Mariana Zapata

Some things are easily forgiven. Other things... not so much.Lenny DeMaio made herself a promise: she was done.Done thinking about him.Done worrying about him.Done reaching out to a man who clearly didn't want to be found.Too bad no one gave Jonah Collins the message.

The Best Thing

I’m kinda eating up the single parent trope

Tiana holt

aleksandra

4.5/5

Never thought I will love it this much.


  
    "Grandpa Gus told me once that when you love someone, you threw them up into the sky to fly, Dimples. You don’t just open your hand to let them go. Because you know who they are, and they know who you are, and that’s all that matters."

“There’s no place I wouldn’t want you to go with me."

Isabella 

This is now my favorite Mariana Zapata book along with From Lukov With Love. This book gave me serotonin boost. It was so cute and fluffy with some angst, and I loved it so much. Lenny and Jonah are likable characters; I loved them individually and as a pair. I loved the whole storyline since I am a sucker for books with kids in it, and the fact that it has a second chance romance trope. I knew I would eat this up, and I wasn't disappointed. I wouldn't say it's a spectacular book, but I loved it so much. I understand why people would find this boring because it was so simple, but I loved it. I guess the domestic scenes weren't for other people, but I love domestic scenes, and this book gave me so much of it. It was so simple that it felt so real which made it so beautiful; which made me love it even more. And that epilogue... it was so bittersweet. I cried. I loved this so much.

Anastasia Jack

holy fuck i am a god damn mess after reading that epilogue. just straight up dry heaving and sobbing. i LOVED grandpa gus, peter, jonah, mo & lenny! the cutest, most supportive family ever. truly the best thing about this book was the dynamic and connection between all these characters. it was heartfelt and beautiful. only reason it wasn’t a five star read was bc i felt like there should have been more to jonah’s reasoning for ghosting lenny. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading a hero that was shy and soft spoken. Most of the heroes in the books I read are grumpy, moody, and kinda an asshole, but jonah was completely different and it was refreshing to read and a great change of pace. lenny was also great. she was a strong girlboss but I loved how logical and empathetic she was towards jonah and other situations she came across. 

mo was just so darn cute! I know the surprise baby/accidental pregnancy trope is super unpopular but I personally love it and thought mariana zapata wrote lenny and jonah’s story perfectly and navigated the trope in the best way.

lexie

“No vampire has ever been loved as much as you, Grandpa Gus. Tell my dad I said hi”

the thing about this novel is that none of the plot mattered because the characters were all the best. i really love grandpa gus and i hate mariana had to kill him. lenny and jonah <3

Martha McLendon

Mariana Zapata never disappoint but my god this book had me uncontrollably sobbing, and I'm 100% okay with this. This might be one of her best books YET!!

Ms. Mint

Okay, this, tied with Wait For It, has got to be my most favorites of MZ's books. I'm saying the mostest. Yes, I know, that's not a word, but it's the most accurate way to describe my feelings about this book, because I have read almost all of MZ's books (with the exception of three, which are still on my WTR list), and I really love all the ones that I've read. So, yes, mostest is the correct non-word to represent my thoughts about this book.

Unlike most of MZ's heroes, who are brooding and surly (except perhaps Lingus), Jonah is shy and sweet. He made a mistake when it comes to Lenny, which has hurt her, but he learns from it, and tries his darndest to make up for it. Every single day.
Lenny, the heroine, is the best friend from Luna and the Lie, and together with Diana from Wait For It, is the strongest, coolest romance book chick ever. And Grandpa Gus... oh Grandpa Gus... I won't say anything about him except that I love him so much. You just have to read the book to know why.

Some reviews claimed that this book is a slower burn even for MZ's books. But I disagree. I don't think it's slower than any other MZ's books. If anything, I feel like the romance in this one has a jump-start what with Mo's existence, which in itself is a spoiler, so I won't say more, but you'll find out soon enough in the book (around 15% in).

celene

Jasmine

3.75 Stars

  Time and distance… that’s nothing for us, is it? Whatever time we have together, I will cherish every minute of.”

I have to say of all the MZ books I've read I was most unsure how I felt about this one and it had to do mostly with Lenny. I get she had every right to be pissed, but she rubbed me completely the wrong way. I've never read a book where for 50% the heroine just constantly berates the hero in her head. I was like if I see another endless internal rant ending with "fuckface" I'm closing this book! Sometimes I feel like MZ characters are a bit immature, and our sense of humor just doesn't align but I usually get past it without too much of my enjoyment taken away. Well, with Lenny it definitely did, and dnfing the whole book was tempting. 

