This is a strange book. I liked some of it, but the fmc ruined it for me. Plus, the last 100 pages dragged.

I didn't mind the fmc at the beginning, but she annoyed me more and more as the book went on. She's 33, but she acted so immature for her age and her decisions didn't make sense. All of the other characters thought she was super awesome though, which somehow made the book even more irritating.

Every single one of the fmc's interactions with animals was annoying and unrealistic.

The fmc being so down on herself because she had to work at learning her job didn't make sense. Everyone has to learn things for their job. Has she never had to work at something before? No one knows everything right away. (I do appreciate that she made a real effort to learn, though.)

All of the fmc's bathroom mentions and humor were jarring. I don't want to read about her bathroom habits. And the way that she talked about it with the hero was off-putting.

The mmc was alright most of the time, but he did some irritating things, too.

His nickname for the fmc was "buddy" and his reasoning behind it was just annoying.

He sometimes praised the fmc like she was a precocious child instead of an adult.

The mmc did eventually adore the fmc, which would normally be awesome, but doesn't work when the heroine annoys me.

A few things that I did like:

I think that the mmc's son, Amos, was well written. And I liked the fmc's friendships with Clara and Yuki.

Edit: I just noticed my comment from 3 days ago saying that I liked it so far. That last 25% really changed my mind. ( )

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did.

The writing style was really distracting to me and at times very laborious. It felt like at least a third of this content could be edited out and nothing would be missing. ( )

When I read Zapata's The Wall of Winnipeg and Me I said in my 5-star review:

There is nothing about this book that would identify it as a book I would love. I don't hate it, but grumpy-sunshine is not my favorite trope. (The addition here of forced proximity really helps.) It is heartwarming (there is even a puppy), largely sex free, the male lead is not a chatter so there is little in the way of fun banter, and it is New Adult. But doggone it is a book I did love. I feel glowy. Just a perfect fairy tale of a romance.

This one is not new adult (FMC is in her mid-30s MMC in his early 40s), and there is no dog (there is an awkward adorable teenage son instead) but otherwise I would say the same thing about this one. I loved it, I am smiling ear to ear and I can't say why but in the end, who cares why. ( )

No one, NO ONE, does slow burn like Mariana Zapata. ( )

My sincere thanks to Avon and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read All Rhodes Lead Here and give my honest opinion of it in the following short review.

What is your love language? One thing I love about Mariana's books is how her characters display their love languages before they even know they are in love. In this book we follow Rhodes who is in his early 40s and Aurora who is 33. They meet when Rhodes' son rents out their garage apartment to Aurora without his father's permission. This does not go over well, but Aurora is allowed to stay when she offers to pay more and not interact with them. Aurora has come back to the small community she left as a young girl after her mother went missing on a hike in the mountains never to be seen again. She has gone through a bad breakup following a 14-year relationship and wants to feel connected to something or someone again. The last place she remembers truly feeling this was when she lived in Colorado with her mom. She's not sure what she is going to do there other than try out some of her mother's favorite hikes as found in the notebooks her mom kept. Keeping away from Rhodes and his son Amos is more difficult than anticipated. Aurora is a sunshiny people person, and it is just not in her nature to ignore those around her. This leads to her rescuing Amos in a time of need and Rhodes finally seeing that she is nothing like he originally pictured her. Watching their relationship grow from that point was a delight.

I love the friendship building in this book, both Aurora's friendship with Rhodes AND with Amos. As their friendship grows, you really see the grumpy Rhodes start to display his love language of acts of service and time. He begins to see a different future for himself, and Aurora heals from a relationship where she was treated like a dirty secret. Rhodes allows her to grow and figure out what she wants before declaring his feelings. I loved the slow burn. This is much more than a fluffy romance and I really enjoyed it. ( )