From Lukov with Love Paperback – February 1, 2018

I LOVE LOVE LOVED IT. Make way, The Wall of Winnipeg and Me and Kulti, From Lukov with Love is joining you in my 're-read all over and over and over again' pile. This book had Mariana Zapata's signature slow burn that I can't get enough, characters I can't help but absolutely love, and fantastic banter that made me laugh out loud, all the while set in a sport world I don't usually encounter in romance novels (If you know more figure skating/pair skating romances, please recommend them to me!). Plus, Ivan and Jasmine are my favorite MZ hero and heroine.Jasmine Santos has been in the figure and pair skating world for as long as she can remember, but at twenty-six and without a partner after he left her in the dust, she might have to hang up her skates. Talented as she is, she hasn't won a gold medal since her junior years, and with people she has attitude problems, it isn't exactly easy to find a new partner.But when world champion and darling of the skating world Ivan Lukov and his coach asks her to become his partner, Jasmine knows this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Only thing is she can't stand Ivan, and the feeling is mutual. Despite Jasmine being Ivan's sister's best friend, the two have been at each other's throats since they were teenagers, and the animosity stayed with them even as they grew up.If they want to make their partnership work, they'll have to try to get along, or at least not try to kill each other while they're training. Outside the rink is fair game. But a partnership like theirs needs a strong foundation of trust in each other, and they don't trust each other at all.I laughed so much at Ivan and Jasmine's antics. These two did not hold back at all. They can't spend time together without throwing insults at each other that the people around them don't know whether to be frustrated or entertained. There were times my chest ached and I wanted to kick Ivan where it hurts because some of the things he said were pretty sore points for Jasmine, and honestly for me, too. Jasmine's not innocent either. But all in all, it's pretty innocent; it's become a routine for them to do it that their words do not have as much heat as it sounds.Okay, let me start with my dear Vanya. I'm pretty sure Ivan Lukov is my favorite MZ hero. He's different than the rest of the author's heroes. He's cocky but not to the point of being conceited, charming, and more outgoing than the previous heroes. He's affectionate and teasing, and has more to him than meets the eye. He's a celebrated athlete, but you can't begrudge him for his fame and success because you know well he worked hard for it. That's what makes him perfect for Jasmine. He understands her pains and struggles as an athlete, and knows better than anyone of the sacrifices they have to give to be where they are. And he's funny as heck!Jasmine, unlike her shy and reticent older sister Ruby (heroine of Dear Aaron), is outspoken and does not hold back to tell others what she's thinking. She's confident in who she is as a person and will never pretend to be something she's not just to please others, and you know what, that's what I admired about her the most. Because of that, people often mistake it for being mean and unapproachable.I have a similar outlook on life as Jasmine, and it hit me in the feels when I learned more about her. She's 100% focused on her career, and because of that, she's lost time she should have been spending with her family and everyone she loves. She seems emotionally detached, but truly she's kind-hearted.If you've read DA, Jas was a teenager then and honestly, to me, she seemed selfish or conceited. She's grown since then after finally realizing how much her family has sacrificed for her to reach her dreams, and she's making a conscious effort to make it up to them. But as I've said, Jasmine isn't a touchy-feely person, and she's still trying to figure out how to make it up to her family all the while trying to understand her real goal in her career and her frustrations. It's one of her biggest struggles here, and we get to see how she overcomes that. I loved watching this part of her, the growth Jasmine has to go through in From Lukov with Love.I loved the Santos family dynamic! Jasmine and her mom, Jas and her brothers and sisters (plus their significant others and children), it was such a treat to read about them! You can see it in her family why Jasmine is the way she is. They're not outwardly affectionate towards each other in a conventional sense, but the strong love is obvious. They tease and hurl insults at each other but will threaten bodily harm on people who they think would hurt their brood. Special mention to James who's the best! It was so funny when he and Jas bickered. The family dynamic felt authentic, even her strained relationship with her father. And as a Filipino, I have to confirm that some of the parents (luckily not mine) tend to think the same as Jasmine's father who believes that a college degree and a nine-to-five office job is better than anything else.While this book is full of funny antics, it has its fair share of angst, too. But other than that, there are a lot of feels! When the two decides to become friends, it's obvious how compatible they were, and then when they started caring for each other??? AHHHH. Feels! I love it when guys are affectionate and sweet and thoughtful and ahhh. I can't.From Lukov with Love is a standalone so people don't need to read Dear Aaron to appreciate it, but I still recommend reading DA first since it was set a few years prior to Lukov. But if you've read Dear Aaron already and loved them, you'll see a little bit more of #Ruron here!Fans of Kulti and enemies to lovers romance will love From Lukov with Love! It will make you laugh, tear up, and fall in love, not just with Ivan and Jasmine, but with figure and pair skating, as well.Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Best Friend's Brother, Sports—Pair SkatingPOV: First Person, Female POVStandalone: Yes

