Book Review: All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata

ALL RHODES LEAD HERE by Mariana Zapata

★★★★★ 5/5
🌶🌶/3

My first book over 400 pages and I’d say it was worth it. I can see why it has a high rating on GoodReads (4.4)!

Synopsis:
This book follows a woman’s journey back to her hometown after her 14 year relationship ends. She returns to the small town she grew up AND lost her mom. There, she rents a garage apartment where finds herself and possibly love: her landlord. 🔥

Thoughts:
This book is a slow burn. I didn’t think I would have the patience but I actually loved it.

I could visualize the scenery, her home, the store she worked at but I had trouble picturing the MMC. And bc he was described as having silver in his hair, I thought of James Brolin. 🤣 WHY.

Then my sis in law (who also recommended the book) said THINK TAYLOR KINNEY. I went through the book so much faster after that. 😂😍

“Lies had fragile, little legs. I wanted a foundation.”

I found FMC (Aurora) had depth. I, as a reader, was constantly peeling away layers of her and her story. I was zeroed in on finding out what had happened to her to make her feel shame, to make her feel lost and start over. In some ways, she was unpredictable, which also made her relatable.

“There were some things in life that you had to prove to yourself.”

And that she did. She was finding her strength again after a tumultuous relationship and I was here for it. 🙌🏼 I felt really proud of Aurora and I was rooting for her the entire way.

Her story with her mom was hard for me to read. I thought she was handled it well until … then even I teared up. Everything she felt, I have felt with my own mom and that was treading on territory I only reserved for therapy. 😅

Her banter with Rhodes is cute. And they’re also on the ‘more mature’ side (30-40’s), which I appreciated as I’ve been reading many books with 20-something MCs. Rhodes is protective without 🚩🚩🚩 (none of this “I own you” shit 🤮). And that steamy scene. 🌶 😮 Hello.

Have you read this? Do you like slow burn books?