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miaruthdp's review against another edition
5.0
TRUST ME WHEN I TELL YOU THAT THE FEELINGS THIS BOOK MADE ME FEEL SURPRISED ME.
No, I didn't expect to love this as much as I did. This has its issues but as I go through all sorts of heartbreaks and everything in between, finally reaching that ending ten years later was more than satisfying. This left me with both a smile and tears in my eyes.
This book is a story of missed chances. It follows Laurie and Jack who met one random day in December, while Laurie's seated in a bus and Jack's waiting on a bus stop. The only interaction here was one intense gaze that passed between the two of them. Laurie tried to searched for her bus boy for a whole year, with full support from her best friend, Sarah. But due to some twist of fate, she met him again one year later, as Sarah's boyfriend.
This book takes us through a decade of missed chances between the two. It was presented as love at first sight and honestly, that usually doesn't work for me so I am in awe of why this book got to me. I expected a light and cozy romance but surprise! I picked a book that put my heart through a lot of pain.
I WOULD GENUINELY UNDERSTAND THOUGH WHY SOME PEOPLE WOULD FIND THIS NOT VERY FITTING FOR THEIR TASTE.
HONEST OPINION. I know Jack can be a total Jackass and it's easy to say that he doesn't really deserve Laurie. She's too kind, too warm, too beautiful for him. But as I see everything unfolds, and as he finally finds his footing and realizes that he needs to change and be better, the only thing left really is for him to finally allow himself to love the woman he's been truly in love with for so many years.
AND I AM IN NO WAY JUSTIFYING CHEATING OF ANY FORM. There's one circumstance here that I personally consider as cheating and I HATED IT. Almost didn't continue, but they lived and suffered for that mistake.
I loved this book not just for Laurie and Jack's story actually. Just everything that happened really hit the right spot.
I loved the friendship between Laurie and Sarah. That's undeniably a once in a lifetime friendship. I love the characters' family dynamics. It really added colors to the entire novel. I love the pacing. I love how we see them grow up through the years. I love how the characters started from clueless, dreamy young adults to mature and experienced people who have went through a lot of individual challenges and learned from them. Seeing how things happen and things change through time was really impactful for me, personally.
(I even loved the other relationships in this story honestly. Rooted for those, too.)
THE WRITING WAS REALLY GOOD. This is the first time I heard about this author and this won't be the last time I would be devouring her novels. Her words just hit me right straight to the heart.
I wished we could've seen more of what comes after that last scene though. Maybe a final chapter jumping through the years showing that everything worked out fine for the two of them. I really needed for them to finally find peace and happiness after all those years.
No, I didn't expect to love this as much as I did. This has its issues but as I go through all sorts of heartbreaks and everything in between, finally reaching that ending ten years later was more than satisfying. This left me with both a smile and tears in my eyes.
This book is a story of missed chances. It follows Laurie and Jack who met one random day in December, while Laurie's seated in a bus and Jack's waiting on a bus stop. The only interaction here was one intense gaze that passed between the two of them. Laurie tried to searched for her bus boy for a whole year, with full support from her best friend, Sarah. But due to some twist of fate, she met him again one year later, as Sarah's boyfriend.
This book takes us through a decade of missed chances between the two. It was presented as love at first sight and honestly, that usually doesn't work for me so I am in awe of why this book got to me. I expected a light and cozy romance but surprise! I picked a book that put my heart through a lot of pain.
I WOULD GENUINELY UNDERSTAND THOUGH WHY SOME PEOPLE WOULD FIND THIS NOT VERY FITTING FOR THEIR TASTE.
HONEST OPINION. I know Jack can be a total Jackass and it's easy to say that he doesn't really deserve Laurie. She's too kind, too warm, too beautiful for him. But as I see everything unfolds, and as he finally finds his footing and realizes that he needs to change and be better, the only thing left really is for him to finally allow himself to love the woman he's been truly in love with for so many years.
AND I AM IN NO WAY JUSTIFYING CHEATING OF ANY FORM. There's one circumstance here that I personally consider as cheating and I HATED IT. Almost didn't continue, but they lived and suffered for that mistake.
I loved this book not just for Laurie and Jack's story actually. Just everything that happened really hit the right spot.
I loved the friendship between Laurie and Sarah. That's undeniably a once in a lifetime friendship. I love the characters' family dynamics. It really added colors to the entire novel. I love the pacing. I love how we see them grow up through the years. I love how the characters started from clueless, dreamy young adults to mature and experienced people who have went through a lot of individual challenges and learned from them. Seeing how things happen and things change through time was really impactful for me, personally.
