A review by mckayla_haesch
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

To all of you who are diehards for this book, please don’t come at me 🫶🏾 

Listen, I heard so much hype about this book so of course, I had to pick it up and see for myself. It’s a friends to lovers to strangers to lovers book that bounces between the present and the future while untangling what went wrong the first time. The idea of the book was exciting, the presentation was disappointing. I figured out exactly what would happen just before halfway through, and it was just blatantly obvious. The lead up to the peak of the “reveal” as to why Elliot and Macy became distant was, to me, overdrawn and overly dramatic for what the actual reason is. And then the readers get…less than 10-15% of the book to watch them just come back together to “where they were” prior to the fallout, when either of them could technically be the victims? Not a fan. I also did not agree with how the reason Macy stopped talking to Elliot is such a prevalent thing today, and it was poorly written about and brushed over in a way that made me lose respect for the author. I’m genuinely surprised there was no TW about this because Elliot lived through traumatizing effects and just how it was presented was disturbing. Additionally, I loved Elliot’s cadence and who he was to Macy, but his character fell short of the necessary development that should’ve happened prior to their reunification and prior to the book ending. I was sorely disappointed about how this book turned out and I was surprised to see how many love it when there are so many heavy heavy topics addressed that are not given enough sensitivity.  
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