Love and Other Words

This book is about the complicated relationship between Macy and Elliot, and it sounded like a sweet read (and, at times it was) but my feelings for this book are all over the place. 

The story is told using two time frames - when Macy and Elliot were kids and later when they reconnect after being apart for over a decade - for reasons yet unknown to the reader. Their bond and interactions over the years were cute, touching and a bit melodramatic and I loved that they were both book lovers and word nerds. Their beginning was my favourite part of the book where we see the sweet relationship between Macy and Elliot as kids and teenagers. The banter, their understanding of each other and chemistry between them started this book off strong.

But as the story progressed, the pacing slowed considerably, the plot became underwhelming, and the reasons for their issues felt contrived. By the halfway mark I was skimming the story, hoping we'd get through the angst, pining and dancing around their true feelings and what happened to separate them years prior. But when we're finally given the reveal (which came very late in the story), it was abrupt and while readers are given reasons to understand Macy's side of things, Elliot's trauma was shockingly left unexplored. Considering the topic and his experience, the lack of recognition and exploring the issue was disappointing.

This is a sweet second chance romance/friends-to-lovers romance between two book lovers who have known each other since childhood that features themes of love, loss and trust. Christina Lauren's books are hit and miss for me and this book falls in the middle of the bunch. 

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Christina Lauren

Genre: Romance, RomCom

Type and Source: Trade Paperback from public library

Publisher: Gallery Books

First Published: April 10, 2018

Book Description from GoodReads: The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

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.

Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).