From Lukov with Love

By: Mariana Zapata

Narrated by: Callie Dalton, Teddy Hamilton

If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one. After 17 years - and countless broken bones and broken promises - she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close.

But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she's spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything. Including Ivan Lukov.

©2018 Mariana Zapata (P)2018 Mariana Zapata

I only wish it was longer

I only wish it was longer. I love all of Zapata's books. I love that there's no big, stupid misunderstanding between the main characters and that the hero loves the heroine for a lot longer and earlier than the heroine knew...but she doesn't find out until the timing is right of course, and then it makes her and our, the reader, hearts feel good.

This book was hard to put down. The first time I read it I went with only 2.5 hours of sleep and finished it in two days (it normally takes me two weeks to finish a book due to life invading...for this book, and all of Zapata's books, I shoved life aside so I could read like I was a kid again, and the lack of sleep was so worth it). Anyway, Ivan was amazing and supportive, but didn't put up with Jasmine being anything but her best...just as a partner should be...cue the swoon. This will be a book I reread again and again.

Zapata knows how to deliver the feels, I tell ya.

Were I to rate this on how the ending made me feel it would be 5 stars. No doubt. However, there's this pesky little thing called Kulti that I always compare everything of hers to and this fell short of that, though I still did really like it.

And she did a follow up! Kinda. Sorta. Jasmine is Ruby's sister from Dear Aaron; not necessary to read that before this, though.

It's no secret that MZ has a formula. Sure she changes up some of the details but you can bet the farm she's going to slow burn the becreepis out of you. There will be conflict. The female protag will have some sort of body/self-image issue. There will be family drama of some sort.

It's a good formula. A solid formula. I dig her formula. I especially dig it when she goes enemies to lovers like she did here and in Kulti and in Winnipeg.

But... you knew it was coming... that formula does have l'eau de one trick pony wafting off of it. The pony's still cute as all get out and will usually worm it's way into the feels zone but... still.

I like Jasmine. Just not as much as I loved Sal. And, p.s., she sounded A WHOLE LOT like Sal.

Ivan... *scratches head* IDK I feel like even though all of Kulti was told through Sal that I still got Kulti, y'know? Ivan was like a ghost image of Kulti. Even though I could tell he had feels for her, I still really wanted (and at times was frustrated by not getting) his POV which was something that wasn't problematic for me in Kulti.

Though it could've been that I wanted to hear more of Teddy. Because Teddy.

I also was frustrated by there not being a whole lot of competitive events which is also prolly on me since I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to figure skating.

Before it sounds like I hated the thing, which I absolutely did not, I will say Callie and Teddy go together like peas and carrots, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese. I absolutely loved how this was produced with Teddy doing all the Ivan speaking parts even though there's no Ivan POV. IDK how they did it but it sounded like they were together recording it and I loved that. They're both phenomenal in their abilities and they both bring it every time which has made them staples for me in the audio game.

Recommend to MZ fans.

Queen of the slow burn

First off let me start with how much I LOVED the narration.  I don’t know why more books can’t be done in this format.  It is just 1000X better.  If you are going to pay for a male and female narrator, don’t waste them.  Brovo Zapata!

The only reason this audiobook is getting a 4 star instead of a 5 is that Jasmine was in her head so much during the story.  The self monolog was honestly driving me nuts.  This is my 7th book from Zapata, and I’ve never had this issue before.  So I’m not sure if I was just not in the mood for it or if it was just this story.  But I wanted more story less monologing AKA thinking.  

Once again Zapata proves to be the queen of the slow burn.  Another thing  I’ve realized is that in the man usually fall first and the woman is oblivious.  It makes for a delicious story and From Lukov with Love was no different.  But Zapata did put a spin on this one making them enemies in the beginning with so much fun witty banter.  

Overall I really enjoyed the story, and I will continue to look for books from Zapata, I always enjoy the slow burn.  Especially when it's coming from her because I know she will do it right.  

Mariana Zapata can do no wrong in my eyes!

I've loved every single one of her books, and I have read a lot of them.!

Zapata is queen of the slow burn!

Fantastic! Mariana Zapata is a master at the slow burn. No insta-love here folks, but trust me, it's worth the wait. The narration is on-point too. Perfectly done!

Favorite one

Ive listened to all of her books and this one by far is my favorite. It kept me entertained through the whole thing.

Loved it!

I loved the way they did the narration on this audiobook with the male narrator reading the male character’s spoken parts. I wish more audiobooks would do this. As always Mariana Zapata didn’t let me down. The story was amazing, even though I had no interest in ice skating before this book. This was possibly one of my favorite Zapata stories so far!

Not at all what Jasmine expected.

I really enjoyed this book. It was sweet, it was funny and it had a little bit of sexy thrown in (only a little, though). I was very entertained by a lot of the relationships Jasmine had: with family members and with Ivan, specifically. Jasmine most definitely has an abrasive personality that doesn't always mesh well with others, but she can still joke around with her family and obviously loves them. Jasmine and Ivan's relationship starts out as completely adversarial. I liked how the history between the two was revealed throughout the book, particularly what started their bickering and taunting. What was really interesting, and super sweet, to find out is what the relationship meant to Ivan and that the way he treated her was in no way out of dislike for her. To the contrary, he appreciated her willingness to talk to back to him and joke around with him when everybody else treated him as ice skating royalty and catered to his every whim. And Jasmine, of course, being the strong willed, determined, singularly focused, hard headed individual she is, didn't see this at all. I loved the way their relationship progressed over the course of the book. The book is HEA with no cliffhanger.

I found the narration style of this book very interesting in a great way. I've listened to many audio books in the past with both a male and female narrator, but those are typically books containing chapters of both the male and female protagonists' perspectives (separately). This book was told entirely from Jasmine's perspective (narrated by Callie Dalton). Teddy Hamilton's narration was used solely for the words spoken by Ivan. I haven't encountered this before and I really liked it. The only thing I can think of that they could've done further is to have Hamilton's voice speak all of the male characters' lines (with distinct voices for each, of course). Even without that, though, the narration was very well done. Dalton did an pretty good job of giving the characters that weren't Ivan distinctive voices.

Wonderful

This is an amazing book. It’s Mariana’s trademark slow burn and so worth the long journey from enemies to friends to lovers. Great narration!!!

Teddy Hamilton!!!!

I am not ashamed to admit that I will always one click Mariana Zapata, but that is because she never disappoints! I love the build up that you get with her stories. In this book you can actually feel them start to fall in love and you know that it is so genuine and real that you feel it with them. Jasmine comes off in the previous book a little shallow and self centered, but you really get a chance to understand her and feel the hurt with her. I loved Lukov he is so genuine even when he is trying to be aloof. Callie Dalton and Teddy Hamilton blow you away with their performance as always!! Listen to this book, you will not be disappointed!!