However, there was a shift at nearly 60% and maybe it's because I took a long break that gave myself the opportunity to appreciate the story more idk. Whatever the reason I got completely caught up in Lenny, Jonah, and Mo's relationship. They started communicating and really getting to know each other and I thought it was all really beautiful. Getting to see the family and the couple they become felt rewarding for me. So yes, a lot of this book I didn't really enjoy all that much, but the 30-40% (especially the last 20%) made up for it almost completely. I even wanted to tear up reading the epilogue and I realized that surprise or all surprises I was going to miss these characters.

Demi

** spoiler alert **
           I was originally going to give this book a 3.5/5 stars but that ending made me want to give it a 4.

So at the beginning of this book, I did feel as though it was a little slow, and I really struggled to feel connected to the characters. However, I think just after half way through the book I started to enjoy the characters a lot more.

I really really enjoyed reading about Lenny and her family’s relationship. They are all just the purest souls and I genuinely loved seeing their family dynamic. I also grew to really enjoy Jonah as well. I wasn’t interested in his character at all at the beginning but I fell in love with him after diving deeper into his character! He is such a precious soul!! (I also did think Jonah and Lenny’s relationship ended up being super cute and adorable!).

I think for me, this book really turned into a five star read at the very end of this book. It was sitting at a 3.5 for a long time because I felt as though it was a very average book, but I did start to become more invested in the characters towards the end so I think that made me change my mind. 

Now I won’t lie, I did cry a little at the end of this book because I absolutely ADORED grandpa Gus! He was one of my favorite characters in this book because I absolutely loved his sarcastic, snarky personality, so when I read the epilogue, my heart broke...

Overall, I did really enjoy this book! Although it isn’t my favorite Mariana Zapata book, I still really loved it. I enjoyed the concept as classic as it was and I really liked how the book tied together at the end!

AMO ESTE LIBRO. Siento que está muy infravalorado, cuando es tremenda historia y todos los personajes son increíbles. Confieso que me empecé a leer este libro por los cameos de Luna y Ripley, pero me quedé porque Lenny y Jonah son hermosos, y me encantaron tanto juntos como por separados… además, acá la dinámica cambia un poco y me gustó leer algo distinto y fresco con respecto a otras historias de Mariana Zapata.

¿Mi personaje favorito? El abuelo Gus.🤍

lo que llore con el epílogo (más bien los últimos cinco capítulos) no tiene nombre

shar

 lennyjonah ? MINE 


lo que llore con el epílogo (más bien los últimos cinco capítulos) no tiene nombre

yeah jonah left for 18 months but he’s the perfect man who has never done anything wrong

sydney

jupiter

i think i’ve cried more this week reading her books than i have in a year lmao.

i’ve never been big on second chance romance but i lovedddddd jonahs and elenas relationship. 

4.75 stars idk imma give it a 5

catia

“Okay. There’s just a little more. To the two loves of my life—you gave me a reason to live. And I’m going to haunt you both for the rest of your lives. That creaking noise you hear in the attic? It’s me. The shadow you see out of the corner of your eye? That’s me too. I love you both. You know that. You know what you mean to me. I love you all. I’m never far away. Do what you have to do to be happy, okay? No one else is going to do it for you.”


Again Mariana Zapata did such a beautiful job with the romance, the characters individually and their development and oh god the love from Lenny's family was one of the best things about this book! Grandpa Gus and Peter are my family too I don't care gosh such a funny beautiful amazing iconic family!!
Don't get me wrong Lenny and Jonah's story with Mo was so damn perfect but Grandpa Gus and Peter stole the whole show being all the perfect family anyone could ask for!! This book was everything and Jonah being all softie and Lenny all grumpy and wanting to protect him UGH SO GOOD SO DAMN GOOD!
The Epilogue broke me and now that I finished I don't know what to do with my life, why did Mariana Zapata ended the book like that? No it was too painful but god the letter the freaking letter was such a nice touch even tho I cried my ass off, of course!
I don't have enough words to express how much this book was so fantastic ugh!! 


   “He called me son.” I couldn’t help but smile at him as I wrapped my fingers around his forearm and said, “He’s been calling you that behind your back for years, Dimples. He loved you.”

