Luna and the Lie

3.5

It really pains me to rate this book so low because I love Mariana Zapata but it was just... not that great, especially coming after the amazingness that was Lukov. I guess I prefer her sports romances.

I liked Luna. She's a saint with ninja skills (though I wish she'd take less shit from the people she loves). And I love Rip. He's an angry bear 80% of the time but it mostly comes from relationship (not necessarily sexual...) frustration. And I love them together. But the writing style here was just too long for me. I adore how Zapata dishes out the heroines' thoughts in Kulti, Wait For It, and Under Locke. She laid it down and explained everything logically. But here...I don't know if it's a reflection of what Zapata was going for in Luna, but the redundancies in Luna's mind could've been achieved in a different way. The story took twice as long as it needed to. I love me a slow burn. There's nothing better than getting riled up at 3 AM and screaming at the hero to “HURRY UP AND MAKE A MOVE ON HER WE CAN ALL SEE YOU DON'T EVEN PRETEND JUST SNATCH HER HAND AND LAY A SMOOCH ON HER.” But the burn I felt here was more about “JHo I know you can read through this faster.” I loved the plot but it could've been thicker and juicier had the writing been condensed.

the title and the summary were not exactly an indication for the plot itself. I was confused about where is the “lie” considering she just conceals her real identity rather than anything else

Updated review - I definitely appreciate it more, and I have a soft spot for Rip even though he was a bit of a meanie in the beginning.

He is confusing, but he quietly loved her and I just went to hug them both.

***
Not my favourite MZ book, but still enjoyable.

This was like the slowest of slow burns. We didn't get to them getting together until like the 90% mark.

Luna's story is just so sad. And Rip... like I wanted to like him but he just was a dumb boy man. Even at 41, like just seemed dumb and immature. He never did anything wrong per-say, but he also didn't do much right. He had such an attitude to the co-owner of the business (later we find out it's his dad). I get the tension between the two but he was always so rude.

And the hospital? Again, I get that tension was high but there was no need to take it out on Luna.

And how he like... crashed her dates because he liked her but couldn't say it? Sure, break up her dates and be the alpha male here but speak up. It took him so long to grow a pair and say he liked Luna. He was confusing the poor girl with his emotional whiplash.

Luna tries so hard to stay positive and not hold grudges - good for her. She deserves better. Drama with her past and her family, girl can't catch a break.

This was a disappointing read. There was a significant amount of filler that could have been edited out, at least 50 pages worth; especially considering the poor resolution we got with Luna's sisters and the rest of her family. It's all very surface-level and unsatisfactory. The only reason I kept reading is because I love a good-girl heroine who's a glutton for pain, felt like a maschocist myself reading all the times she cried. I certainly cried.

Did the main couple redeem the book? To a certain extent. I liked Ripley but he suffered the same injustice as Luna not getting a fully fleshed-out backstory. I liked that he was rough and gruff but why was he rough and gruff? Nothing truly got explained about his past or family. The relationship between the two was the sweet pull that kept me captive, as all suckers for slow burn will say.