Review – All Rhodes Lead Here

Synopsis

Aurora has had to start over many times now. First, when she was a teenager & lost her mom. Again, when her partner of fourteen years called it quits. But now she’s taking control & starting over on her own terms. Back in the hometown of her youth, TOWNNAME, she’s rented a small over garage apartment to begin her next chapter. Only when she arrives to said apartment it’s clear she is unwelcome. Turns out the apartment wasn’t listed by the homeowner, Tobias Rhodes, but by his teenage son Amos trying to make some easy cash while his dad was away with work. After a verse tense meeting Mr. Rhodes lets her stay for her one month rental. Now it’s time to buckle down & start over. She gets a job in her childhood friends outdoor shop & tries to make the best of her time in town. Learning to enjoy the outdoors gives her a chance to bond with the people in town & also with Mr. Rhodes. After a hospital scare with Amos the two of them begin to spend more time together & soon they find themselves spending a lot of their free moments together. While the tension burns & crackles between Rhodes & Aurora they both have a lot of emotional baggage to overcome to move forward together. Will their friendship finally blossom into something more or will their pasts drag them back before they really get started?

Break It Down

Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 – 4.5 Stars
This story was excellent. It had a lot of plot & a lot of character development. I loved Aurora. Her arc of coming to terms with the loss in her life while moving forward & falling in love again was so beautiful. The relationship she develops with Amos made me smile. I loved Amos – his shy guy, blues crooning, moody teenager character just got me in the feels. I’m pretty much always going to love a single dad romance & Rhodes did not disappoint. He was so patient & so gentle considering how gruff of a man he is. I loved his grunts & man of few words vibe. 😍 I wish we had gotten to experience a few things in the moment with them instead of having them be events gone by in the epilogue. That was the only thing about the story I wish I could change.

Content: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4 Stars
This was a single POV book told in Aurora’s perspective. It was beautifully written. Mariana Zapata always does such an incredible job making you feel what the character is feeling. Her writing style is very authentic & I really enjoyed it in this book. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I really feel like it would have benefited the story to have Rhodes’ POV at least a few times. Sometimes a single POV is perfect but thistime I really found myself wanting to know what he was thinking & feeling. There were a few scenes that I was dying for his inner monologue.

Spice: 🔥🔥 – 2.5 Flames
This book is all about the build up. There is really only one sex scene & it is so good. It’s the whole reason I gave it a spice rating at all. Just absolute perfection. Good dirty talk. Foreplay. Lusty thoughts. All the goods. But clearly it would be super easy to skip over it & it would be a 1 spice for some good make out sessions.

Overall: ✨✨✨✨ – 4.5 Stars
This book is so damn good. I couldn’t put it down. I read the whole thing in two sittings in less than twelve hours. The build up & character arcs just sucked me in & I didn’t want to walk away. Rhodes & Aurora were just wonderful. I’m such a sucker for the single dad trope. This one was really well done. I loved the relationship with Aurora & Rhodes but Aurora & Amos melted me. This was definitely my favorite Mariana Zapata book I’ve read. Definitely recommend!