3.5 ⭐
this book made me feel so many feelings. i went in knowing nothing but him threatening her dates away and i loved everything, the grumpy x sunshine, the nickname baby girl and just them in total

i LOVE Mariana Zapata like the slowest burn ever he’s grumpy asf and i eat it up every single time!!!

Actual rating 3.5 stars

Luna's life is a mess, but she makes do and she's thankful for the job she learns to love, the loyal friends she makes along the way, the purple house she's living in, a father figure she sees like her own father, and the little sisters who love her unconditionally. She has a secret, but it's not something big like you'd imagine after reading the title. I think the only person convenienced by the secret itself is herself.

This is quite possibly the lowest rating I have ever given to Mariana Zapata's book, and not because Luna and The Lie not great, because it is. The writing, the characterization, the plot, the relationship between characters--all of them is fantastic. Mariana Zapata has never disappointed me with her ability to create a nice romantic slow burn and development of the characters.

However, there is just this one tiny problem that I have: Luna's personality.

Now, I think I've mentioned before that my reviews are subjective. I've also mentioned that characterization in the book matters A LOT to me, that is to say I have to somehow like the main character to get through the book. I'm not usually picky. I even like characters with flaws the most--they make them seem more human and relatable. I like anti-heroes. I love mean girls. I even like one or two snobbish characters. My point is I don't dislike many of them.

The only personality that I have never liked EVER is the spineless doormat character.

Many of you would exclaim in outrage because of what I'm saying. "Luna is not spineless! Look at how she managed to befriend the scariest motherf**ker in town." I know, I know. I am not talking about Luna specifically, I'm just saying I mostly ditch book whose main character with that type of personality, but I don't ditch this one because I believe in Mariana Zapata.

Now this is subjective for me because I prefer my girls prideful and goal-driven--like Jasmine from From Lukov With Love. It's a case of "It's not you, it's me". I loved Luna at first, but I disliked the choices she'd made throughout the book and while I can concede that she is a very nice person, I don't think we would get along well with each other if she were to be an actual person in real life. She frustrates me and I don't like being frustrated while reading fiction books is all.

Also, maybe there is this little troubling fact that she is a combination between me and my best friend in real life--but in a bad way. Luna has major difficulty of asking and accepting help and while I can see where it comes from it still frustrates me. Instead of seeing her as humble, I just see her as a stubborn woman who doesn't know when to accept other people's concern. She never quite handles that negative side of hers either, I mean at least until the bits in the last 15% of the book, but all right. Anyway, this is just me. It bothers me.

Maybe this one is a miss for me. I still most of it, especially Lily that precious little angel, but I like Luna the least from other characters of Mariana Zapata.

Maybe next time.

THIS WAS GREAT. This book solidified my love for the slow burn AND for Mariana Zapata, the queen of contemporary romance that's full of realistic and lovable characters, great friendships, complicated family dynamics and swoon-worthy slowly evolving and developing romance that gets my fluffy heart beating faster and my mouth forming smiles and smirks every 9 minutes or so.

I 10/10 adored Luna as a main character, adored her happy-go-lucky attitude to life after all the tough things that she's been through, her relationship with her little sister and Mr. C, the half-sister representation and the emotional struggles that come with that and her constant need to not make mistakte, avoid confrontation and overthinking everything - because it's what I do. Top notch me-representation and that's always good to make me feel connected to characters. I was totally on-board with the romance from the get-go (even though it was hard to read Rip, her love interest, and I didn't fully grasp his feelings and thoughts) - mostly because grumpy guy + happy girl, age difference and boss+employee.

Note 1: I want to shout about my love for the "comforting eachother" trope because it's STORY GOLD. It always makes me happy and works for me to feel for both of the characters.

4.5⭐️ Something about this book doesn’t scream 5⭐️ to me and I’m honestly not sure what it is. BUT I did really like this book, I loved the romance. I didn’t like the conflict towards the end of the book, which kind of took off that half a star. Luna and Rip we’re very cute together though. I also wish I had a little more of them together, together (if you know what I mean

SO GOOD! I couldn't put this book down, I ended up reading it one night. My only regret is now its over too soon!

This book was the perfect slow-burn, angsty, funny, sweet and all around butterfly inducing mix that I have come to love with Mariana's books.

Everyone should go read this book now!

I think I'm going to table this one indefinitely... probably once I'm in the mood for a lengthy slow burn

8 months later.. I've finally finished this!!

4.75 stars

It took me awhile to read this because the intro is so slow, but once I got into the story I couldn't put it down.

LE SIGH <3