(I even loved the other relationships in this story honestly. Rooted for those, too.)
THE WRITING WAS REALLY GOOD. This is the first time I heard about this author and this won't be the last time I would be devouring her novels. Her words just hit me right straight to the heart.
I wished we could've seen more of what comes after that last scene though. Maybe a final chapter jumping through the years showing that everything worked out fine for the two of them. I really needed for them to finally find peace and happiness after all those years.
hannahkate33's review against another edition
I wasn’t vibing with the writing style and the short scenes throughout the yearly time skips felt like no strong development or foundation between the characters was actually happening. “You suck big donkey balls” was the last sentence I was willing to read. Lol
vivianaxmoreno's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
I’m kind of teetering on the line about whether this novel is a 3.5 or 4 for me (from a holistic perspective).
There were some things I found myself questioning in my head and not enjoying, like some of Jack’s bits. But having just finished the novel, I enjoyed it overall. I liked that there were realistic, true things happening in the novel. Like Laurie’s struggle to break into the magazine industry (must be the journalism major in me). On that note, I liked that the inclusion of her periodically realizing when she wanted to be challenged more and sought new opportunities. I loved the sisterly bond between Sarah and Laurie because it felt authentic — they love each other without bounds even when they separate for a while (which is probably what broke my heart the most). Although the bit about trying to get pregnant left me anxious (because what if she DID get pregnant?!), the way their relationship dissolved stung but there was also a soothing balm quality to it. What they had was not be looked back on as wasteful but a precious period in both of their lives. There are other bits I enjoyed, but those are sticking out the most to me.
I was just now scrolling through some other reviews, and I realized there were some things nagging at the back of my head that other readers voiced — for example, Laurie does not move to Brussels with Oscar but seems to be willing to uproot her life to Edinburgh for Jack (based on her conversation with Sarah in Australia). And while I understand the difference is that she truly loves Jack in a way she doesn’t Oscar, there’s no clarification on this so it just seems like a contradiction.
I really enjoyed the tension created when Jack and Laurie came in contact over the years, but there seemed to be so much space in between, which I know is necessary to show their lives and what they’re doing, but it felt long at times and drawn out.
This is one of those books that I definitely enjoyed reading, but there are small holes that make me stop and think a little bit more. Maybe if you ask me in a couple of days from now what my rating is, I’d say a 4. It definitely has the potential!
I’m kind of teetering on the line about whether this novel is a 3.5 or 4 for me (from a holistic perspective).
There were some things I found myself questioning in my head and not enjoying, like some of Jack’s bits. But having just finished the novel, I enjoyed it overall. I liked that there were realistic, true things happening in the novel. Like Laurie’s struggle to break into the magazine industry (must be the journalism major in me). On that note, I liked that the inclusion of her periodically realizing when she wanted to be challenged more and sought new opportunities. I loved the sisterly bond between Sarah and Laurie because it felt authentic — they love each other without bounds even when they separate for a while (which is probably what broke my heart the most). Although the bit about trying to get pregnant left me anxious (because what if she DID get pregnant?!), the way their relationship dissolved stung but there was also a soothing balm quality to it. What they had was not be looked back on as wasteful but a precious period in both of their lives. There are other bits I enjoyed, but those are sticking out the most to me.
I was just now scrolling through some other reviews, and I realized there were some things nagging at the back of my head that other readers voiced — for example, Laurie does not move to Brussels with Oscar but seems to be willing to uproot her life to Edinburgh for Jack (based on her conversation with Sarah in Australia). And while I understand the difference is that she truly loves Jack in a way she doesn’t Oscar, there’s no clarification on this so it just seems like a contradiction.
I really enjoyed the tension created when Jack and Laurie came in contact over the years, but there seemed to be so much space in between, which I know is necessary to show their lives and what they’re doing, but it felt long at times and drawn out.
This is one of those books that I definitely enjoyed reading, but there are small holes that make me stop and think a little bit more. Maybe if you ask me in a couple of days from now what my rating is, I’d say a 4. It definitely has the potential!
sandhya_raja's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
andotherworlds's review against another edition
3.0
3 or 3.5 // writing this before chem test so thoughts hopefully to come later
dianas_gone_reading's review against another edition
4.0
This book reminded me so much of the movie Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore!! Especially the last 20 pages.. so so good! Such a good love story about Fate and who your destined to be with!
blackberries's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This book kept me entertained but did feel predictable at times with common tropes. I also found Oscar to be very unlikeable which was probably the authors goal but I thought there was no chemistry at all between Laurie and Oscar leading up to their marriage. Again maybe that was the point, but it dragged on a bit too long.