Kat's Reviews > All Rhodes Lead Here

First Mariana Zapata and WOW, WHAT A ROLLERCOASTER. Tobias Rhodes!!!! LISTENNN, never have I ever been a fan of the single dad trope in my life; he might have swayed me though!! This man owns all ten of my toes. I'd commit a light felony if I thought it meant he'd crack a smile. His hands are so big and warm and I wanna fall asleep in them like Thumbelina. Not to mention, the "who did this to you?" scene, the post-hike first aid moment, the thunderstorm rescue??? I'm a hurt/comfort girlie forever and ever, through and through. The sluttiest thing a man can do is care, and Rhodes? He was downright INDECENT.

However, I am nothing if not a hater to my core, so let's cut to the critiques:

The main conclusion I drew while reading All Rhodes Lead Here is that Zapata’s hallmark—the length of her novels—might also be indicative of her greatest weakness. The slow burn was not the problem, nothing about the build between Rhodes and Aurora needed to be fully cut. It was the combo of repetitive, wordy writing with the glacial pacing that made me really FEEL each of those 559 pages. Like…please...someone free this woman from her periphrasis cage; let her know that names + pronouns are allowed to be used more than once per paragraph. Also, Not every one-liner needs to be turned into a running bit and sometimes 'cute' nicknames should remain unexplained, especially those that exist because one character reminds the other of Will Ferrell running around New York City like a hyperactive toddler in tights.

But, despite my shit talking, I’m glad the unwavering hype for this author led me here (hah) because it honestly was a good fucking time. MZ fanatics, pls don’t come crawling through my walls. I may be a critic, but I could be one of y’all too <3 K thx bye.