A review by tesladouma
When We Were by Diana Elliot Graham

5.0

Not going to lie, I definitely felt that this was a really slow book for me, one that I had to continuously push myself to continue you through. When it got to the part where Arden gets with Reid, I genuinely thought “oh here’s just another boyfriend before her and Josh get together” which is obvious to what Dianna wants you to think when reading. When the part came to where the truth is exposed, that who Arden has been referring too is actually Reid, I had to reread that a few times over to make sure I was totally reading it correctly. When they explain the miscommunication of their breakup, my heart breaks at their entire storyline. I’m not one for the miscommunication trope (as explained in the novel, it’s one of the most hated tropes) but the part where Reid tells present day Arden that, as much as it utterly sucks that what broke them up was words that, at face value and out of context told the story that the relationship was over, when in reality that’s not what either of them were saying, however the events made them who there were today and they wouldn’t be happy with their current if what happened didn’t occur. Something in me actually breaks at that, at it is something that I can definitely related to; that you have to look at past experiences and relationships and be thankful for having them as they make you who you are today, regardless of how shitty they are in the moment. As for the part where Josh’s true colours show, omg my heart actually broke once again at the fact that he was so superficial in the entirety of their relationship.

When they finally see each other again, and lay out both their stories and come to the conclusion that they loved each other but not enough in a way that either of them deserved, omg I was gutted. This book definitely shocked me by the second half, warranting a five start as if made me feel all of the feelings and honestly cry to hard. The house analogy at the end, brought me to tears.