Mariana Zapata

"If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one. After seventeen years--and countless broken bones and broken promises--she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close. But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she's spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything. Including Ivan Lukov"--Page 4 of cover.

From Lukov with Love

Emma Ouellet

Abigail | 

Rayane Rabaa

Because I'm okay with you having ten other people be your favorite. But you're always going to be my favorite person. Always. No matter what. 

You are who you are in life, and you either live that time trying to bend yourself to make other people happy, or… you don’t.

i v e t t e 

k`library.

Ashley 

Lara owens 

“Hopefully I don’t lose my balance and my foot goes up your ass—” This was hilarious stop

Gabriela Kondratyuk

I've only read about two of Zapata's works before this one and had such a fun time. However, I do feel there is a constant misdirection within her characters and the background she gives them. 

Jasmine, for instance, felt almost three-dimensional but wasn't? I loved her internal conflicts with purpose, competitiveness, and fear of disappointing her loved ones— you would expect being born into a Mexican/Filipino family would have a lot to do with those topics but somehow relevant issues like these are blurred and never mentioned again in the novel. 

I know it's supposed to be a sporty/romance novel. But when you give your characters backgrounds like this and mentions of trauma I believe it's always important to provide them with time to discover that. 

Same with Ivan. Yes, he's grumpy, yes he loves animals, what else? 

Also, how come she mentions she has a best friend and they only interact TWICE from beginning to end? 

Anyway, I'm not an editor so who am I to judge? 

 trying to be endearing and I'm swinging bye. 

I've only read about two of Zapata's works before this one and had such a fun time. However, I do feel there is a constant misdirection within her characters and the background she gives them. 

It almost feels lazy. 

Jasmine, for instance, felt almost three-dimensional but wasn't? I loved her internal conflicts with purpose, competitiveness, and fear of disappointing her loved ones— you would expect being born into a Mexican/Filipino family would have a lot to do with those topics but somehow relevant issues like these are blurred and never mentioned again in the novel. 

I know it's supposed to be a sporty/romance novel. But when you give your characters backgrounds like this and mentions of trauma I believe it's always important to provide them with time to discover that. 

Same with Ivan. Yes, he's grumpy, yes he loves animals, what else? 

Also, how come she mentions she has a best friend and they only interact TWICE from beginning to end? eye twitch

Anyway, I'm not an editor so who am I to judge? 

psa: a man calls me meatball trying to be endearing and I'm swinging bye. 

Madii

a fantastic slow burn romance novel  

I laughed, I cried, I got angry and frustrated. I don't know if I've ever read any novel as well written as this. It's on a different level, I don't know if I'll ever forget it for the rest of my life.

big ab

i have mixed feelings about this, like i loved parts of it a lot. but also i have a real issue with grown women acting like they’re 16 years old, and she acted like she was 16 years old the entire time even though she was pushing 30… also like she did nothing? like this entire book was him loving her so much and taking care of her and whenever he did open up or admit anything vulnerable, she would skip over it? also omg she’s a really bad friend to that guy’s sister. like a very bad friend. awful tbh. and he was weirdly really upset AT HER for having a stalker????? like … what? AND THE STALKER THING WAS NEVER TOUCHED UPON AGAIN?!

Sarah

LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK! Had me in tears by the ends… IVAN is everything and JAS such a badass I love her, the endless bickering between them is to DIE for, Zapata just became my favorite author QUEEN OF SLOWBURN

Hanna Rybchynska

Selin Igten

maderinn⟢

“I’m okay with you having ten other people be your favourite. But you’re always going to be my favourite person,” he finished. “Always. No matter what.”


