So, with 45 minutes left on the book, I've decided that I no longer care about this couple. But to force your help on someone without regard for their wants, or to keep pushing someone when they're in a vulnerable state until they are provoked into a response, to harbor resentments without ever actually stepping up and communicating what hurts you, to use verbal 'traps' over and over to set yourself up for a claim to victimhood, to completely disrespect someone's request for space, to forgive a pattern of behavior that is absolutely negative without any clear indication that a person has developed beyond their knee-jerk unhealthy reactions or has identified a flaw in their belief system.

Sometimes, it's true that people don't see what they need. Instead, they insist multiple times that their partner has no idea what they actually need in a way that denies them their experiences, feelings, and perspectives. Luna and Rip don't give each other what they say they need.

this story acts as validation for the resulting abusive behavior in the victims, and I just can't feel supportive of it. Yes, people who grow up in dysfunctional families tend to act like this. However, the realism doesn't really add to the overall value of the story. The two main characters participate in some highly dysfunctional behavior, then try to rationalize that behavior in a way that perpetuates it, rather than identifying it as manipulative and destructive. I like Zapata's ruministic style of writing, but this story was a miss for me.

Luna and the lie mariana zapata