Bianca Brennan works at a gym. She has a YouTube channel. She was best friends with Zac Travis when she was a kid. Her cousin was best friends with Zac as well. He is a little older than her, so it was always that crush. That could never be because she loved him, but he only saw her as a friend because they were kids and he was older than her. He made a humming noise deep in his throat. "Ritz," he drawled in that low voice that reached the darkest parts of my organs. "You're killin' me, honey." My entire body exploded with electricity and fireworks that couldn’t be described, blood pounded through my ears and I went deaf. By this time I was missing Aiden and Van and Kulti and Sal were still on my mind but I needed to move on.... So in my head it made sense that my work day had been spent A)ignoring Dex, B)avoiding Dex, and C)getting to know my coworkers slowly."

I kept looking at him while he closed the distance between us, a portfolio shoved under one long, muscular arm that drew my attention to the inches of colorful red skin the cut of his shirt showed tattooed on his chest. I'd been too far away at Mayhem to see more than just splotches of heavy color on his skin. This man never did anything without a reason. And this reason had him resembling a mama bear. A really aggressive, possessive mama bear. Which said something because Dex was normally that way. I couldn't even sit around Mayhem without him or Sonny within ten feet.This is Mariana Zapata’s newest release and my least favourite of the books that I’ve now read. I couldn’t connect with the characters and the story. And it was way too long. When timid, virginal and naive Iris first meets Dex, the sexy and drop dead gorgeous owner of Pins and Needles the Tattoo Shop she hopes to get a job in, she couldn't stop drooling at his flawless face, 6' 3" smokin hot body and colorful tattoos. But as soon as he opened his mouth his arrogant, rude, impatient and alpha personality came out and she hated the jerk. He, along with other characters, are members of the Widows MC but this isn't really an MC listen. However, and after a lot of arguing, they slowly learn to trust each other but the poop really hits the fan when The Reapers MC comes to collect on a debt that her dead-beat Dad owes (who she hasn't seen for years) and he has run off with the money..... so they're threatening her and her brother for the cash. And it wasn't going to be a pretty puke like when you're a baby and even farting can be considered cute. It was going to be nasty. Nasty, projectile vomiting straight out of a horror movie. But then again, Mom and Dad had kept me on the east coast for a reason. A reason I was clearly dumping into the garbage and possibly setting on fire.

The "love scenes" were simmering with so many beefy and meaty shafts, as well as mushroom and bulbous heads, that I wasn't sure if the characters were making love or cooking Beef Stroganoff. That earned him a laugh from me. Patience? Dex? Even after more than three years, that would still never be a term I'd use to describe him. And it probably never would. He'd started to lose his shit during our layover when Trip had called for instructions on how to set the alarm at the new bar. After all the crap that I'd gone through today, there couldn't have been three better words to hear. This couple does have a somewhat slow buildup. They don't get intimate until the last half of the book. I didn't really mind that because the author didn't bore with unnecessary details. For an MC book, this book doesn't have much angst, and again I'm totally ok with that. I held my hands out for him to see how badly they were shaking. “I’m thinking that I love you so much it scares me. See?”Good pacing: Her books are well-paced, and the storylines develop gradually, reaching a satisfying conclusion. It was a little weird, I guess. Growing up, it'd just been Will and me. Being the oldest, I'd always been the one watching out for my younger brother; the person to threaten to rip organs out of orifices if he wasn't left alone. I'd been the protector. The one who cleaned his butt when he was too little to do it himself without smearing more poop than he actually wiped. SO I reread this only a week after finishing it, I just couldn't get the characters out of my head and I didn't want to read anything but this. And I don't regret a thing. I loved it just as much the second time around, I relate hardcore to Iris and I just want a Dex for myself. I highlighted some of my favourite passages this time around so I'm just going to add them into the review. It's also one of those books where she hates him, he acts like an asshole, sexual tension and then floodgates of mushy love. I'd barely been sitting there a minute, an entire, lonely, miniscule minute in a bar that had been so heavily smoked in over the years that the scent seeped from the wood like sweat on a professional athlete. A bar that was owned by a group of people that my parents hadn't wanted to raise me around. A total of sixty seconds before the noisy crowd burst into loud jeers right by the door.

Well.... In case you were wondering, I got my money's worth on this book!!! It was long, not too long, loved the characters. Screw it. What was the worse that was going to happen? I'd grown up around a felon. A biker. I'd loved that felon biker for longer than he'd deserved.This book is selected for Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Romance. It follows Diana Cassius, who is adulting and finds it very difficult, the rest of us. She inherited two kids in a very painful way. She has a fantastic job. However, she does not have a boyfriend/husband. But does she need one of those? She thinks that once she meets a next-door neighbor, Dallas Walker, everything changes. This book once again also gets me giddy. Dallas is one of my favorite book boyfriends ever. Overall Hands Down by Mariana Zapata was an okay read. I had problems with it, but I didn’t hate it. It’s probably my least favourite of her books that I’ve read so far, but it won’t be stopping me from trying more. The romance was okay, I wasn’t able to fully connect with the characters and that made liking the romance a little harder. It’s a decent read and fans of Mariana Zapata will enjoy it. Bianca was pretty easy to get along with, I didn’t mind her as a protagonist. However, it was hard to connect with her. In saying that I did enjoy Bianca’s character arc. The reader is able to see her grow throughout the book and find herself. Why should you read Mariana Zapata’s books? Is it worth it? There are many questions readers ask me frequently. I’ll answer them now. Here are several reasons: Oh, and I hate how much Iris felt sorry for herself. It made me feel less sorry for her because of it. Having gone through everything that she had, I would think she'd have a little tougher skin. But if someone so much as looked at her funny her lip started quivering. It just didn't feel believable that she could be that meek with that upbringing. I mean, I'm not even that meek and life hasn't handed me that many lemons.

Sonny had dragged me to the bar by sheer manipulation. I'd just gotten to Austin not even two hours before. Iris Taylor, aka "Ritz", has recently moved to Austin. Iris is broke and looking for a fresh start, after death and disease have upended her life. She is staying with her half-brother, Sonny, who has hooked her up with a job at a tattoo shop owned by his friend, Dex. Despite their differences, Iris and Dex find themselves attracted to each other. Dex tries to stay away from Ritz out of loyalty to her brother. She tries to deny her attraction to him because she knows that he is nothing but trouble. as for the female lead, Iris.... at first, I liked her. Sweet, considerate, gentle and someone who loves her family very much. but after a while, she just became annoying. being meek is bearable but every time she got butt hurt, she just became such a cry-baby. every single time. A bit immature for her age like she's a teen who pouts around and holds grudges every time her feelings got hurt.

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Colleen Hoover and Mariana Zapata are my top favorite authors of all time. I have spent the entire time finishing up the books I had to read from her to make this guide unforgettable for you. There are no spoilers in this article, but if you want to skip the part about how they all connect, you want to be surprised. So I’ll leave that at the end so that it’s easier for you to skip. Why is Mariana Zapata a popular romance author? It's been so long since I've read a book that only has one POV that I've forgotten how much I dislike it; that's not to say I didn't like this book because I did, I loved it, I'm just not a big fan of singular POV. The first book, Lingus, has an exciting plot. I have never seen another book. We follow a girl, Kat Berger, who goes to an adult convention because she loves it. She meets a guy who makes her laugh, feels very comfortable, and instantly connects with her. It is rare I like the heroine as much as the hero in a book, but I really liked Iris, with her insults and "That's what she said" jokes and high fives. There was just something very endearing about her.