I’m a sucker for such a good slow burn contemporary romance. Who would’ve thought I would be so invested in a sports, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, forced proximity novel? It would’ve been a solid 5 star read for me if it wasn’t for Jasmine’s inner monologue. I can’t believe the characters are supposed to 26/29 but they seem soooo immature in my head. I was so excited that there would be figure skating elements but so much potential could’ve been developed during their practices and competitions but it felt a little dragged out with their constant banters instead of feeling the tension between them. I absolutely love the character development throughout the book and their friendship is so precious! I liked their friendship > romance aspect overall. To be called “meatball” and be hugged by Ivan. Adore, adore this book! 🥹

Isabella 

This is, by far, my favorite Mariana Zapata book. I loved it so much. From the beginning until the end. It had me smiling and crying so much. I LOVEEEEEED everything about this book. I loved seeing the family dynamics; it was so sweet and fun. I love Ivan and Jasmine so much; I love their relationship. It was so nice to see the buildup of their relationship, and I'm glad their banter didn't die down. I loved seeing Jasmine grow, and seeing how Ivan shows his love toward Jasmine. It was everything. Beautiful, phenomenal. One of my favorite books ever. I love the rivals to lovers trope, so I knew I would eat this up, and it did not disappoint. I love it so much. No words can even explain it.

Ana Luiza

Acho que eu finalmente descobri meu tipo de romance preferido: slow-burn. E Mariana Zapata tem o maior slow-burn da história, parece que os protagonistas nunca vão sequer se beijar. Mas de alguma forma ela consegue fazer isso sem parecer forçado, ou chato, e sim natural. O relacionamento de Ivan e Jasmine cresceu da maneira mais linda possível, de forma que os dois se apoiam mais do que qualquer outra coisa.
Uma das coisas que eu mais amei nesse livro foi a família da Jasmine, leria mais uns 5 livros sobre eles.

Releitura: tirei uma estrela!! Não porque vi algum defeito, continuo achando o livro muito bom. Mas agora sou capaz de comparar com as outras histórias da autora, que são um pouco melhores. Foi meu primeiro livro dela, me fez apaixonar pelo slow-burn, que continua sendo meu estilo preferido de romance. Inclusive leio todos dela assim que lançam <3

Ena Kalkan

some parts of this book felt very, very redundant. i felt like i had re-read a certain line over and over again and i'm pretty sure that was one of the reasons why i felt like i couldn't really stay with the book. while i finished it, i didn't really end up liking it as much as i did when i started the book. the whole enemies-to-lovers slow burn is exactly the type of story i live for but this one wasn't it for me.

2.5 stars.

this book had me feeling some kind of way and Lukov certainly helped with that hee hee

sophie <3

Julia Moran 

3.5/5 
I mean lo disfrute pero no es world-shattering amazing idk...
De que esta entretenido y ya, te diviertes pero naaada del otro mundo.
Peeeero el final me saco lagrimitas debo de admitir jajaja. So nostalgic idk ahajdjskdhsolwpsdb

dulce yasmin 

nina 

honour

i loved this book far more than i ever thought i would. i loved jasmine’s family dynamic, i loved jasmine and i loved ivan. i only wish we’d seen more of karina because i’m positive she’s a bad bitch.

lexie

helloz universe, may i order a Ivan Lukov? Ivan lukov will be in my top 5 Fictional men. I loved this book. even though it's so slow bc it's a slow burn, it's entertaining and funny.

nuélle

[2.5/5]
it was kinda cute but the writing made me want to put my head through a wall, istg if I read ppl "blinking" at eachother ever again I'll kms

ep. bueno, me gustó y disfruté leerlo pero no me gustó tanto como pensé que me iba a gustar

Sooo good. Bit slow but that makes it more intens when something happens. Love it

Hanne de ceuster

annika

carolreadabook

Ivaaaaaaaaaaaan! This man means the world to me! argh, I fell again for a fictional man. 

My favorite scenes are all the times when Ivan defeats Jasmine's dreams, or when he shows his affection and friendship through actions for her, or when he simply takes care of her when she is sick. In others words, FLWL is one of my fav books due to Ivan.

Anyway, let me put some effort to convince you to read FLWL. If you love:
- grumpy girl;
- sports romance;
- slow burn;
- nemesis to friends to lovers;
- he falls first;
- partners in crime and everything, so this book is for you. Please, go read!

If didn't work, let me show you one of my fav quotes, which is:

  “There’s my Meatball,” he said in almost a whisper, his fingers loosening from around my wrist until they were slipping through mine, holding our hands together like we had done it a thousand times. Because we had. “We’re doing this, right? Together? I won’t make fun of you, but you can make fun of me a bit?”


