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?
more
You really have to read this! It is one, if not the first, of my favourite books that I’ve read this year! If you love a good football book give it a try 😉
Wow. I don’t usually read popular books but something about the blurb got me on this one. I am glad I picked it up because this book was so good. This might be the best slow burn romance novel I have ever read.
Vanessa Mazur finally does the right thing and quits being the personal assistant to football star Aiden Graves. She finally can pursue her dreams and knows that Aiden doesn’t really care for her. Weeks later she is surprised when he shows up asking her to come back and to help him get his residency, by marrying him.
Vanessa seems like a pushover at first but you quickly realize she has been hiding her feelings just so she can pursue her dreams. I really admired her. She was dedicated to starting her own business and does everything she can to get there. She was smart, sassy, and very caring. I loved the slow build of friendship, then love, between these two. It was emotional, exciting, irritating, and perfect. It was all the emotions.
Aiden started out as kind of a jerk who didn’t care about anything but football. That changes as you get to know him and realizes he did actually care about Vanessa when she worked for him. I quite loved this big hunky football player.
Like I said earlier, this is probably the best slow burn romance novel I have ever read. I don’t usually like football romances (prefer hockey ones) but this one really captured my heart. I think I need to read more of Zapata’s books now!
WOW! I was a little unsure of committing to 672 pages but a friend had high recommendations on this book so I gave it a chance. I do not regret it one bit! Holy crap was this book amazing in every way.
Slow burn but it feels more real life than many other novels out there. You don’t get frustrated over the timing of when/how things happen.
Only thing I didn’t care for was the dialog suddenly stops leaving you hanging for Vanessa to recap in a memory of it later. You don’t usually have to wait long for it but that just bothered me a bit.
Even with that one issue (in my opinion) I still feel that this book was incredible and 5 stars does not do it justice. I read it in 2 days but I also stayed up until 3am because I just HAD to finish it.
Not once did I regret this book and I’m now looking forward to more from this author.
I love everything Mariana has ever written, but Aiden takes the cake as my favourite hero. He seems cold and arrogant in the beginning but becomes sweet as a teddy bear with the heroine in the end.
A beautiful slow burn romantic story about trusting and loving yourself, about accepting success, about being loyal, a good friend and about moving on from toxic people at your own pace. Vanesa is a great lovely female protagonist full of immense loyalty, perseverance, camaraderie and a tender vulnerability that you cannot stop cheering for her. Aiden is that male character that transforms into a white Knight hero with each passing page that reveals all his swooning ways. I hope Zack gets a book. I am looking forward to read soon more books by this author.
I love Marianna Zapata. I have probably read “The Wall of Winnipeg and Me” ten times. Her characters are complex but lovable. She always writes from the heroine’s point of view which enables us to get inside her mind in a way I haven’t read from others. Once you read one of Marianna’s books, you want to read them all.
I absolutely enjoyed listening to this audiobook. It was really good from start to finish. I was in so many emotions. I want my ver own Aiden.
I am slowly devouring Zapata’s backlist and this remains one of my favorites, featuring a marriage of convenience between a football player and his former assistant.
Zapata has a fresh, humorous voice and excels at creating the slow burn in romance. Her fiction also comes with a generous helping of snark and ensemble casts with natural interactions.
My absolute favorite
Sweet read with a lovely build up.
“Home is where you are. I would go anywhere for you if you wanted me there.”
Mariana Zapata knocks it out of the park once again with “The Wall of Winnipeg and Me”, a slowburn marriage of convenience centered around a professional football player and his ex-assistant.
Meet Aiden Graves, professional NFO player whose life revolves around football. And his assistant Vanessa Mazur, whose life revolves around Aiden. Vanessa has worked as Aiden’s assistant/cook/housekeeper for over 2 years when she eventually has enough, and quits her job to pursue her dream of graphic design. But one night Aiden shows up at her apartment, begging her to come back, and gives Vanessa an offer she can’t refuse. “The Wall of Winnipeg and Me” follows Vanessa and Aiden as they work through this agreement of theirs that has turned their professional relationship into roommates, and then into something more.
