Wait for It by Mariana Zapata
Standalone
Contemporary Romance
December 7th 2016

I swear, I’m starting to think there isn’t a bad Mariana Zapata book. I start to feel like something’s gotten repetitive, and she throws me for a loop.

I love it!

Wait for It is my fourth read by this author, and I’d started feeling every male love interest was going to be over the top special. I mean, you have a football star in Wall of Winnipeg. In Kulti, he was a global soccer phenom. Finally, in Under Locke he’s an award winning tattoo artist. Obviously that’s not as celebrity as Aiden and Rey, but what he lacked in stardom he made up for in looks. He was the one with “a face so beautiful you’d instantaneously orgasm”. I put that in quotations like it’s direct from the book. It’s not, but there were very similar comparisons made in multiple stories.

Starting Waiting for It I went in expecting more of the same. What I got was something different. Dallas is sexy. He’s attractive. Of course. That’s a staple of romance. BUT, he was just a man. He was described as having a face that wasn’t handsome, but was instead “interesting”. He had a great body, as a former navy man, but he worked an understated job doing home renovations.

He was the sexiest. Just a normal good looking man.

Also, in the previous stories the men all started out as assholes. They were jerks, for no apparent reason other than the fact that it’s just who they are. (I know that doesn’t sound like a selling point, but trust me, Zapata works that angle and makes you fall in love with them.) It was love of their woman that brought out their sensitive side.

Again, in Wait for It, Zapata through that character bio right out the window. Dallas was distant in the beginning. He kept Diana at arms length for good reasons. He wasn’t mean, though. He didn’t have a temper. Once he realized she just wanted to be friends, he became warmth and compassion. The way he was with Josh and Louie melted my heart. He was a gentle giant, with all of them. He was perfect for Diana’s little family. He was the balance to all Diana’s crazy.

Once again, I fell crazy in love with this book. I cried with Diana. I laughed with her and her boys. I was so invested in more than just her love story with Dallas. I was just as crazy about her relationship with her nephews, and I felt her pain over the loss of her brother. I only frowned once, and it was when their love was equated with their blood tie. Every time I’m told a bond is stronger because of blood I cringe. With an adopted sister, I know how crap that is. Love has nothing to do with blood, and everything to do with commitment.

Like Dallas said, he looked at them and knew they were his. Blood had nothing to do with it. That’s love.

Man… it is so hard to not just jump right into another book by this fantastic author. I can’t believe it took me this long to jump on the bandwagon!

A+