There is no one who does slow burn better than Mariana Zapata. At this point I'm just stating facts, honestly.I loved this book soooo much I feel like I can't even put into words how happy this book made me feel. Right now I have the biggest grin on my face and my heart feels full, like when you finish the best love story and you just know that they're going to be happy together for the rest of their lives. It's how I feel about Jasmine and Ivan. Because if there were ever two people who were meant to be, it's those two.I love that this was a enemies to friends to lovers romance but I loved even more was how they pretty much weren't enemies at all but it was all foreplay to what everyone could see but Jasmine. I won't even say Ivan because it feels clear to me that from the very beginning, Ivan has been interested in Jasmine and she was the only one clueless to his affections towards her. And that fact that he's been waiting around for her for freaking YEARS makes me love him so much but also makes their romance feel that much more soulmate worthy.I loved pretty much everything about this book but I especially loved Jasmine. I love how perfectly imperfect she is. I love how she is so unapologetically herself and how many would call her an unlikable heroine and she wouldn't give a hoot about it. She is who she is and she never apologizes for it and I loved that about her sooo much. She has worked so freaking hard for her dream, it honestly hurt me that she she kept failing while everyone else around her was succeeding. But what is so great about Jasmine is that she NEVER gives up, not on herself and not on the things that really matter. This book was very much centered on Jasmine's journey as a ice skater and as a person; I would even go as far as saying it was about her journey first, and the romance second.Though as a side note, that one sex scene we got was SO. FREAKING. HOT.Like seriously, hot.Their chemistry was off the charts and that one scene alone made me wish on all the stars in the sky that Mariana would have more sexy times in her books because hot DAMN.So if I loved this book so freaking much, why only 4 stars? Well there were a few things that bothered me:1. I felt like the writing at certain points was a bit awkward and confusing. For example, many times throughout the book she would say things like "the woman standing next to me said," or "my mom's fourth husband said" and it was just so...weird? We know their names, she literally said them one line before so why did she have to keep referring to them through this characterization quirk? (I don't even know if that is a thing or if it makes sense but I'm going with it for now). It became annoying after a while because I just wanted to shout, "JUST CALL THEM BY THEIR DAMN NAME ALREADY" and at one point in the beginning when she'd done it with their Coach Lee I was genuinely confused when she'd refer to her as "the other woman standing next to me" because I thought maybe I'd missed something and there was more than one coach in the room and I had to keep rereading the paragraph or page over.2. I feel like I complain about this all the time but while I love how she's so amazing at the slow burn, I feel like she forget that she needs to actually show us them as a couple. Don't get me wrong, I felt their connection and could feel that they'd be perfect together as a couple and they'd last for the long haul but once more it took until 95% for them to actually get together and that didn't really leave much room to show us them together as a couple. And I don't know if it's just a me thing, but while I want the slow burn, I also want the satisfaction of seeing them date and be a couple too. I feel like it gets tricky in this book because technically even though they weren't together and Jasmine was acting oblivious to what was in front of her, they were pretty much acting like a couple for the last quarter-ish of the book. I knew that Ivan was in love with her well before he admitted it and I knew that she had feelings for him too even if she hadn't realized it yet, but I wanted to see them be together longer than half a chapter. I'm not trying to be harsh or mean but it's clear that the author has a formula that has worked very well for her in the past. Hell, her next five books could follow the same formula of: slow burn to the max and then last five precent showing them finally admit their feelings and I'd still buy every single one of them. But at the same time, it's going to get old. And just because something has worked for you before doesn't mean you shouldn't grow as a writer and try new things. I'm not saying she needs to stop doing what she's doing because I love her for it so much but I'm saying maybe tweak it or throw in a curveball or two to keep us readers on our toes every once in a while.3. And my final complaint would be that I felt like the writing was drawn out. It's not that I didn't love it and I wasn't completely hooked from beginning to end, because I was. But when I was reading, she would take three pages to say one thing and I got the distinct feeling she was just being wordy to be wordy. For example, I didn't need 3-4 pages of inner dialogue about how she was sad that her mom was sad, especially when it felt like it was in a constant loop of the same thing being said four different ways. This kind of ties into my point two where you could've used those extra words/pages or whatever to show us them as a couple instead of feeling like you needed to draw things out for the simple fact that it's kind of what you're known for. Again I don't mean this in a catty or nasty way because I genuinely love this author and her writing so freaking much it's not even funny. But it was just the impression I got a few times while reading.But besides those three things, I absolutely loved this book and felt like I went through the best freaking journey with these characters. Mariana Zapata is easily one of my favorite authors and I love that I can count on her to make me fall so in love with her books, no matter what. I also want to point out that I love her immensely for always having diversity in her books; she is one of the few romance authors that I can say that has multiple books with WOC heroines and I love that she consistently gives it to us. Not only that but she gives diversity in so many other aspects to, like in the topics covered in her books. Her characters are not one dimensional and they very much feel like real people, people who I could know and be friends with. Overall, if you are a fan of this author's previous books you will 100% love this book so hardcore. And if you haven't read anything by her yet you need to jump on the Zapata train and pick up this book asap.