Honestly, I really struggled with my rating for this book. I started Winnipeg almost immediately after finishing “Kulti”, my first read from Mariana Zapata. I’m now realizing that I probably should’ve given myself a cooling off period between these two books, because I kept finding myself comparing Winnipeg to Kulti in ways that I don’t exactly think is fair. I loved Kulti and honestly wanted to read another story just like it. So when Winnipeg was obviously a different story, I found myself unfairly disliking it. But after looking back on some of my highlights, I’m able to look past my original thoughts and realize that this book is way better than I originally judged it as.
I found myself really enjoying Vanessa. She’s fiery, determined, and has a tragic past, all things I really love in characters. I also found myself loving Zac and Diana, and I was so excited to learn that they both have their own books. I think all the platonic relationships in this story were really fleshed out and felt super real. And of course, the romance was fantastic. Vanessa and Aiden went through a lengthy slowburn that rarely felt dragged out or boring. I loved watching their relationship grow into friendship first, and then romance. They had some adorable scenes where you could visibly see their relationship change and evolve, which made the ending and epilogue just that much sweeter.
However there was one aspect of this book that I didn’t enjoy so much, or at least confused me. And that’s Aiden. I don’t really know what to say, besides that he just kinda felt flat and boring? I think there’s a difference between a character hiding their true personality and just having no personality, and I’m afraid Aiden suffers from the latter. I really loved his character when he was defending Vanessa, comforting her, etc. But Aiden by himself just doesn’t really do much for me. He likes puzzles, puppies, and football. That’s it. He never smiles or shows emotion, and overall it was just really difficult for me to get a read on his character. I think if he really felt like a different person around Vanessa, I would’ve liked him a bit more. But most of the time, he was still his normal stoic blank person around Vanessa. I sort of expected Vanessa to bring out a different side of Aiden, and that may have happened a few times, but it was nothing that really majorly changed his character. Overall his character just felt a little bland and inconsistent, but luckily this didn’t heavily affect my overall thoughts on the story, and was more so just an annoying thing I noticed.
In the end I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good marriage of convenience. I went back and forth for a little while, but can now firmly say I’d give this book a solid 4/5 stars. I can’t wait to read more books from Mariana Zapata, and hope to see some cameos of Vanessa and Aiden post epilogue.
Slow burn, enemies to lovers book. I give it 4.5 stars because the pace was very slow for the first half of the book and I think that the story could really benefit from a dual POV.
That being said, the slow burn and sexual tension are so amazingly told that this book really ruined other slow burn books for me. I tried reading Kulti immediately after and I kept comparing the two. Needless to say that The wall of Winnipeg and me is way better. I mean, when she describes the first hug between the characters, it is so freaking amazing…
The end was so heartwarming and sweet. Great, great read!
I’m not a huge fan of the slow burn so this book took me a little bit to get into. About the 50% mark I was really into it and glad I stuck it out. Loved Van and Aidens progression in the book. You could really feel Aiden slowly turn a corner right into Vanessa. Very sweet in a swoony kind of way. Great side characters with a fun mix of wit, tragic pasts and finding what matters most in life.
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me: . 5
“Home is where you are. I would go anywhere for you.”
Aiden and Vanessa were my very first Mariana Zapata book but I can, without a shred of doubt in my mind, say that they will most certainly not be the last. This book literally put me back together from the depraved depths of dark romance that I was helplessly shoveled under, and I’ve never felt such a desire to read a slow-burn in my life.
When I say slow-burn, I mean… slow burn but in the best way possible. This book is a grumpy/sunshine textbook and it’s done so very well.
Vanessa Mazur is done with her physically enormous boss Aiden Graves. For two years, she’s slaved after him without so much more than a nod in acknowledgement from him. Hoping to pursue bigger dreams, she summons the strength within her to finally quit. But, when Aiden comes knocking on her door with an alarming proposal in hand, literally , Vanessa has no idea just how much her life is about to turn upside down.
Vanessa is interesting. This whole book is written in her POV and at times, I needed to take a break from her ramblings, her overthinking, etc but the thing I liked about her the most was that she was, through it all, so very honest . Honest with herself, honest with Aiden–truthfully, I think that was something I hadn’t seen in a long time. The transparency that she had with herself.
