When Gracie Met The Grump: From the author of the sensational TikTok hit, FROM LUKOV WITH LOVE, and the queen of the slow-burn romance!

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I'm going to go with 4½ stars that I'm rounding up despite the slog in the beginning. Once past that part, I had a hard time putting it down and the banter was tons of fun.

yes bitch, we know he’s hot…he’s henry cavill for pete’s sake but tell us more about how you think he’s sweet and caring 🙃 it was to the point where i was thinking “am I secretly reading an ali hazelwood book but she went from constantly talking about his size to his appearance” 🤨The grump in this will make your heart melt, especially for how he feels for Gracie. I would’ve loved so much more of this world. And man, I could’ve dealt with a longer epilogue but honestly MZ? This was magic. Pure sunshine. Pure joy. Devoured this. Want more of Mariana’s delicious slow burn? Why not try TikTok hit From Lukov With Love next, and don’t miss any of her romances beloved by millions of readers! I liked the book, I enjoyed reading it and as always, MZ’s writing style worked for me. But it wasn’t only the plot that was new, I found the slowburn relationship started too late and by the time they reach the end it wasn’t burning as it always happens with her books, and I felt the world she created wasn’t complete and the plot, apart from the romance wasn’t fully developed.

What the hell is the Trinity, you ask? Many people are unsure what the Trinity is, but the majority of humanity assumed they were superheroes, and they were certainly correct. The Primordial, the Centurion, and the Defender are Trinity's members. I CANNOT COMPREHEND THE LOGIC. the worst part is… THEY FORGIVE HER. they straight up went on their merry way as if this was just another day for them 🫥Gracie is twenty nine and has been running all her life. Now that their grandparents are dead, she’s been surviving by going from an unknown village to another. She doesn’t have friends, she’s never had a lover. So yeah, the plot doesn’t give you a hell of a lot to go on. Which made me wonder, pretty much immediately, ‘how is that meager plot going to sustain a book the size of a doorstop?’ Well, Zapata does her best to weave in no less than 65 million twists and side-plots and lengthy internal monologues from Gracie that take up nearly the entire first chunk of the book. (Warning: if close to zero dialogue and/or minimal characters are not your jam, just be aware that there’s very, very little of either until around the 60-70% mark.) But honestly this was a fun read. Absorbing, even. I can see why the author has built such a cult following. Friends don’t let friends die. Everything is gonna be fine. You’ve got something better than that knife. You’ve got me.”

I was so intrigued by the super hero plot, (combined with many other tropes), and she mixed a bit of action, a grumpy H (which definitely works for me) and a ballsy h. i just adored alex’s grumpy personality and utter distain towards everyone he didn’t consider family, including gracie when they first met But Gracie was okay. She got a lot better as the book went on because she stopped crying so damn much.And for those of you wondering about the age difference, she’s 29 about to be 30 and he is 35. You are welcomeeee :) Gracie was always crying and he was always like oh don’t cry I don’t like the way that you smell when you do.

There is an entire portion of this story that felt completely out of place. I won't give anything away but it has to do with Gracie's secrets. It could have been left out of the story completely because once it's over, there was zero reason for it. (Except to horrifically traumatize Gracie.) Which perhaps was a blessing as I went into this expecting it to be...less than a favorite MZ read.I was really excited when this book was released, because 1 it was released on my birthday and 2 NEW MARIANA ZAPATA BOOK?!?!!!?? Only MZ can publish a new book all of sudden, when no one expected it. This book is something completely different from her previous books, because a superhero romance? Also, there was a lot more...filler than her books usually have. A LOT more downtime where not all that much was happening. A LOT of things that felt repetitious. We all know MZ loves her inner monologues, but this time they were especially repetitive, which made it feel like there was barely progression. Which leads me to my real problem with the book: I did not ship them together. Not even a little. As a strangers to best friends to lovers fanatic, it was quite a bummer.