This was my second experience reading an MZ book and I was beyond amazed. I love how Mariana Zapata writes her book, I love the slow burn, the sexual tension, the construction of the characters, and how we always get a happy ending.

The song I dedicated to them is I GUESS I'M IN LOVE because Jasmine suffers a lot in others hands, but when she is with Ivan he made all the fears of her disappear, at the same time she's so afraid of falling in love with Ivan and do not be reciprocated.

honya

OML THIS BOOK WAS JUST CHEFS KISS🤌 it was so hilarious (jojo especially) and it didn’t even feel like i was reading!!! my fav book atm

“I believe in you. In us. Regardless of what happens, you will always be the best partner I’ve ever had. You’ll always be the hardest working person I’ve ever known. There will only ever be you.”

My friend told me that if I liked Icebreaker that I would love From Lukov with Love and I was excited for this one. Unfortunately, it really disappointed me. This book was basically the complete opposite to Icebreaker, the only similarities being that both books are far too long and that there is ice skating involved. Starting off I found Jasmine a bit "not like other girls" right from the get go, the way she was speaking about the teenage girls in the changing room made me feel a bit uncomfortable and maybe I should've stopped reading at that point but I pushed on. The initial story line hooked me, it felt a bit predictable, but I could see myself genuinely enjoying the rivals to lovers pipeline, their fun bickering and then seeing them fall in love with each other as they got closer to each other. It started off on that foot but then it spiraled into a mess and really lost the plot.

There was so much opportunity already built into the story for there to be tension and passion between Jasmine and Ivan, the photoshoot for Anatomy, the ballet lessons, during their training and competitions as well as key plot points which could've been more substantial like Jasmine's injury and her issues with creepy people but Zapata seemed to miss these every time and focused more on Jasmine's family dramas and her inner insecurities instead. The photoshoot 

 managed to pull on my heart strings with her being insecure about the stalkers, the creepy men messaging her and their previous "banter" but even that completely missed the mark. Instead, it made me dislike Ivan... the things he said to her felt like gaslighting... he basically bullied her for years, and not even just sassy low level jabs, he was commenting on her weight and body over and over again and then told her "but I was just joking" as if jokes can't hurt or have some part of the truth hidden in them. There was a moment they were in bed together too, semi naked even and... nothing happened. It always fizzled. I get that Zapata is a slow burn queen but this was more like she was cock blocking her own characters 😂 In the end I just didn't really like either main character at all, Ivan was a bit of a red flag - from getting angry at her instead of comforting her, to bossing her around and forcing her to do things she'd repeatedly said no to, and Jasmine was just whiny and self-centered - and no amount of her recognizing that about herself could make up for it, because she never 

 improved aside from biting her tongue to stop herself swearing.

I also felt like the romance between the two just never happened, they were close friends by the end of the book but I never even got a hint of them falling for each other. I guessed that Ivan had always liked her from the beginning, but being inside Jasmine's inner monologue, she never even gave an inkling that she was actually attracted to him beyond aesthetically and their developing friendship. Then next thing she was proclaiming she loved him. I was also told this book was spicy... but there wasn't any intimacy until the last 5% of the book. I think this book actually would've benefited from leaving the spice out altogether and focused on their friendship rather than forcing them into a relationship. It made the ending and epilogue feel so rushed and clunky.

Zapata's writing was also quite strange. It felt like she was trying to reach a certain word count. The amount of times she mentioned people blinking was mind boggling, she also repeated words for emphasis like "slowly, slowly, slowly" which got a tad annoying, and kept using weird descriptors to explain who was speaking when it was totally unnecessary. Lines like this one:

“Not you, Mom,” Karina replied, calling my mom the same thing she always had: Mom.

Really highlight how odd the writing was, this could've really used a heavier hand in editing. It would've flowed so much better if it read as, '"Not you, Mom," Karina replied. Karina always referred to my mom as her own, since our family was basically her second family.' It also got very confusing when Jasmine's inner monologue would take over midway through dialogue - conversations that could've been 2-3 pages ended up dragging out to 10-20 pages instead. It got really painful after a while.

