I didn’t necessarily need Aiden and Vanessa to have the same argument about why she wouldn’t come back to work for him or marry him quite so many times (on rereads I skip all those chapters), but… Aiden was really a jerk in a position of power in the beginning of the book, and that needed not to be the case. Just…be cool for the sake of the narrative.) (Also he’s a defensive player! Okay okay okay! I kinda sorta know how football works. Aiden is not one of those football players who dances in the end zone. I mean, they live with another football player who’s besties with Vanessa, so there was room for jealousy, but Zapata doesn’t go in for it. Vegan has nothing to do with anything, but I enjoyed having a vegan hero for a change.Īiden shares pieces of himself with Vanessa, but they’re already married, and most of the interaction takes place in their own house, so there’s very little space for flights of jealousy or other indicators that Aiden wants Vanessa. He’s a vegan introvert who is solely focused on football, so his personal relationships are pretty much nonexistent. Since they’re married, they have to live together and BAM – forced proximity for the romance.Īiden is a little opaque, that that’s not a strange thing because Zapata writes in 1st person POV from the heroine’s perspective, so we have no insight into Aiden’s thoughts or feelings or motivations. Aiden talks her into marrying him so he can get a green card (he’s Canadian), which she only agrees to because she has mortgage-level student debt. Then Aiden acts like a jerk, so she rage quits. Finally, she stops making excuses to herself about why not to quit and gives Aiden a very generous, open-ended notice. Vanessa didn’t care so long as she was earning money so she could meet her goal of eventually quitting and working for herself as a graphic designer.

Vanessa worked as defensive end football star Aiden’s personal assistant for two years. I liked this book, but I’m a little hard pressed to understand why. Before I read it, Ingrid, who introduced me to Mariana Zapata, said this one wasn’t her favorite, and we discussed it a little bit after I finished the book, which was helpful. Overall: I liked it but I kinda don’t know why

Plot: Let’s have a marriage of convenience because of reasons Heat Factor: Pretty standard Zapata slow burnĬharacter Chemistry: It kinda wasn’t there and then all of a sudden it was?

Vanessa and aiden the wall of winnipeg