The Wall of Winnipeg and Me

A Novel

By: Mariana Zapata

Narrated by: Stephen Dexter, Emma Wilder

Length: 17 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mariana Zapata’s most beloved book, The Wall of Winnipeg and Me—now with new exclusive content!

Vanessa Mazur refuses to feel bad for quitting—she knows she’s doing the right thing. The thankless job of personal assistant to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans for her life, and none of them include washing extra-large underwear one more day for a man who could never find it in him to tell her good morning, congratulate her on a job well done, or wish her a happy birthday—even when she was spending it working for him.

The legendary “Wall of Winnipeg” may be adored by thousands, but after two years Van has had enough.

But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door begging her to come back, she’s beyond shocked. Mr. Walled-Off Emotions is actually letting his guard down for once. And she’s even more dumbstruck when he explains that her job description is about to become even more outrageous: something that takes the “personal” in personal assistant to a whole new level.

What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?

©2023 Mariana Zapata (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

”I don’t mind you.”

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚❤️💜💖
Steam: 🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌎🌍
Character development: 🤓😉☺️😍🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: ✨Duet Narration✨

The heroine: Vanessa Mazur - she is frustrated with her boss of two years. She is his assistant, girl-Friday and everything else and he is completely oblivious to all the trouble he causes around him that she has to deal with. He makes decisions and because he has better things to do, she always seems to have to handle the fallout. He had changed since he ruptured his achilles tendon early last season, he had changed. She was stuck dealing with his crankiness even though she could understand his fears, though he would never admit to having fears. He was just a jerk.

The Hero: Aiden Graves (a.k.a. The Wall of Winnipeg) - He is the top defensive end in professional football and three-time defensive player of the year. He was smart, fast, coordinated and didn’t consume animal protein. He was also extremely handsome and was almost never told no. He liked his life in a certain way and had Vanessa to organize it that way.

The Story: Vanessa had a bit of a crush on Aiden, which is probably why she had worked for him for two years when she really wants to be her own boss. Though her bank balance was finally where she needed it to be, with a year's salary saved up so she could try to make her own dreams come true. She had started to build up her business and was ready to go at it full-time, so she gives him her notice. One day when Vanessa had enough of his crap, she up and walks out, before Aiden even has a replacement.

“Just as I opened the door, and before I could talk myself out of it, I mouthed, “I deserve better, asshole,” making sure he read my lips as I did it. Then I raised my middle finger up at him and waved good-bye with it. I hope they both got syphilis.”

It isn’t long before Aiden shows up at her apartment begging her to come back. Van has quite a contentious relationship with Aiden, though I think Aiden doesn’t realize it. He is so laid back and in his own head that he is pretty oblivious to the feelings of the people around him. He also has a personality where he is quiet, introspective and a man of very few words. Aiden makes Van an offer she can’t refuse and despite their differences, she agrees.

“Finally, Aiden shrugged those massive, rounded shoulders and made sure our gazes met. “I like you as much as I like anyone.”

“Oh, I’d heard him. Loud and clear. That was why I wanted to kill him.
Which basically showed how amazing the human mind was; how you could care about someone but want to slit his or her throat at the same time. Like having a sister who you wanted to punch right in the ovaries. You still loved her, you just wanted to sock her right in the baby-maker to teach her a lesson—not that I knew from experience or anything.”

“How do you not know that you mean the world to me? I haven’t made it clear enough?”
“I don’t know,” I stuttered. “Do you love me?”
His gaze was so intent the entire world seemed to stop. “You tell me. I never stop thinking about you. I worry about you all the time. Every beautiful thing I see reminds me of you.”

I loved that Aiden was always doing puzzles when he was at home and especially when his stress was getting to him. I do puzzles (on an app) while listening to audiobooks all the time. It is relaxing and it is always nice when you can relate to a character. Both characters in this book were great. I loved that Aiden was such an introvert and he opened up to Van little by little. She was more of an extrovert, but she had secrets as well and opened up to him as they got to know each other. This was definitely a slow burn romance, but I love that things didn’t get intimate too quickly.

This book was told via duet narration and was narrated by Stephen Dexter and Emma Wilder. I had tried to listen to an earlier version of this audiobook that was narrated by Callie Dalton and I had to stop it within 10 minutes because her voice was so annoying. I am so glad the author had this redone and in duet no less! Stephen Dexter is one of my favorite male narrators and has a deep sexy voice which I just love, and Emma Wilder is a good choice for female narrator, she has a strong, clear and emotive voice.

This is a fairly long audiobook at 17 hours and 51 minutes. It is an updated edition with new content in addition to the new narrators and duet narration. The previous audiobook was only 16 hours, so that is nearly 2 hours of new stuff. Like I said, I didn’t get very far in the old edition, but I am usually of the opinion that the more the better. I love it when long stories like this are in one book instead of spread out in 2 or 3 books.

Original narrator did it better

Love the story-not at all happy with my original purchase being “lost” and this version being supplied by tech support. Sus!

Great Read!

I have not listened to the original version of this audiobook so I can’t begin to compare narration styles but this was an excellent novel! Marianna Zapata has now become one of my favourite authors. A believable plot line balanced by episodic humor, and without an abundance of explicit sex scenes ranks it high on my list of summer audiobooks.

THE BEST slow burn 🔥

This book had me in all the feels. Laughing, giggling, & kicking. ugh my heart ❤️

Dual audio for a single POV book is the answer to prayers

Hearing this in dual audio after falling in love with it in single POV just takes everything to the next level. The voice inflections, the storyline, perfection.

sheer perfection

i absolutely adored this slow burn romance. it is the perfect mix of funny, sexy banter, real dimensional characters and an epic slow burn romance. i really enjoyed the voice actors, they really brought the story to life.

that slllooowwwburned so good

Love this book so much. I immediately got the audio after reading it. The voice actors really bring the characters to life and make you fall I'm love with them.

Love the story, hate the narrators.

I’ve read this so many times and listened to the Callie Dalton Audible numerous times. Love the story. Love Callie’s version. The female narrator-Emma Wilder, makes my ears hurt because her voice is so whiny and too high. She uptalks a lot. Stephen Dexter would be better in a older guy detective role. Sounds like he chain smokes. Neither fit the characters. I thought it’d be nice to have dual dialogue. I was wrong.

love the story, to much repetition

I love this authors stories but there is just to much repetition. whether it's reexplaining a feeling or event, or repeating a word 3 or more times in a row, like "slowly, slowly, slowly". it's really annoying and makes you wonder if she was trying to pad the word count.

this story was really cute. didn't realize it was a marriage of convenience story, but I liked it. the characters are funny, realistic and fun. Zach is my favorite of course. Van annoyed me a little because come on, after everything he says and does she still doubts his feelings?! the past trauma they both had to deal with was so touching.

Amazing slow burn story

I’ve heard this story is amazing, and the audiobook did not disappoint. Loved this love story!