A review by katherineeweaver
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Macys mom dies when she is young and she leaves Macy’s dad with a list of rules, including that he should have a place  where she can escape the stress of school. So her dad buys a lake house next to the Petropolous family and Macy quickly becomes best friends and reading buddies with Eliot.
Macy and Eliot communicate throughout the week but eventually this stops as we know based on their unexpected meeting in the future. The book flip flops between then and now (just like Every Summer After) and we get to watch Macy and Eliot evolve as teens and adults. Adult Macy is in a relationship with Sean Chen, an artist and father, and they become engaged after just three months. And nobody likes Sean, especially Macy’s best friend, Sabrina. Eliot just broke up with his girlfriend and is openly in love with a Macy. I definitely liked the chapters about their history and families more. We get to watch their friendship grow into a relationship and witness a bunch of firsts: first love, first sex, etc. the relationship abruptly ends when Macy decides to go help Eliot two hours away when he’s drunk at a New Year’s Eve party (please girl no) and she finds him naked in bed with the girl she was always suspicious/jealous of. She goes back to her cabin and is too sick to drive home so her dad comes to get her the next day. While he is consoling her on the drive home, he gets into a car accident and dies. So she has a lot of survivors guilt. And Eliot only finds out the truth about her father after they rekindle as adults. Eliot also shares that he was raped by his ex fling Emma, although the words rape and sexual assault are never used and I don’t really like that. It seemed a little too much like that was the easiest way out for CLo and I just wish there was another way for it not to be Eliot’s fault or for Eliot to own it and still be a good guy in Macy’s eyes. Him being a rape victim surely isn’t the only way for Macy to forgive his actions, right? But yes, they do get back together and move in together and the twists are so much more unexpected than in Every Summer After. I read Every Summer After first, but I was also wondering how that book even got published because it seems like a straight rip off of Love and Other Words. So that made me feel icky. But Love and Other Words was better for what it’s worth.
Oh and it’s called Love and Other Words because Macy and Eliot are always reading and asking each Other what their favorite words are. 
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