with him. Ms. Zapata does an excellent job in the unfolding of the relationship–and when it does burn–it burns hot.
I thoroughly enjoyed this slow burn romance. I always like it when a relationship gets time to develop and the protagonists’ feelings go beyond the physical attraction. All the scenes building up to Sal and Kulti becoming an item are what make this romance rich. The build up is not just the gravy to the meat, it’s the main dish itself. And what a yummy one at that.
Kulti is a romance about a women’s football, soccer, team and their newest coach, the famous Kulti. As all Mariana Zapata book, this is a slow romance, but in this book, I’ve absolutely loved it. I have listened to the audiobook and was either smiling or laughing every five minutes. I love Zapata’s male character, they are always quite cold on the outside, but oh my god, when you get into the story and learn more about them, you juste to have their babies. Kulti is a hate to love book, from calling each other Taco and Pretzel face to a painfully slow development of their feelings. I particularly loved it being centred on a female athlete and a women’s team, which is rare in romance. We see how difficult it is for them to make their place in the world of sports and all the differences with male athletes.
The beginning was very slow, but when they start interacting, it gets better. There were annoying parts, and there were funny parts. Not perfect, but just what I needed at the moment.
Salomé Casillas or Sal like friends and family call her, is a twenty-seven year soccer player. Sal fell in love with the sport and with Reiner Kulti (international soccer player) when she was a young child. When Sal was 17 year old, Reiner Kulti broke her heart by marrying another woman. Until that moment she had believe that one day they would meet and fall in love and have soccer playing babies but that never happened. But one thing remained, her love for soccer and playing it.
But now after all those years, her dream comes true!! Reiner Kulti will be one of her coaches!!!
Only, there is no firework when they finally meet. No!! There’s nothing. Kulti is their coach in name only, he doesn’t speak to the team, he doesn’t give them advice, he does nothing but stand on the sideline of the field and watch them without saying one word! This is not what the women’s soccer team was hoping for. Where’s the soccer player who got mad on the field, who shouted and used tricks to win?! Where is he gone? Because this is not that man!
But that changes after a conversation between Sal and another coach but if that was a good idea? That is another question?! Kulti isn’t happy and he shows this to the team, by yelling and being harsh during training. But through different interactions between Kulti and Sal, there’s growing a sort of friendship between them, a friendship that only exists outside the soccer field. A friendship that is very confusing for Sal because of the mixed feelings Kulti is showing her. A friendship that maybe can grow in a relationship? Or maybe not? Because what will happen if the press and the soccer team find out about their friendship? Will Sal be able to cope with the pressure of all that?
I really loved this story!! It stayed with me for a long while after I read it. Because we only got Sal’s POV, it made me think, it made me guess of Kulti’s motivations. What was he thinking, doing, what did he want from Sal?
I really loved Sal, she was so warm, so lovely and playful with her father and friends. She had a wonderful personality.
If you are new to Mariana Zapata’s books then there are a few things that you have to know about her stories. She’s the queen of slow burn stories and this is one for sure! And if you are looking for a story with a lot of sex then don’t read this book. It has sex in it but only at the end of the story. But if you’re looking for a great book, then try this one!!
Outstanding, contemporary, enemies-to-lovers, sports romance
At age 27, Sal Casillas has been playing soccer for 21 years, ever since she became the Number One Fan of the 19-year-old German, international soccer star, Reiner Kulti. His brilliant playing inspired her to be a soccer star like him, and in her teens she had a massive crush on him as well. Up until the day he injured her older brother in a soccer match and almost ended his career. On principle, out of loyalty to her brother, she has hated Kulti ever since.
Then, out of the blue, Kulti is hired as the assistant coach for her professional, women’s soccer team in Houston. He retired two years before, has been out of the limelight since then, and the silent, standoffish man with a stonelike face seems nothing at all like the passionate dynamo of the soccer field. What has happened to Kulti, and what in the world is he doing here?
I am a huge fan of sports romances between two elite athletes, and especially when they are stars in the same sport, as is the case in this book. The scenes in which Sal and Kulti are battling each other in cut-throat, pick-up soccer matches are especially fun, even to someone like me who knows zero about soccer and has never played the game or watched a match. Zapata puts in enough soccer details to make the sports scenes colorfully authentic, but not so much as to be overwhelming to us soccer newbies.
The slow evolution of the relationship between Sal and Kulti, from enemies, to wary acquaintances, to friends, is absolutely wonderful. Kulti and Sal are both fascinatingly complex characters. Kulti starts out somewhat obnoxious, but Sal is so consistently compassionate, outspoken and filled with integrity, it is completely believable to me that Kulti’s strong growth arc is inspired by becoming her friend.
