A review by thefatpaperback
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

emotional hopeful medium-paced

5.0

While this book has romance elements (childhood friends to lovers and a happily ever after) this book is fiction. It’s specifically marketed as “women’s fiction,” but I don’t really care for that genre name category so I’m going with fiction. And damnit this book is good. It feels nostalgic, mainly because the chapters alternate between the present and the past. I loved the tension between  Elliot and Macy, and “soulmate” quality of their relationship. I’ve read a couple Christina Lauren books that I’ve enjoyed, but this one is the best I’ve read by them. I want more fiction works from them with  romance elements, rather than just purely romantic stories. They captured so many emotions in this book, that I’m already tempted to read it all over again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault

There is a scene where a character describes having sex with someone while intoxicated. They thought they were consenting to sex with someone else, rather than the person performing the acts. This event happens off page, but the discussions of the trauma the event caused happens on page. Therefore, I’ve marked the book as moderately depicting sexual assault.