Sheena

If anyone knows me they know what a big fan I am of Mariana Zapata. Her slow burn novellas are to die for and her ability to enthralled any reader aboard her books showcases what a phenomenal writer she is. And despite my high praise, I was not a fan of this novel. Nor the last three ("Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin", "Lingus", and "Luna and the Lie") to be honest. At all. I'm not sure if it's a reading stump or what but the high expectations I have set for her work has diminished drastically and I'm puzzled by what had happened. Let's start with the storyline shall we? There wasn't anything unique about it and was a typical generic concept I have seen time and time again in other romance novels. It didn't wow me. Secondary to that, the characters. Was there anything to rave about? No. Lenny was a tough as nails MMA gym manager who was doing everything in her power to raise her daughter Mo (cute I know) when suddenly the sperm donor Jonah pops up from the woodwork, unknowingly shocked to discover he's a d-a-d-d-y and not even the kinky kind. The mediocre romance plot that was duller than dull didn't hit me in the feels (I expected to shell at least one tear damnit) and the fact that there was nothing drawing me in made this a boring read. Seriously there was nothing which I know is an unpopular opinion but who cares and moreso it's sad to say I'm disappointed by the end result. This had great potential to be something but it was failed to be met. So in this rambling mess of a review the overall conclusion is: this is not a winner, not for me at least. Not even a little bit and I don't care about all the overhyped this got (and let me tell you it was waaay overhyped) but this wasn't Mariana Zapata best work so I'm going to bury my face in "The Wall of Winnipeg and Me" to make me feel better because I never thought I would live to see the day I would give a two star rating to a Mariana Zapata novel.

samantha youngclaus

3 stars for the epilogue and the reverse grumpy sunshine but the rest of the book was meh

anessa lawrence 

Beth

lowkey a let down :( i love all MZ books but this one just didn’t have that zing that i always find in her books. i love her slow burns but this felt like i was stuck in time and the story kinda moved in circles. i liked both main characters seperately but i felt like they lacked genuine chemistry. maybe i am just not a fan of the second chance trope but i found myself racing to finish so i could just start my next book.

Rebecca Rust

Tshering Yangzom

sobbing crying but in the best way possible. i think this just became my favorite mariana zapata book.

Becky

This was such a satisfying read. It was a one click purchase way back when it first got released but I wasn’t in the mood to read then and I just hadn’t got to it since. 

I admit, this second chance romance wasn’t my favourite ever from Mariana Zapata but it was good and filled with the usual sass and humour I’ve come to expect from her books. Her female MCs all follow a similar trend. They are all different, but they are always strong women who know their own minds. She writes their particular brand of sarcasm well and I like them and Len was no different.

Second chance romances aren’t always my favourite though.  But this time it was done a little different in that we didn’t have any flashbacks to the past to see them fall for each other first time around as is often typical with this trope. It was nice to just have it focus on their future and Len and Jonah working to make their way back to being a couple. 

It wasn’t as slow burn as some of her books but it was still a slow burn romance. They had to work at building trust first with plenty of conversations to have. I liked it wasn’t an insta love thing. I always like how Zapata builds the romantic tension first so you’re dying for the couple to get together. 

Like I said, not my favourite but I still really enjoyed it and I am so glad I read it eventually. 

Linda Quintanilla

Review
Everyone get ready cause Mariana Zapata has release another fantastic book. And your going to love it! I know that I did. The Best Thing can be read as standalone but it feature characters from Luna and The Lie.
The Best Thing will feature Lenny De Maio. And I am freaking excited! I freaking love her so much in Luna and The Lie. And I love her even more in The Best Thing. Lenny is a strong force that no one can torch her down. She is strong-willed women that she can do anything. And it comes no surprise that everyone wants her especially Jonah Collins.
Jonah Collins is different breed of men that people attract to him. However, he is very sky and quiet man that he does not really socialize unless he needs too. And he definitely does not mind Lenny but he mess up with Lenny. He definitely needs to grove cause Lenny is catch that no one should lose.
The Best Thing will bring some great surprise along the way. I will not spoil it but you will definitely love it. I know that I did. It definitely shows the growth of Lenny and her family.
The Best Thing will bring so much emotions as you read but farthest most, your going to love it the most cause it will make you happy.
Five Stars.

Sali Nim

This book was unnecessarily long and things got repetitive pretty early. Lenny's inner monologues could've just been copied and pasted at some point and no one would've noticed a difference.

It took me one month to finish that book. The longest time it took me to read a Mariana Zapata book. Normally her books are an easy read, even though I always have an issue with the portrayal of the guys (toxic masculinity, yikes) there. This time we actually got a quite decent guy, but somehow the rest was just... bland. Idk, Mariana doesn't seem to be able to find a balance between making her books with good, yet intriguing characters and a story that keeps you hooked and not make you wish the book would've ended 300 pages earlier.

Also I know the epilogue was there to show how everyone cared about each other, but I'm sure that could've been done in a different way. It kinda irked me, Idk.

The Best Thing

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