I love the nicknames Sal and Kulti have for each other. Sal calls him, “Rey,” which is Spanish for, king,” and his German nickname for her is very cute as well. I won’t say what it is or what it means to avoid a small spoiler, because Sal doesn’t find out the meaning of his pet name for her until near the end of the book.
I absolutely adored Sal’s father. What a wonderful, loving man! The two of them are best friends, and reading about their relationship is as satisfying in its way as the main romance.
As is typical of this classic, Zapata, “slow-burn,” contemporary romance, there are only two, brief sex scenes in the whole book, toward the very end, and they are not at all coarse. They are tenderly passionate.
This particular novel has a very short epilogue after the HEA, but it is quite satisfying. In addition, we get glimpses of these two characters living out their HEA in another Zapata book, Wait for It. Sal is a cousin of Diana, the protagonist in that novel. There is also a brief cameo in this book of the protagonists of the Zapata novel, Under Locke.
I first read this novel several years ago in Kindle format, and I recently had the chance to experience it again as an audiobook. The narration of the audiobook version of this novel is done by talented voice actor, Callie Dalton, and I enjoyed it very much. I am positive I will read or listen to this terrific novel many more times in the future. It is definitely a romance keeper.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 5 stars
Hero: 5 stars
Subcharacters: 5 stars
Romance plot: 5 stars
Setting: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Audiobook Narration: 5 stars
Overall: 5 stars
4.5 Stars
It’s awesome when you find that one book that’s slightly out of the norm; that has that je ne sais quoi (ha! Sorry, always wanted to say that!) that makes it fresh and different, and why not, special amongst other books.
So, this is the story of Sal, your average female pro football (that’s soccer to most of you) player. Her life path was decided for her the minute she saw a young German player make the goal of a game. Since that moment all she wanted was to be like Kulti, and well, to be with Kulti, marry him and have lots of soccer-playing-super-babies.
But the hot German Chocolate Cake not only betrayed her by getting married to some floozy instead of her (in spite, of course, of him not knowing of her existence and the 12 years age difference) but he also injured her brother (also a pro player) during a game.
So after a decade of celebrity-crushing on him, all the posters were torn, all the feelings turned into indifference (yeah, right) and Sal just got on with her life and her career as a pro athlete.
But fate is a fickle mistress…or something like that, and the saying “be careful what you wish for” came to bite Sal in the butt. Because guess who is the new assistant coach of her club for the season? None other than the one and only Reiner Kulti. Thus begins the epic tale of how Sal melts the freaking asshole ice-cube that is Kulti.
So, I liked the plot of the book. It was original and fresh. The whole story is from Sal’s point of view and I must say that the beginning is a little slow. As in sloooooow. I believe that in the first 20% of the book Kulti utters 5 words in total. He is a complete and totally silent prick. He is rude time and time again, even after Sal saves his ass. We spend all this time in Sal’s head with no real interaction between them and I have to confess it was a little tedious, I think that if there were some little snippets of insight into Kulti’s head it would have been awesome.
Still, the book kept me engaged and snickering when I was not outright laughing my ass off at Sal’s antics and thought process.
So finally, Kulti starts to ease a bit on his “I’m a complete asshole and I can’t stand anyone” routine and they began to hang out because poor Kulti has nothing else to do. So little by little, tiny baby step by tiny baby step, Kulti becomes a human being… with constant outbursts of total deuchery, of course, but hey… in the end, he totally makes up for it.
By 50% things start to get a bit more interesting between them, but still, their relationship doesn’t get explicitly romantic until well past the 80% mark and I have to report my dismay at having only 2 sexy scenes right at the end of the book. Those scenes were FREAKING HOT… but I would have liked for them to have a bit more air time as a together couple.
Even with all this, I loved this book. LOVED it. I stayed up till 7 am (I didn’t realize it was that late/early) to finish it. Kulti is probably going to be one of my favorite book boyfriends of the year…
I found some minor editing issues that while not enough to really bother you, there were more than a few and well… were there. This could have been corrected by a more thorough beta reader, so I’m taking off a little bit of rating because of it.
The other thing I was slightly disappointed by was the epilogue. I know, I know. Me and my complaints against epilogues, what can I say? I just love them. I would have liked a more in-depth look into them as a couple and not merely a mention of Sal’s successful career and her “upcoming” plans of starting a family.
Is there any way to persuade you, Señorita Zapata, to give me a little look-see into their life together or in Kulti’s head? That would be most appreciated, but regardless I’ll keep on reading your awesome books.
PS: I’d like to add that not EVERY Argentinian man is an asshole. I mean, men are idiots in general, my country (Argentina) is actually populated with a lot of said idiots, but there must be a couple that are ok…
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