Aiden Graves–dude, you have no idea how many times I wanted to slap you across the face. In the beginning, it clouded my mind, because I had no idea how this man was so apathetic, so cold-hearted, and so blasé about literally everything. Wall certainly seemed like the perfect way to describe him. But then, slowly, he redeemed himself. The way he started to use his words to genuinely appreciate everything Vanessa did for him. The way, with just one quick nonchalant line, he showed that he always paid attention, even when it seemed like he wasn’t. The way he was so protective (puh-lease this totally killed me) of his wife . His character development, without a doubt, is one of the best ones I have ever seen. So much so, that I can hardly remember a time when he wasn’t that deep-down softie that he really is.
This book was beautifully passionate and tugged at my heart so very hard. I swear to God, I was grinning ear to ear by the end of it and I may have even cried. I have such a soft spot for Aiden in my heart.
Love love love Mariana Zapata. I’ve been converted to the cult and I couldn’t be happier about it!
I have heard so much hype about this book and finally decided to pick it up and read it. I must say I love a strong silent type and Aiden is definitely the type! He doesn’t say much in this book, which honestly disappointed me in a way but I guess it was just part of the deal. He’s a big guy who loves his football and has a very strict diet he stays on. Vanessa, being his personal assistant, knows all about him but it gets to the point where you have to decided what you want in life… Vanessa is spunky and opinionated, she pushes his buttons and only gets a little back from him. I don’t blame her from walking away. While this book is most definitely a slow burn with absolutely no sexual tension to make it fun, I still enjoyed it. It would have been fun to have some of that will they or won’t they do it but whatever.. Both characters have been hurt both physically and mentally in their pasts but once they open up and leave it behind them, things start opening up for them. Vanessa is determined to overcome her past and do something she’s never thought she’d ever do. She did it and felt amazing!! Aiden was a character that did things a little differently.. He didn’t talk much but he showed his love with his actions that was sweet when it was all revealed. Their were some sweet moments between the characters especially in the elevator and their bedroom. It showed their vulnerabilty and how close they truly were. While I liked this book, I would have loved to seen more from Aiden’s point of view and surprisingly enough, more of the immigration process for them. Not a lot just like an interview or something. Weird right? I know but that’s just me.
Really enjoyed this! Reminded me of some of Ginger Scott’s books – all about the development of the characters and their relationship. Minimal steam. I could not put this down, wanting to know what was going to happen next with them! Loved these characters!
**Rereading 11/22, of course (almost 1 year later)!
I KNOW these books are long. But I absolutely LOVE the development of the relationship between the characters, from who they were in the beginning on their own and to eachother to where they end up by the end. I can’t say that enough. I LIVE for it.
And OMG I JUST REALIZED HANDSDOWN IS ZAC FROM THIS BOOK. Ah mannnn now I have to reread that since I’m a ditz who can’t connect the dots.
This was the BEST slow burn I have read in awhile. I say slow burn because they tiptoed around their feelings for most of the book while they learned to get along and communicate with each other in a healthy way. As soon as I started to read the inter workings of Vanessa’s mind I was hooked because I could tell that she’d be ‘my people’ in real life. Aiden Graves!!! That fictional football player was hotter than sin. He was every woman’s wet dream with muscles in places that most men dream of having. Even though this was a slow burn Mariana had this gift of grabbing your attention with two hands and keeping it the entire time. There were so many feelings involved in this story, not even going to lie and deny that I was in tears and even had a few times of laughter through tears. This love story was just the perfect thing to get me out of a funk. I’m definitely suggesting you read The Wall of Winnipeg and Me!
This was one of those books I doled out in small doses because I didn’t want it to end! Normally, I go for steamier books (though there’s one deeeeelicious steamy scene), but the slow build was so good I didn’t mind that the characters pretty much kept their hands to themselves for the first half of the book. I adored both main characters as well as Zac, their roommate and Vanessa’s second-best friend. Lots of heart-wrenching family drama, tons of humor, and some of the best character development I’ve ever read. A football romance that will have even the most sports-averse readers deeply invested in the outcome. Just lovely!
Such a good story! Slow burn, sassy heroine with a kind heart but who doesn’t let people push her around, and the kind of gruff and distant yet somehow endearing hero I love. I have to say, Aiden didn’t make a good first impression on me. Or second. Or third. But I think that’s kind of the point. He has a lot to make up for, and when he does, it’s epic, and you know he really, truly means it. Big book hangover from this one.
This was the first book by Mariana Zapata that I read and I loved it!! I have since read all of her books and enjoyed them all. If you like a good romance with a more unique storyline, then you should try one of Mariana’s books.