All Rhodes Lead Here - To Me, Everlasting Love Forever
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- Shalini
- in Book Posts, Book Reviews, Digital Reads Media, Digital Reads Reviews
Table of Contents
Blurb
All Rhodes Lead Here
Losing people you love is hard.
Aurora De La Torre knows moving back to a place that was once home isn’t going to be easy. Starting your whole life over probably isn’t supposed to be.
But a small town in the mountains might be the perfect remedy for a broken heart. And checking out her landlord, across the driveway, just might cure it too.
Publication Date: 2023
to be republished by Avon in Jan 2024
Book Links
My Review of All Rhodes Lead Here
My Deepest Wish
All Rhodes Lead Here – Rhodes – I am obsessed with him. One of the best books of my lifetime that I had ever read. Rhodes was my ideal, at least, my idea of a perfect soulmate. So, this book was the one that I would love to own forever. I was so glad that my friend thrust this book at me and ordered me to READ. And read I did – some of the lines and emotions – again and again.
My first book by author Mariana Zapata, definitely not my last, since I had read about 5 more books before writing this review. My auto buy author henceforth.
What was the story all about
Aurora De La Torre had people walking away from her, some due to choice and others were taken away from her. She needed to find the same joy she had felt when she spent time in a small town with her mother as a child. A rented place, a teen who had falsified the details of the place, an adult man – Rhodes – and a childhood best friend anchored Aurora to this place and made it home for her.
A standalone, the book sang to me not with the words but with the emotions and vibes that both the main characters projected. There was something so delicious about this book that I savored each page I read with an inner joy that I felt I had lost this year.
A sloooooow burn romance, about 500+ pages, the book captured each detail of their lives. But the pages went super fast because the writing was so captivating. Less than two days interspersed with work.
The Hook
Trigger Warnings: loss of a loved one, but those were few scenes and toward the end.
The writing was the most compelling hook, and the steam factor was quite low. The kiss probably occurred at around 75% or so. And I liked that.
I went into this book, thinking I would probably not like it so much with the kind of hype her books got. But I came out with an intense longing for this kind of love. To prove to you I meant my words, I read 5 of this author’s book straight after this and loved each one.
The Characters of All Rhodes Lead Here
Oh, by now, wouldn’t you have guessed what I felt for these characters? I loved every one of them, even those who were not nice to our main characters. They added to the spice of the story.
Aurora, the FMC, was a hugger and someone who didn’t like confrontations. She might seem the flighty bird initially, a people pleaser, but she saw the depth of relationships. Her hugs were were long and comforting, the kinds that let us know she loved them.
But it was to Rhodes that my heart belonged to. The man who felt so deeply but hardly spoke, with his silence he pulled me in so deeply. There was a stillness in him that my restless heart recognized and loved. The man was solid when it came to his relationships.
I loved the fact that in most of Mariana Zapata books, the main character was not male wh0r3s. They respected women, even when they didn’t like the person much. That aspect of the story attracted me most to the author’s books.
The Secondary Characters
The other characters like the son, the uncle, the friends, the BFFs, even the morally dark ones who literally screwed up Aurora’s life were interesting. It gave me a chance to see her interacting with all of them and slowly draw them toward her.
Aurora loved people and gave them multiple chances. But it was Rhodes who understood people and stood by them and always did the right thing. I loved, loved him. I just can’t stop gushing about him, even though it has been 20 days since I had read this book.
The Intricacies
The plot line, at the very basics, all about the meeting and interactions of Aurora with all the characters who came into her lives, including the customers at the shop she worked. I liked how she slowly filled every space around her with warmth.
The story gripped right from the first meeting between Rhodes and her. Every moment, when I analyzed it and found it to be quite so ordinary, was made extra ordinary due to the author’s writing. I quite didn’t know how the author did it.
To be honest, I really thought I would be quite bored with the minute details of Aurora’s life, but that was not so. As the pages turned, I wanted to know more about both of them and never wanted the story to end. How did the author manage to sprinkle her magic on me?
Oh yeah, there was an epilogue too that gave me a glimpse of how their lives progressed. Even though I knew it was fiction and I might never see such a love in this lifetime, I still wanted this kinda love.
It was as solid as the mountains and just as majestic.
The Setting
Small town setting with lots of trails for trekking and having a day out, the book managed to give me the cozy feeling in the entire book, where people remembered and knew each other.
I would love to live in such a town, just would need a better cell reception and wifi.
The Pace
The chapters had every single detail of Aurora’s life including her small bladder, but that added to quirkiness of the story. As I told you, I never expected to read a 500+ book in less than 48 hours with life and work interspersed. But I did and did so repeatedly for other books.
The style of writing - The Prose
One point that you really ought to know was the book was low on angst, and there was no third act breakup or the unnecessary formulaic scenes. I loved that even in the emotionally heightened scenes, the story had zero angst between the main characters
Love entered and slowly settled in their hearts. It was like it recognized both and knew they were two parts of a whole. This knowledge was embedded in every page in the second half of the book.
Written in Aurora’s POV, I could see how much Rhodes cared for her, his hugs, his words, his every action told me that. Both of them really didn’t have to tell me that they genuinely liked each other. I could see that for myself.
As compared to other books, where the authors would spend so many pages describing the zing of attraction, this told me with the vibe and actions. Somehow, I preferred this kind of writing.
How All Rhodes Lead Here made me feel
I want Rhodes, and any guy who enters my life has to measure up to Rhodes. He is my ideal. I know it would be a tough act to follow, but there it is. My heart belongs to Rhodes completely.
After reading this book, all I wanted was to devour her other books. I didn’t ever want to leave this world the author had created. The kind of setting and ambiance the author’s words had, I wanted to immerse myself in it and never leave. The perfect escapism.
Do I recommend this book?
Low on angst, high on friendship and feelings, there were steamy bits but only at the end, this book would be highly recommended for people like me who valued emotions more.
I downloaded the digital version of the book from an online retail, and this is my journey down its pages, straight from the heart. STRICTLY HONEST and UNBIASED.
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2 Responses
I still haven’t read a Mariana Zapata book, but I definitely need to. I might just start with this one. Excellent review, Shalini.
Fantastic review, Shalini (as always). I hope all is well with you, and you have a wonderful week ☕📚🍁☔💛