Review: Love and Other Words

Title:  Love and Other Words

Author: Christina Lauren

Publisher: 10th April 2018 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 432 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: womens fiction, romance, contemporary

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

My Thoughts

“It never occurred to me that love could be anything other than all-consuming. Even as a child, I knew I never wanted anything less”

There is just so much to love about this book. I could simply state that the fact that the two main characters love books and reading ... well that would suffice any bibliophile! Their passion not only for each other, but also books and their ‘favourite word’, should just about make you want to go grab a copy right now! And that is only the beginning.

“Favorite word?” he whispers. I don’t even hesitate: “You.”

This is a story about a second chance at a life time love and what a winner  it is! Told in alternating time periods - their teenage years and then eleven years later - it recalls the budding childhood friendship that evolved into so much more. There is an underlying unknown until the very end about what drove them apart all those years ago, but for me, it was the journey they both went on - together and separately - that is the real winner here. Still, questions persist - can Macy let her guard down? What tore them apart eleven years ago? I cannot encourage you strongly enough to go read this book and let yourself be swept away through magical prose and a journey into the lives of some remarkable characters.

‘He’s my person. He’s always been my person. My best friend, my confidant, probably the love of my life. And I’ve spent the last eleven years being angry and self-righteous. But at the end of the day, he tore a hole in us, and fate ripped it wide open.’

It’s about best friends, kindred spirits, who became something more and then lost it all. Without doubt it is heartfelt, sexy, sad, dramatic and totally appealing to readers of this genre. I just loved all the characters - Macy and her Dad, Elliot and his family, Macy’s best friend - this is a tale full of emotion, I could not devour it quick enough. It is not a simple romance, oh no, it is so much more. I challenge you not to be captivated, not to fall in love yourself with what you are reading. This is a book that will make you feel.

‘I honestly don’t even know how to translate this heavy emotion in my chest. Is it that I relate so intensely to what he’s saying.’

There is not much more to say, but read it. It’s sweet, it will own you and let you lose yourself in some magical writing. As it states in the introduction, ‘Love and Other Words is a celebration of the fragility of love, the beauty of literature, and the strength of true friendship to overcome anything.’

“Why can’t everyone be like you?”

“I can be enough of your world that it feels like everyone is.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release