Good morning!
Wow, this book took me a while. I read this second-to-me Mariana Zapata book, and I decided I wanted it translated in french.. clearly bad idea as the book was quite huge 😅🙈
3 1/2 ⭐️ / 5 stars
This translated was “only” 545 pages.. but it was both long & short. The story itself felt long, but hear me out- it’s a rival to lover. Or, rather, a rival to friends to lover.. the friends part of the novel was too long, and not enough of the rival or the lover.
I like my rival to lovers to have LOTS of bickering- not only did they stop bickering early on, but I was up to 70% and we weren’t talking about love yet. Just a faint start of “i’m ignoring this pang in my belly thinking they might be taken” kinda thing.
The characters itself were nice, I appreciated the fact that Jasmine was still living with her mother, which is relatable to me. Her big family was loving and very well written. I loved the sass between Jasmine & Ivan! The microtrope where he takes care of her when she’s sick is so sweet! I loved this bit, also with the magazine special.
The romance near the ending was super cute, and I liked the similar “years later with kids” epilogue as for The wall of winnipeg & me. However enjoyeable, the format just wasn’t for me; hence the half star.
I am not sure I would have loved the translation Krsitina as a huge part of the fun was the banter in the family and that usually translates badly.
Ahh yes, I see. It also make it longer 😨 when the english is average sized, the french is a brick!