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A review by riniya
When We Were by Diana Elliot Graham
5.0
Forgive me because this is going to be a long review. This book is a 5-star book, not because its perfect, like I normally reserve this rating for, but because of what it made me feel.
I was sobbing by the end and the twists that I was NOT EXPECTING were mind-blowing.
Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here.
Arden is sitting at a table with her best friend who is an author. A seemingly innocuous question about breakup sex leads Arden to text her ex, asking what he thought when they had it the night he dumped her. Only for him to respond that He didn’t dump her that she dumped him.
This innocent text sets off a chain of events that lead Arden to recount her history with this man to her best friend.
The story is told mostly in flashback to when she was a freshman in college in 2007 - 2008. The majority of it is in Arden's POV with occasional glimpses into "HIS" PoV. That's all we get, his chapters are titled "HIM."
The flashbacks start at the beginning and slowly build through her first year in college. It introduces you to a cast of characters that help propel the story forward.
This book is by no means perfect and normally as mentioned above, I reserve my 5-stars for a book that is so amazing I could see myself reading it over and over. A book that I have absolutely no complaints with and that's not this book.
There are moments during the flashbacks where she is setting the scene and trying to explain how this amazing love-story miscommunication came to be that are slow and I found myself dragging to keep reading.
But the reason that this book, despite its flaws, gets a 5-star rating from me is because of the twists. I am not going to spoiler it, don’t worry but the moment that first twist was revealed ... I threw my kindle on the other Side of the couch.
I am someone who thrives on discovering the bumps and turns that are coming, usually figuring them out pretty quickly. Sure, it makes for a non-exciting read to some people but it's how my brain works and I'm okay with it.
But this twist, followed almost immediately by two more twists on the following 4 pages, I was not expecting. This book honestly surprised me and then I was hooked. We are within the last hour of reading and I couldn’t put it down. I had to keep reading to see what was going to come, forgoing sleep because the book had gripped me.
The ending was amazing and it caused me to tear up. I am really trying hard not to ruin this for you because I do believe that everyone should read this book.
If you have ever had that "One that got away” or a “What if” relationship, this book is for you.
So maybe this book doesn’t deserve 5-stars, and maybe you won't like it if you read it, but I did and I really hope that you do too.
I was sobbing by the end and the twists that I was NOT EXPECTING were mind-blowing.
Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here.
Arden is sitting at a table with her best friend who is an author. A seemingly innocuous question about breakup sex leads Arden to text her ex, asking what he thought when they had it the night he dumped her. Only for him to respond that He didn’t dump her that she dumped him.
This innocent text sets off a chain of events that lead Arden to recount her history with this man to her best friend.
The story is told mostly in flashback to when she was a freshman in college in 2007 - 2008. The majority of it is in Arden's POV with occasional glimpses into "HIS" PoV. That's all we get, his chapters are titled "HIM."
The flashbacks start at the beginning and slowly build through her first year in college. It introduces you to a cast of characters that help propel the story forward.
This book is by no means perfect and normally as mentioned above, I reserve my 5-stars for a book that is so amazing I could see myself reading it over and over. A book that I have absolutely no complaints with and that's not this book.
There are moments during the flashbacks where she is setting the scene and trying to explain how this amazing love-story miscommunication came to be that are slow and I found myself dragging to keep reading.
But the reason that this book, despite its flaws, gets a 5-star rating from me is because of the twists. I am not going to spoiler it, don’t worry but the moment that first twist was revealed ... I threw my kindle on the other Side of the couch.
I am someone who thrives on discovering the bumps and turns that are coming, usually figuring them out pretty quickly. Sure, it makes for a non-exciting read to some people but it's how my brain works and I'm okay with it.
But this twist, followed almost immediately by two more twists on the following 4 pages, I was not expecting. This book honestly surprised me and then I was hooked. We are within the last hour of reading and I couldn’t put it down. I had to keep reading to see what was going to come, forgoing sleep because the book had gripped me.
The ending was amazing and it caused me to tear up. I am really trying hard not to ruin this for you because I do believe that everyone should read this book.
If you have ever had that "One that got away” or a “What if” relationship, this book is for you.
So maybe this book doesn’t deserve 5-stars, and maybe you won't like it if you read it, but I did and I really hope that you do too.