Review - "Kulti"

Kulti
by Mariana Zapata
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 20th March 2015
spoilers? no

Goodreads

When something is broken into too many pieces, you can’t stare at them and try to glue them back together; sometimes you just have to sweep up the pieces and buy something else.

All hail Mariana Zapata, queen of slow burn romances.

Of all the New Adult lit I've read so far, I think Mariana Zapata is my favourite author. Having read this and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, I can safely say she's definitely the best author of NA slow burns that I have read. Kulti was one of those books that I had to keep putting down so I could clench and/or bite my fists in sheer frustration that they weren't getting together yet. The tension was just too much sometimes.

Kulti tells the story of Sal Casillas, a professional footballer, whose team decides to employ her childhood hero, Reiner Kulti, as a coach. But Kulti doesn't turn out to be everything she expects, and before long, they're both antagonising the other.

Over the course of the book, they become friends though, and this is one of the many things I think that Mariana Zapata does so well. She has this knack of creating really believable friendships on the way to having the characters fall in love, unlike many other books I've read where it seems that the friendship comes after the falling in love. Sal and Kulti have such a great rapport as well, from Sal having Kulti saved in her contacts as "German Chocolate Cake" to the nicknames - I laughed so much when he called her "Taco" for the first time. (As a side note, my favourite part is the point where Sal attack-hugs Kulti and he's so surprised he just hugs her back.)

The minor characters are also amazing. Sal's dad is probably definitely my favourite of them all, and Sal's family in general has such brilliant relationships and they're so supportive of each other I'm crying. Honestly I love them so much.

I did have a couple of issues with this book (which is why it's a 4.5 rather than a 5). For one, the slutshaming was annoying. I can't remember exactly what happened but it kind of ruined my enjoyment of the book. Also, the fact that Kulti kept getting referred to as "the German" was a little offputting (especially during the sex scenes, even if I did skim read them. I'm glad Mariana Zapata changed her approach for The Wall of Winnipeg and Me). Actually, I couldn't read the sex scenes without laughing, but that's not to say they were bad. I can never read sex scenes without laughing, it's an issue.

This is one of the best books I read in 2015 despite that, and I'm putting Mariana Zapata on my list of authors for whom I'll read whatever they write.