When Gracie Met The Grump

Love, love, love. This is so different from any of her other books and yet still very Mariana. I was torn between wanting to find out what happens and never wanting it to end. All of her books are incredible and this one is no exception. Keep writing the magic, if you retired from writing I genuinely think I would cry. Now to read all your other books AGAIN before the book hangover sets in!

I love Mariana, her books are a one click buy for me and one of the few authors where I constantly find myself rereading her books. For the first time I've struggled alot to finish this one and have found myself skimming multiple pages. Mariana is known for her slow burns but this story is just slow. I honestly feel that the other 5* and 4* reviews are based on how liked the author is rather than the quality of the story. Marianas characters are usually relatable and full of depth, there character building in this book for me was lacking. Its mentioned a few times that the main FMC is dramatic, but I just found her annoying and her inner monologue tedious at times. Considering the book was based around superheros very little action happened. Overall I just found this book boring. I'm still a fan of Mariana and look forward to her next release but this ones a hard no.

Gracie has spent almost her entire life on the run. In hiding. She’s never really had a friend, and now that her grandparents are both gone, she’s never felt so alone. She knows she should be looking to move on to the next town again, and yet every time she thinks about choosing somewhere, she can’t make herself do it. So one night, when she has a particularly strong sense of foreboding, she isn’t totally surprised when something crashes in her yard. But then she could never prepare herself for what she finds…none other than The Defender, injured and grumpy as hell. A superhero. In.her.garden! OMG I am almost lost for words, I loved this so much! I’ve never read a superhero romance before, and it certainly wasn’t a trope I was expecting from Mariana Zapata, but it was everything! Although a new subject for her as an author, it was still very true to her writing, the hero just happened to also be an actual hero. With superpowers. I felt Gracie’s loneliness and perceived rejection deep in my soul. I always resonate so hard to these things in books for some reason. It makes for such an immersive read because I felt like I was experiencing everything in tandem with Gracie. The Defender was so damn grumpy. Until he wasn’t. I absolutely adored their banter and the slooooooow progression of their relationship. Zapata is the queen of the slow burn for a reason, and I love how well she writes the trope. I spent 80-90% of the book wishing for it to go quicker but not wanting to skim read, and then at the end I wished it wasn’t over! And that epilogue…are we getting a sequel???

This author is an automatic buy for me. I saw the fb post that said it was out and I immediately bought it. Then I read the blurb and thought superhero? Really? Then I read the book. I absolutely loved it. I had to eek it out or I would have devoured it, as it is I read it in 24 hours. Lexi was was moody, bossy and as the title said grumpy. Gracie was sarcastic, blunt and real. Can we have the rest of the family now? Please?

So I'm a huge MZ fan. Her books have saved me emotionally time and time again..I'll always support her and will read everything she writes.... But this one is a bit confusing for me, and I am still processing, but here's my thoughts ***mild spoilers ahead***** It took me until about 15% before I was hooked which is unusual for a MZ book. I struggled though, because I just kept thinking...where the heck is this going? I don't need all the answers early on, but some kind of direction is best for me. There's none of that in this book. In fact, I think we can easily say that a major theme of the book is unanswered questions and secrets...which I found occasionally irritating. Some ultimately felt unresolved. I did love that our mains are together early on and fight through all the drama together. Their dynamic was an odd one...it was like hate to friends first, at least on his part since Gracie is loyal to A the entire way through...but for their style of banter to work, there needs to be a balance. For every snark, some kind of attraction or build up of sexual tension has to take place to counter it..there is A LOT of joking and banter and bickering and very little attraction. I didn't really even feel that A was attracted to Gracie until like 80% of the way through, which meant I wasn't really rooting for them as a couple. A is a grumpy, I get it, but he was occasionally just plain mean and there's little to no grovel. I actually was quite emotional during a few scenes were he was just a jerk to her! Later in the book, A's behavior made me mad. Gracie has trust and abandonment issues and ******spoiler****** he leaves her for a month without a single text? Then he's all pissy when he comes home and she's not in the house waiting for him? Um, what? There were sooooo many side characters, I wish there were just a couple really well developed ones instead of a whole Horde of siblings..some of their names were very similar too, and it was hard to keep track. MZ is the queen of slow burn, so I've got no issues with the story pacing BUT she also writes the most AMAZING proclaimations of love from her leading men. You know, the ones that make you swoon. I didn't get that here. A keeps saying he likes her, he likes her, he likes her...and I'm like you're 35, we're past do you like me, check yes or no.... Last, the steam...what a weird dynamic. It didn't work for me. I like a more alpha male, one willing to show his woman the emotions he just spilled...like he's got to have her. In this case, Gracie ran the show and that just isn't my jam. Yes there were issues here but...MZ is an incredible writer, she's a master at spinning tales and immersing you into these whole other worlds. I've never read anything like this, it's a whole original and unique story. I'm curious to see what ...