Luna and the Lie

"“You haven’t listened to a single f****** thing I’ve said, have you? Seen a single thing I’ve done? You the only person who hasn’t put s*** together?” — “I don’t know how to give you flowery words and s*** like that, Luna. I don’t know how to tell you what you want or need to hear. It’s been a long f****** time since I’ve given a s*** about anybody. Do you understand that?” LUCAS RIPLEY GOT ME IN A CHOKEHOLD🫠🫠🫠🤩❤️‍🔥"

"This is a really good book, with good character and relationship development. Definitely not what I expected the book to be like based off of the title though lol. "

"<strong>So many emotions</strong><br/><br/>I felt Lunas self deprecation at times. God it was heartbreaking to read her trying to PEI herself up and fight the inner voices she acquired by living with terrible influences. Loved how the story played out and that the epilogue didn’t fluff all their problems over like magic, I felt it gave the story more authenticity."

"AAAA"

"I read quite a few reviews before deciding to read this. A few of the 2-3 star reviews had me wondering if I'd enjoy this. I'm glad I took a chance on this. I must have been in the perfect mood for this because I read this almost all in one sitting. I read a review that stated they skimmed quite a bit. I agree. There were a lot of repetitive phrases, almost like Zapata was just trying to hit a certain word count or page number so she used tons of fillers. <br/><br/>Rip can be a jerk. Almost too much of a jerk. But hey, he's really is a stereotypical bad boy. Sure, some of it was coming on too strong. He's possessive and jealous, though these traits aren't attractive to me, at all. But I did take into account that they weren't dating during this and hopefully he overcomes this in the relationship.<br/><br/>What I liked about this was what some people hated. Luna tends to have more traits I have. Even the ones I wish I didn't. Like being a doormat or the constant apologizing over things, even if they weren't her fault. But that is colored by a past relationship (maybe like her relationship with her parents) where he was always in the right and I was always in the wrong (and as much as I'd like to admit that stuff doesn't stick for long, it really does. It's ingrained behavior.) But I can see how it would annoy other people. It's not the type of heroine they want. Sure, not my absolute favorite, but she was relatable to me. My only gripe with this was that we didn't get to see some real character growth for Luna as far as the healing process goes. I really would have loved to see her become a more confident person during her time in this book. Same goes for Rip. We see a bit more for him, but not nearly enough.<br/><br/>I can definitely see how reading this at almost any other time I might have quit the book. But it matched my mood for the night and I sank into the story wholly, which I bumped up the rating from maybe a 3-3.5 read to a 4 star read."

"Did you read All Rhodes Lead Here? Did you like it? If you did, this one is for you. <p> I am glad I haven't given up on Mariana after completely hating From Lukov with Love. <p> I know what she is capable of, and this is it. All Rhodes Lead here is still my favorite book she has ever written, but this one also has a special place in my heart now. <p><b>This was a four star because of the tattooed, 41 year old grumpy man. </b> <p><img src="https://media4.giphy.com/media/l44Qj2yTA8RjF6NJm/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47x4xgczwuqkademcopa6oscnxdboqgk4bvtwf2yle&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g"/> <p> Rhodes and Lucas are paternal figure material. <p><img src="https://media3.giphy.com/media/h6lbwqcLGeg47YA4A2/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e477x4fnbyu5pqb873y7wvjqn50mztg5peamxeo44fe&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g"/> <p> Most Mariana's females don't change from book to book to be honest, they're all extremely nice, sunshiny, obnoxiously optimistic and they let everyone use them/lie to them/treat them badly, yatta, yatta. Luna was all right and I think that is the reason I couldn't give this book five stars. <p> In all Rhodes Lead Here, both characters were incredible. Aurora (<i>All Rhodes Lead Here</i>) and Vanessa (<i>Wall of Winnipeg</i>) are the only two female characters Mariana has written I love. They are down to earth and they have very distinctive personalities. Luna is more of the same. <p> <i>Luna next to Lucas on the other hand</i>, is what made this book worth it. His reactions to her and how rude, grumpy and mean he was to her, made this entire thing worth it. The contrast was huge and I adore a mean, 41 year old daddy. He is her boss on top of it all, they work at a car detailing shop and I just loved the vibes of it all. We also have great side characters. <p> Extremely emotional, sweet, cute, our typical Mariana Zapata slow burn recipe, with the most intoxicating s&x scene at the end. She might drag her books out until the 90% mark and only give us ONE sexual encounter, but this woman definitely knows how to write a s&x scene. Her scenes give me butterflies <b> every damn time. </b> <p><i> As usual, I took advantage of my love for our Narrator Gomez and I listened to this on audible. Gomez is the same voice who narrated Rhodes. Panty-melting thick, angry, grumpy voice, who makes the entire audio experience SO worth it. </i><p> If you are an audible person, or not, I definitely recommend this one. It was very cute and overall and enjoyable and romantic experience. Good job M!"

"Personally I didn’t like this book. I love Mariana Zapata, but this book was not it for me. I loved how Luna was so happy despite the crappy hand that life dealt felt her, but the way that she is treated by Rip is just so toxic. He says very hurtful things because he is angry, and when he is confronted about it he says “I didn’t mean it” He never seems to change and stays the same toxic person the entire time. "

"i loved this book. luna deserves everything and this book was so sad it made me happy"

"Such a great slow-burn "

"A great read with an adorable female lead and hot brooding older male lead I'm always down for age gap romance "