Superb Story With Excellent Narration

This standalone book, has ties to other books by Mariana Zapata, but you’ll only notice if you’ve read them. Perfect all by itself, it has no cliffhanger.

Lenny DeMaio is a world champion, a national champion and an a pan-American champion Judoka. She never actually got as far as the opening ceremony for the Olympics because of injuries, but she’s beaten everyone that won that’s still fighting. But she gave it all up in a heartbeat for the love of her daughter, Mo. Now managing her family’s martial arts gym, whilst her grandfather, the man who raised her, looks after Mo, she’s finally on an even keel again after 8 months of being a single mother.

The last thing she expects is the father of her daughter to turn up after dropping all contact for 17 months. Jonah Collins is huge, not to mention gorgeous. He’s a world famous rugby player from New Zealand, who turns heads wherever he goes. He and Lenny met in Paris where he was playing rugby and Lenny was teaching judo after an injury. They bonded over a museum tour and soon became inseparable. Then Jonah was injured and disappeared. Now he’s back and Lenny has no idea what he wants.

This, like all Marian Zapata books is a wonderful romance story. The characters are rich, deep and complex. The plot is straightforward but compelling but above all it’s the story telling that wraps itself around you. Lenny is a great character. She’s blunt, forceful and determined. She’s honest and sarcastic and loyal above all else. She adores her grandfather with everything in her and they are partners in crime, along with Peter, the other man who helped raise her. She and her grandfather Gus are two peas in a pod and love how she refers to him as a vampire. In some ways this is a love letter to Gus. He’s almost as important as the two main characters. He’s funny, sarcastic, loyal and loving. He’s a world champion boxer who owns a martial arts gym, who raised a son and then a granddaughter on his own. He plays pick up games of basketball and poker with his friends. He makes puréed baby food for his great granddaughter and reads romance novels. He’s a man’s man, with a soft buttery centre and I adored him. Without Grandpa Gus there would be so much less heart to this story, not to mention less wit.

Jonah is a really sweet and flawed hero. He made some massive mistakes but as we get to know him through the story we can begin to understand why he made the mistakes because of who is. He also owns up to those mistakes and vows never to repeat them. He’s shy and funny in an understated way and falls head over heels in love with his daughter. He’s calm and accepting, but he’s not a pushover when it comes to the people he cares about.

This author is fantastic at creating back stories for her characters. They have complex histories that are mentioned in passing that have an impact on who they are today. They don’t necessarily dwell on the past but they are fully developed and I think this is one of the reasons why this author’s characters are so complex and feel so real. There are so many layers to who they are before we reach the end of the first chapter.

The two narrators do a wonderful job of conveying the characters. I really like that Calum Gittins read all of Jonah’s speech. Actually from New Zealand he was convincing in the role and his light and musical voice was perfect for the part of Jonah. All narration and other characters were read by Callie Dalton. Callie Dalton’s effort at the New Zealand accent wasn’t great when she read the parts of Jonah’s mother and sister and I’m really glad they decided that Jonah should be read by someone with the right accent. There is nothing more distracting than a narrator reading a main character’s speech poorly. Other than her New Zealand accents, Callie Dalton did a great job with the narration and was convincing as Lenny. Between them, these two narrators sucked me in and the book disappeared in no time at all.

This book made me laugh, smile with heart warming moments and sob out loud. It’s a fantastic book about a really difficult situation where two great people work their way through it with the help of good friends and wonderful family. I love this author and I’ve yet to be disappointed by her. I can’t wait to see what comes from her next.

1 person found this helpful

Zapata goodness all round

I devoured this book in the best way I know how, on holiday, with my full and undivided attention, just what any Zapata book deserves. THE BEST THING gave me all the things I love from my favourite Zapatas – family and friends, the slow burn build and all of the stomach-crunching feelings. What was special about this book was that it went a direction that Mariana hasn’t gone before and it worked so darn well.

This story has a split sport context of MMA and rubgy…hello…this is fine by me. What a picture was painted, I loved the home of Maio House. This book delivered on some of the best characters I’ve read from a MZ book, Lenny (Elena), Jonah, Grandpa Gus, Mo (special squidge to the stomach here) and Peter. Each of these characters had my heart and all equally, I cannot favour one over the other.

Lenny was a woman let down, let down in the biggest way. Each chapter start gave a very brief past context to the ways in which Lenny had been let down and the more that the book progressed, the more those chapters starts kicked me in the gut. Jonah was the guy, THE GUY and it’s amazing how my heart, mind and affections moved towards understanding him. This big, bumbling, shy and gorgeous creature was swoon-heaven but guess what, Lenny was a champion MMA fighter, she could totally kick his ass with a foot swipe and her mouth.

<i>There was nothing he could do that I couldn’t fight. There was nothing he could say that would possibly hurt me. I had prepared for this.

What was it that he wanted to explain? Why had he disappeared? Why hadn’t he called me back? What hadn’t he wanted to be part of…my life? Why he’d decided to come back now?</i>

The unexpected element of this book was thrilling to me and this aspect was written so well, my heart was warm and cozy, wrapped up in the family-ness of this book. Sorry for the vagueness but it is necessary.

This second chance story with a deep connection at the heart, was fantastic. It was written with a style that just seemed to appeal to my mind and heart. I saved the last 6% for my flight home and what an idiot I am because that epilogue had my eyes sweating on take off. That said, that epilogue was just right for me.

Go read, go love, go savour.

Re-read by audio and it gave all the feels again. The narration was excellent and the dual dialogue was great.

1 person found this helpful

Another great read from the queen of slow burn romance!

As always the queen of slow burn romance does it again! Yet another bunch of characters that I have fallen in love with and dang it did she catch me in the feels with this one! I loved every second of it.

As for the narration of the book, Callie and Calum did an amazing job bringing these characters to life!

5 Stars ⭐️

Crying!

Oh god, I put off reading this for ages, from the blurb I just wasn’t overly interested, but I’m so glad I read (listened to) it! Jonah was great, but by far my fave was Grandpa Gus!!

Romantic & Wholesome Second Second Chance Romance

The Best Thing - 3.5/5

What I Liked:
- The slow burn romance was so good! I really did fall in love with Jonah.
- The way in which information was revealed (since the synopsis was very vague) was quite satisfying and I could almost see the little movie playing in my mind.
- Having a male narrator do all of Jonah's dialogue. His voice was just perfect!
- The de Maio family: from their interesting history to their wholesome love for each other.

What I didn't like:
- The female narrator has very little range when it comes to doing different voices, even female voices. But overall her voice was pleasant enough to get through the story.
- I hate that that the first 80% was slow burn and the last 20% was rushed through to reach a conclusion (especially the epilogue, it felt unnecessary). For this reason alone I'm downgrading to 3.5 stars, because up until 80% the story felt well-crafted and the remainder felt like it was thrown together in 5 minutes.

Overall I do recommend this book because it gave me all the feelings.

Great book

This is a pleasant read. Calm and enjoyable and the ending so good and tears aplenty. The narrators very good and don't we all want a granddad gus

Not the best

A bit of a non book, with a weak story line, a shame because I usually love her books the best bit was the beautifully written ending