Lingus

It was a cute love story. I wasn't inlove with the character I was reading from.

3.5 ✨

Ok so this was my second Mariana Zapata book and I really enjoyed it. I definitely need to read more from her.

This is a slow burn friends to lovers and I am totally here for the romance. You could totally feel the sexual tension coming off the pages. I found this to be pretty funny. My husband probably thought I was crazy because I would randomly start laughing.

I found the female lead to be judgmental which I didn't understand considering one of her close friends is in the porn business.

Ok I know this is short but that's what you get when you put off writing your reviews for so long.

Overall I really enjoyed the romance and thought it was cute and funny.

The thing is I was really let down. I love this author and I think she does great work— I was SO looking forward to this one. Yet, Kat is so judgey and just not great. The synopsis says straight up that she likes porn, so you'd think since she's at a porn convention she'd be less judgey of everyone there? You'd be wrong.
It makes it awkward and she has double standards and opinions on everything. I don't mind that she can accept her friend doing porn, but might have a problem with her boyfriend doing it, what I think is wrong is how Tristan and Calum doing their job is equated to cheating and all the female porn stars get slut shamed– oh but not their dear cute friend who only does girl on girl porn. Do you see why I'm having problems with this book?

The humor felt more juvenile and the relationship never felt super mature to me. Honestly, this did not feel like a Mariana Zapata book. Yet, I'm giving it 3 stars because I did laugh at times, I think Tristan is a great guy, and I did enjoy reading it... when I didn't think too hard about the sexism and slutshaming and– I gotta stop before I rant again.

Don't let this be your first Mariana Zapata book, I swear all the others are so much better!

I didn't think I would ever like a book where the hero is a porn star but I really enjoyed reading Lingus. Tristan's porn career, while it plays a big role in his relationship, or lack thereof, with Kat is mostly off the page and we get to know him as Tristan, the law student and absolute freakin sweetheart. It's obvious very early that he and Kat are attracted to each other as more than friends. The buildup to when they both realize it is nearly painful because these characters are literally perfect for each other. Lingus is a great read with lots of humor throughout and will leave you with a goofy smile on your face.

I only docked a star because I felt that Kat's friends were a little too over the top sometimes.

So I'm guessing I got this because of the cover because right now I can't remember and I don't know if it is but by the end it kind of felt like an NA novel which I'm not totally opposed to but not my usual go to read either. Having said that and coming to the realization that most surely I am not the target audience for this I'll give it a generous 3 STARS.

The 40% percent of this was okay and even pleasantly surprising. I think the author writes well and introduced us to a nice group of friends who happen to enjoy or work in the porn industry and that was cool as there was no value judgement placed on those choices ... until there was!

Kat and her friends at first seem like a refreshing group full of crass banter and assertive in their wants, likes and dislikes. However it became exhausting when every other conversation involved calling each other jerk, dumb ass, bitch or threatening to punch someone in the ‘vag' or nuts. Me thinks they do protest too much. I had to remind myself that these were people crossing into the second half of twenty and not middle school kids on a sleepover without parental supervision. So yes, that got tiring pretty quick.

On to the “romance” and I do qualify that as I'm sort of in doubt about that aspect the book. It is a SLOW SLOW burn. Nothing remotely sexual happens until maybe 65 or 70% in and the sexy times come in the last 15% percent of the book by which time I didn't care. Kat had gone from cool girl to your run of the mill chick lit heroine who wonders what she's feeling, what the male MC is feeling, ‘does he just touch me all the time because we are friends?' and ‘friends get naked in front of each other all the time right?' and to top it off I felt she had quite the double standard. She loves porn but can't fathom the idea that Tristan has been a performer and thinks of al the women who work in porn or the female audience as bitches or skanks. Double morality much?

Frankly the most interesting characters where barely addressed: Tristan – why did he get into porn and what were his experiences during and after and Nicole and her boyfriend Callum would make for a good story.

I'm sure that for the target audience this would be over 4 STARS but for me it was a sweet meh read that perhaps took a little too long in getting to the point which wasn't necessarily the romance but that we all grow up and move on to to the next stages of our lives all told in a very R rated “Friends” kind of way.