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A review by raisingself
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
5.0
I marathon read this book in one day and in the almost 48 hours since I've read this little gem of a contemporary romantic novel, I've read it a total of 2.5 times and even had a long conversation with my hubby about love and heartbreak.
You can read the synopsis, but you won't get the heart of this book. I'm not a contemporary romantic fiction kind of girl. I like my books to have time-travel, super human powers, alternate universes or corsets with British accents. This book had none of those things yet held my rapt attention until the very end.
What makes it great
Character chemistry - I've seen it noted that two characters aren't believable in a story, that they them falling in love felt forced and didn't make sense and though I knew what that meant, I have never (and I read 60 books a year ) had two fictional characters personify chemistry and tension like the two leads in this book. The sparks between them is palpable. I could feel it in my mind and my skin.
The journey - the story follows a "then" and "now" narrative progression between the characters 14/15 year old and 28/29 year old selves and a well paced tale to friendship, first love, great heartbreaks and deep secrets wrap around the readers mind and suck you all the way in.
Not your average 2nd chance Romance Novel - This story feels real. It's complex. It's rich. It's pretty smart. It's an emotional rollercoaster in the best ways.
Other items of note: I'm not a fan or descriptive love scenes, I was low-key a fan of these. Many of them were integral to the storytelling.
Totally random: this is the only book in the history of retellings in the POV of another character, where I would love to read from the POV of another character. Please consider a novella from the point of view of Elliot with his great imagination and love of dragons.
You can read the synopsis, but you won't get the heart of this book. I'm not a contemporary romantic fiction kind of girl. I like my books to have time-travel, super human powers, alternate universes or corsets with British accents. This book had none of those things yet held my rapt attention until the very end.
What makes it great
Character chemistry - I've seen it noted that two characters aren't believable in a story, that they them falling in love felt forced and didn't make sense and though I knew what that meant, I have never (and I read 60 books a year ) had two fictional characters personify chemistry and tension like the two leads in this book. The sparks between them is palpable. I could feel it in my mind and my skin.
The journey - the story follows a "then" and "now" narrative progression between the characters 14/15 year old and 28/29 year old selves and a well paced tale to friendship, first love, great heartbreaks and deep secrets wrap around the readers mind and suck you all the way in.
Not your average 2nd chance Romance Novel - This story feels real. It's complex. It's rich. It's pretty smart. It's an emotional rollercoaster in the best ways.
Other items of note: I'm not a fan or descriptive love scenes, I was low-key a fan of these. Many of them were integral to the storytelling.
Totally random: this is the only book in the history of retellings in the POV of another character, where I would love to read from the POV of another character. Please consider a novella from the point of view of Elliot with his great imagination and love of dragons.