Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Love & Football

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

by Leave a Comment

I may have had the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce romance in my head when I decided to read a football romance. Also, my friend recommended The Wall of Winnipeg and Me (2023) by Mariana Zapata, and she usually has pretty good recommendations. This was a fun romance. It generally kept my interest, and I enjoyed reading it. Vanessa Mazur had a pretty terrible childhood, but she’s managed to make a pretty good life for herself. She wants to start a graphic design company, but has worked for the […]

I need a Zapata break, which might be forever.

by 4 Comments

Mariana Zapata’s books continue to give me an experience of diminishing returns. If I had just stopped at Kulti, I would still love it, but now having read three of her books, and seen that all three of them feel like basically the same book with the covers and names swapped out, I have been enjoying them less and less (and retroactively enjoy Kulti less, too, which is sad). This book is about Jasmine Santos, a pairs skater without a partner, whose mortal enemy, Ivan […]

This book made me feel like a bad person

by 5 Comments

I should have stopped reading Mariana Zapata a long time ago. All of her books have elements of internalized misogyny that make me uncomfortable. Her heroines tend to be “not like the other girls” and the other girls are “whores” or bitches. Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin adds in some gross gay panic and transphobia to the self hatred. And I read the whole thing. I feel like shit.

I am a ball of conflicting emotions.

by 3 Comments

So I actually finished this book almost a week ago but I’ve been sitting on the rating and review because I’m torn. Conflicting thoughts, hate those. Plot: Vanessa Mazur has just quit her job after two years of being a personal assistant to famous professional football player Aiden Graves. He didn’t treat her very well, and she wants to start her own graphic design business, so she’s out. But he shows up at her door after she quits, begging her to come back. I won’t […]

Everything Beth Ellen Said is Accurate, But I Still Enjoyed It

by 4 Comments

I’m having a hard time focusing on reading. It’s not that things are bad. Things are stressful in a way that uses up a lot of my mental and emotional energy. I’m working on a couple of books I received as gifts over the holidays (one from my uncle and fellow Cannonballer, degregorious), but the focus isn’t there. Beth Ellen’s review of From Lukov With Love plus the Olympic figure skating on my tv and all over my social media feeds gave me an urge to […]

Figure Skaters Finding Love (literally all I needed to know to sell me on it, how about the rest of you?)

by 7 Comments

Oh Mariana Zapata, I have such a love/please for the love of god find an editor relationship with you. She wrote my favorite slow burn romance ever, Kulti, and is back this time with a different set of athletes. Jasmine Santos is a world class figure skater trying to decide if it’s time to end her career after her pairs partner bailed a year before. Ivan Lukov is the current reigning pairs figure skating champion and all around taunting pain in Jasmine’s backside at their […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo