i’ve read this for the 3rd time, and agh this is one of my fav book. i relate sm to jas, i love her so so so much AND IVANJASMINE PLS I LOVE THEM, MY PARENTS. - "The things that kept me up at night weren't physical. Worrying about being a failure and a disappointment weren't things you could just fix. They were just there. All the time. And if there was a way to work on them, I hadn't learned how to yet." - "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." - "What are you looking at?" I asked him, unsure why he kept glancing over and not liking it. The smile on his face didn't go anywhere as he replied, "You." "Why?" He looked at me every day. "Because." Was there something wrong with my face? "Because what?" "It's rare you laugh." If there had been any semblance of a smile left on my face, I wiped it clean. "I laugh." "I've only seen it happen a few times." - "I wanted you to be my partner for years, dumbass. When Karina had told me you were thinking about switching to pairs, I had thought you would say something to me, even in passing as a joke. I thought you would say you were going to kick my ass, and I had planned on talking to you over it. But you never did. The next thing I knew, you had a partner. Some dipshit that wasn't half as good as you." - "You've been in my life for thirteen years. How could you not think I don't care about you? We fuck around with each other because we both like it. Because there's nobody else we can fuck around with that can handle it." - " To Meatball, From your best friend, Ivan" And in the time it took me to read the metal plate about four times, Ivan had already tied my bracelet to his own wrist. But it didn't fit under his sleeve. And when he smiled at me, I knew he didn't even care." - "You suck, Meatball"he called out a second before I knew the music was about to start. But I love you, his lips formed. (...) Ivan loved me. Ivan fucking loved me. And he didn't care if we won or lost" - "I love you so much I spend all day with you, and it still isn't enough for me,""I love you so much, if I can't skate with you, I don't want to skate with anyone else.". "I love you so fucking much, Jasmine, that if I broke my ankle during a program, I would get up and finish it for you, to get you what you've always wanted." It was love. All I could feel was love. I was going to cry. I was going to fucking cry. Right. Then. "You mean so much to me that that's why whatever happens doesn't really matter to me. Not like it used to. Not like it ever will again,""You're not ever going to be anyone else's partner. Not while I'm alive, Meatball. I will drag your stubborn, beautiful ass kicking and screaming back to me because nobody else will ever be good enough for you." - "Because I'm okay with you having ten other people be your favorite. But you're always going to be my favorite person," he finished. "Always. No matter what." - ""I love the way you smile" he said with a dreamy, sleepy expression. "I want to tell you to do it more often, but I don't." I took in every inch of that flawless face. "Why?" He didn't even have his eyes open as he responded. "Because you don't give it to everyone." His cheek rested against mine, that sweaty chest did the same as he said, "And I don't plan on sharing you." - "It had been five years since we had won our last and third-world championship. Eight years since we'd won our second world championship. Eight years since we'd won two gold medals. One in pairs and another in the team skate. Making Ivan the most decorated US figure skater in history. Nine years since we'd won our first world championship, and the first of three national championships. Most importantly, it had been nine years since we'd gotten married. Nine years and three months from the moment he had said, panting and red-faced, out on the ice at the end of our long program while the crowd went fucking nuts, "I think you should marry me, Meatball."

*4.5. Now this is the shit I love!! A beautiful slow burn that left my dying for more. The only reason I didn’t give this book the whole five stars was simply because I wanted to see more of their relationship once they finally admitted their love for each other. But apart from that it was a great love story. Definitely going to buy more of Mariana’s books now.

i’m an ivan lukov lovebot now . and also the enemies to figure skating partners to friends to lovers is one of the best tropes period

It was ok

4.5** -.5 for the nickname meatball

Waaaaah i LOVE jasmine and ivan!!!! i love that jasmine is half filipino, as a filipina, weirdly im proud of it in a way??? lol here’s to more filipino characters written by a non-filipino(? foreigner?) i guess? lol i mean it’s just nice to see/read anyway since yeah it’s pretty rare im babbling goodbye

Its nice that this story didn't just focus on romance but also on daddy issues and the fear to be a disappointment to a thing you're only good at. The romance sucked for I think they were too fast. For me at least. But I love their banters. And I kin Jasmine so much. This book is 😗👌

I might start skating so I can find my own Lukov wow, this is one of the best romances I’ve read in a LOOOOONG time. I can see why this gets so much hype on TikTok, it is a bloody beautiful book. I found the skating storyline so interesting because it’s not one I’ve seen done much. I just loved every bit of it. I was rooting for them from the beginning 🥺 and the epilogue??? omg adorable!

can they just stop blinking so much?

a very very slow burn but worth it! almost gave up reading it twice because i couldn't connect with it much as i've read a similar plot in the past. nonetheless, i'm glad i continued it because the ending was quite nice. vanya is so cute <3

What a book! I'm so glad I picked this one up from my tbr. I loved this book so much, probably because I'm a fan of figure skating. I related to Jasmine so much, sometimes it felt like I was reading my thoughts, if that makes sense, I loved watching her become the great athlete she always was and believing in herself. And man Ivan was such a great hero, I love him so much, it was so clear he always loved her. Mariana Zapata is the queen of slow burn, and is becoming one of my favourite authors! If you love sports romance, figure skating, enemies to lovers this book if for you!

i want to d!e (ivan <3)

+5 Stars I absolutely adored this book!!! I was worried after Kulti and The Wall of Winnipeg & Me that I had been ruined for all of Mariana Zapata's future books because imo they were simply perfection. However, From Lukov with Love gave me all those feelings back, truly phenomenal read!!! Anybody who has read her books knows she the queen of slow burn romances, and once again I was just left in awe by the build-up of this incredible relationship. Gotta love the playfulness of a hate to love relationship, combined with the more emotional side of the slow build up. A perfect standalone with a very adorable epilogue!

this may be my new favorite MZ book and I genuinely did not think that was possible. this was everything you could ever want out of an ice skating romance.

3.5⭐️ but rounded up because I did stay up all night to finish it, lol. Only critiques are that I wanted more from Ivan's character, and it is a slooowwwwwwwww burn.

5 Friggin Stars! I would give this 1000 stars if I could. Ivan fucking Lukov was everything I need in my life as well as Jasmine. The chemistry they had was insane. And let me tell you, although this is a slow burn, it is SO worth it. I was invested from beginning to end and I couldn't get enough... The BANTER that these bitches had, I ate that shit up. If you are thinking about reading this. Trust me. Just do it. Also you may find yourself binge watching anything to do with figure skating as I have done, but it was so fun.

maybe im just heartless cause why did I feel nothing

the slowburn was amazing, everything was amazing I’m about to read all her books rn I love <3

Did I read something different? So many reviews talk about the lack of chemistry or feeling like the romance came out of nowhere. I realized his feelings for her so early in the book...so many little things that showed Ivan longing for Jas. Such a good slow, slow burn though. For me the moment they admitted it was so gratifying.

I had a hard time reading the first half of this book. The never ending complains, the over analysing everything to the point that after 3 or 4 pages I had already forgotten what the issue was, it was just excruciating. The second half is much better, way easier to read and fun. The storyline is good, the characters are fun and the relationship between Ivan and Jasmine is the cutest. I'm glad that I didn't quit reading this book.

** spoiler alert ** Why do so many people love this book?? 1. I don’t care about figure skating at all 2. Jasmine is by far the most ANNOYING person I’ve ever read about (and that’s saying something) 3. The spice was the worst I’ve ever read 4. Please don’t call people with a B-cup “as though they have skipped puberty” jesus. They’re not even remotely flat, just saying 5. Jasmine’s family is a bunch of assholes , I would probably leave home at 15 if I had to live with those people 6. How many times can you write “the tip of his tongue went to the inside of his cheek” and also who does that except for maybe trying to fish some leftover food from in between your teeth 7. Same goes with the “he blinked and I blinked right back”. Congratulations, you can both blink your eyes, what an achievement. I had sky high expectations and none of them were met. Sorry!

this was so fun to read. i was just screaming the entire time bec of how cute this was. there were plot inconsistencies and missed opportunities that could’ve made this a really good romance book but it’s not really a big deal to me bec i loved ivanjasmine so much and they constantly gave me an instant serotonin boost !

a slay icl

Everything felt so forced I cringe throughout the first 100 pages like I caught some weird sickness or something. Jasmine was so dumb, and dumb, annoying heroine is such a dealbreaker for me. Ivan was asbland as an ice cube with his high schoolish characteristics. I mean.. We are talking about 2 people in their mid/late twenties not just some random middleschoolers here. Dialogs were not that funny and witty at all, and it's wordy as hell. Sad, because I thought Zapata's TWOWAM was a pretty fun read.