Overall, this book was a real let down and I am honestly a bit surprised it is as loved as it is. I have seen so many raving, hyped up reviews of this and I actually feel like I might've read a different book... I gave three stars because I could see some potential, but I think this entire story needed a lot of work and it just wasn't for me in the end.

Genevieve 

“I believe in you. In us. Regardless of what happens, you will always be the best partner I’ve ever had. You’ll always be the hardest working person I’ve ever known. There will only ever be you.”

3.25 ⭐'s

My friend told me that if I liked Icebreaker that I would love From Lukov with Love and I was excited for this one. Unfortunately, it really disappointed me. This book was basically the complete opposite to Icebreaker, the only similarities being that both books are far too long and that there is ice skating involved. Starting off I found Jasmine a bit "not like other girls" right from the get go, the way she was speaking about the teenage girls in the changing room made me feel a bit uncomfortable and maybe I should've stopped reading at that point but I pushed on. The initial story line hooked me, it felt a bit predictable, but I could see myself genuinely enjoying the rivals to lovers pipeline, their fun bickering and then seeing them fall in love with each other as they got closer to each other. It started off on that foot but then it spiraled into a mess and really lost the plot.

There was so much opportunity already built into the story for there to be tension and passion between Jasmine and Ivan, the photoshoot for Anatomy, the ballet lessons, during their training and competitions as well as key plot points which could've been more substantial like Jasmine's injury and her issues with creepy people but Zapata seemed to miss these every time and focused more on Jasmine's family dramas and her inner insecurities instead. The photoshoot almost managed to pull on my heart strings with her being insecure about the stalkers, the creepy men messaging her and their previous "banter" but even that completely missed the mark. Instead, it made me dislike Ivan... the things he said to her felt like gaslighting... he basically bullied her for years, and not even just sassy low level jabs, he was commenting on her weight and body over and over again and then told her "but I was just joking" as if jokes can't hurt or have some part of the truth hidden in them. There was a moment they were in bed together too, semi naked even and... nothing happened. It always fizzled. I get that Zapata is a slow burn queen but this was more like she was cock blocking her own characters 😂 In the end I just didn't really like either main character at all, Ivan was a bit of a red flag - from getting angry at her instead of comforting her, to bossing her around and forcing her to do things she'd repeatedly said no to, and Jasmine was just whiny and self-centered - and no amount of her recognizing that about herself could make up for it, because she never really improved aside from biting her tongue to stop herself swearing.

I also felt like the romance between the two just never happened, they were close friends by the end of the book but I never even got a hint of them falling for each other. I guessed that Ivan had always liked her from the beginning, but being inside Jasmine's inner monologue, she never even gave an inkling that she was actually attracted to him beyond aesthetically and their developing friendship. Then next thing she was proclaiming she loved him. I was also told this book was spicy... but there wasn't any intimacy until the last 5% of the book. I think this book actually would've benefited from leaving the spice out altogether and focused on their friendship rather than forcing them into a relationship. It made the ending and epilogue feel so rushed and clunky.

Zapata's writing was also quite strange. It felt like she was trying to reach a certain word count. The amount of times she mentioned people blinking was mind boggling, she also repeated words for emphasis like "slowly, slowly, slowly" which got a tad annoying, and kept using weird descriptors to explain who was speaking when it was totally unnecessary. Lines like this one:
“Not you, Mom,” Karina replied, calling my mom the same thing she always had: Mom.
Really highlight how odd the writing was, this could've really used a heavier hand in editing. It would've flowed so much better if it read as, '"Not you, Mom," Karina replied. Karina always referred to my mom as her own, since our family was basically her second family.' It also got very confusing when Jasmine's inner monologue would take over midway through dialogue - conversations that could've been 2-3 pages ended up dragging out to 10-20 pages instead. It got really painful after a while.

Overall, this book was a real let down and I am honestly a bit surprised it is as loved as it is. I have seen so many raving, hyped up reviews of this and I actually feel like I might've read a different book... I gave three stars because I could see some potential, but I think this entire story needed a lot of work and it just wasn't for me in the end.

From Lukov with Love

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