Book Review – Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata

Dear Aaron
Sweet and slow and serene. Another love story from the QUEEN of slow-burn romance and everything in between! I simply can’t get enough of her!

This one had me SO excited. I loved the premise. She was a pen pal for a military hero that was still on duty, and they corresponded every chance he had. Each letter, each moment, each event, detailed as they got to know each other. I was ELATED in what I was about to embark upon. That sweet-slow burn of two characters falling in love through writing without ever seeing each other. Long distance friendship, love… devotion and fear of the unknown. I KNOW this is possible and real.

Roberta:  finished Dear Aaron, loved loved it.

D.G.: Maryse, Dear Aaron was a five star for me also! Heck, I love all her books. It is definitely a slow burn…

Melinda: Just finished Dear Aaron. I just absolutely loved it. Couldn’t put it down. We had a fire scare in the hotel at 6am this morning we all got dressed went downstairs took my book with me. False alarm went back to room and read even though I went to bed at 4am. Don’t you love a good one. I live for these.

Wilda: Just finished Dear Aaron! O…M…G…!!! Talk about book hangover! Zapata had me laughing, crying, mad, sad and happy!!! I could not put it down, addicted from the word Dear!!

Northernstar: Just finished Dear Aaron. Gosh, but the woman can write! I felt their story unfold in such little bites, that if I didn’t pay attention I might have miss it – LOL. I really wanted more at the end, but that’s a good thing – right? Another great story from this exceptional author. I never would have found her books if not for this blog so thanks Maryse

Little bites is exactly right, Northernstar!!! Perfect description.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite “get there” for me. So many letters, for more than half the book – ONLY letters in fact, one after the next after the next… (and a LONG book, at that) and yet, somewhat monotonous.

AHall80: Yeah. Call me right now.

RubyMars: Do you know what you’re asking of me?

RubyMars: I’m still asleep, aren’t I?

AHall80: For sure.

AHall80: You’re awake. Call me.

RubyMars: You’re sure?

AHall80: Yes. Call.

RubyMars: Fine, but if there’s awkward silence and we never recover from this, I’ll never forgive you. We had a good thing, you and me.

An occasional glimpse of possible affection, or *slight* jealousy, but mostly… just pen pal friends detailing their days, and occasional glimpses into who they are and why. For months.

While this one didn’t necessarily have the incredible *oomph* that her past love stories had, the last quarter of this book brought up an incredibly heartbreaking memory, that broke my heart, and that inspired me to tell it! My memory, albeit, not my heartbreaking love story (I’ll post it as a reader confession later on this week) had me connected to this part, HARD!!! It’s as if I’ve been there before. I KNEW it, because I sort of… had been there.

I’d thought about it. He could basically look like a troll and chances were, if he was as wonderful in person as he was online, I would still be in love with him. Beauty fades, a good personality and chemistry doesn’t.

That’s how hard this one ended up affecting me. That slow burn, as are ALL of Mariana’s books (which I LOVE and want more of), though this one was more slow… and less burn. Again, that is, until the last quarter.

I absolutely LOVE this author and her real, believable characters that allow us to live in ALL of their moments (and not just the romance ones). We get to live the whole “meet cute, and every excruciating, delicious pining moment with them. But this one didn’t have that, near us much.

D.G. I think Zapata has became like KA to me…I just love her books! But I will agree that Dear Aaron is not my absolute fav of her books but still I loved it. It was very much different than her other books with the corespondences. As always I love how this character is related to or friends with or a fan of a previous character.

bev: The heroine was different than her others. Slightly younger and not as confident. I liked her though. When she says it’s a book about pen pals she means it. The first half is their pen pal relationship. I like that. I like epistolary novels. However, I did feel like the romance was missing. The same I felt about WoW.

Sure, it had Mariana’s “romance heart” but lacked that intense burning that hooks me from start to finish, almost reading it entirely in one sitting.  The heroine was much more… inexperienced and well, for lack of a better word, innocent. So much so, I couldn’t really connect to her. I didn’t “get” her. Unsure of herself, insecure, no matter how amazing she actually was, she literally sidestepped and doubted every single obvious moment that should have (COULD HAVE) been steamy or “burning”.

Sweet. Loving. Warm. But not much burning here.

3.75 stars!

Tagged as: 3.75 stars, contemporary romance, Mariana Zapata, men in uniform, military romance, slow burn