This book is so good. Thank you Elle Reads for suggesting it to me! :)

The slow-burn was so well done and believable. Aiden and Vanessa are great characters. Aiden was an ass in the beginning of the book, and had trouble seeing things from Vanessa's perspective at times, but that only helped make it more believable because he wasn't perfect. Relationships are difficult and people make mistakes. I feel like I need to read all of Mariana Zapata's books now, it was that good. ( )

A rambling love story. Loved the growth. Vibe similar to “Kulti.” ( )

I'm torn on this one.
I'll start with the negatives.
First, Aiden is a jerk at the beginning. Seriously, I did not know how the author could ever redeem him and was about to quit.
Second, there was a lot of language that was completely unnecessary, especially when one character made a point not to swear.
Third, a good round of editing could have cut out over 100 pages. Many thoughts were repeated over and over again. Did I mention that there was a lot of repetition? Seriously, there was a lot of repetition. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Now I must start over in order to calm down. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. I think I can get over it now that I have counted to ten two times in a row.
Now for the positives.
This is not a love-at-first-sight type of story. The characters did not like each other and then gradually became friends and then gradually started loving each other. They got to know each other as people, with goals, hopes, and dreams. I don't see that much in romance, even in the Christian fiction that I typically read.
For some reason, this book was just really difficult to put down. I also thought it was super cool that Vanessa was not happy with how out-of-shape she was so she decided to get up and do something about it by training for a marathon. She did not give up even with situations were tough and that is part of why she and Aiden were a good couple.

3.5 Stars

Content: Vanessa uses a LOT of language (Aiden doesn't), both come from abusive home lives, one scene at the end that is easy to skip ( )

Nah sorry Aiden’s into Vanessa because she’s basically his mom, and he’s too emotionally lazy to pursue so much as a passing acquaintanceship with anyone else, despite working on a literal team in which friendship is practically inherent and still has no friends despite living with a teammate who shares his career, interests, and schedule. I think he’s a boring man-child!

Thought there’d be more to nearly 700 pages lol but no! ( )

Rounded up from 3.5 ( )