The Romantics

by Leah Konen

Perfect for fans of Lauren Myracle and Rainbow Rowell, The Romantics will charm readers of all ages. Gael Brennan is about to have his heart broken when his first big relationship crumbles on the heels of his parents’ painful separation. Love intervenes with the intention of setting things right—but she doesn’t anticipate the intrusion of her dreaded nemesis: the Rebound. Love’s plans for Gael are sidetracked by Cara, Gael’s hot-sauce-wielding “dream girl.” The more Love meddles, the further Gael drifts from the one girl who can help him mend his heart. Soon Love starts breaking all her own rules—and in order to set Gael’s fate back on course, she has to make some tough decisions about what it means to truly care.

• ISBN13: 9781419721939
• Publish Date: 1 November 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Abrams
• Imprint: Amulet Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://abramsandchronicle.co.uk/book/9781419721939-the-romantics/

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Romantic: One who ruthlessly believes in love in its finest form and impresses those feelings onto his or her various relationships. May result in scaring off partners, falling for the wrong person, and desperately trying to turn life into a movie with glamorous Old Hollywood actors. May also result in some of the best, most inspiring, and deepest relationships around.

This is a book about love told from the perspective of Love. No, really. The author personified the emotion, and Love was the narrator. I thought that was very clever, and found the inside information contributed by the narrator to be quite amusing.

The central character of this story was Gael. Gael was a romantic, who's belief in love was shaken by several upsetting events - his parent's separation and TUB (the ultimate betrayal) by his girlfriend and best friend, and Love was not giving up on helping Gael keep that romantic spirit alive.



This book was super cute and very funny, but still had emotional depth. I laughed and smiled A LOT, but also got the feels. (see some of my favorite quotes below)

And he was happy, too. Totally happy. Pharrell-level happy.

Juan (yes, John and Juan and at Johns Hopkins no less)

"I love you, Piper," he said, as he made his way out the door. "I know," she said matter-of-factly. He should never have let her watch Star Wars.

I really liked that the author explored different types of love. There was romantic love, love between parents and children, bromance, and sibling love. We saw relationships begin and end. We saw relationships fade and grow. I cannot lie, the situation with the parents irked me. That explanation always sounds like a cop out to me, but I believe the situation served its purpose for the story.

Another fun thing Konen did was defining the types of lovers. There are the romantics, the drifters, the cynics, the serial monogamists, the loyalist, the dreamer. Each character, who had a storyline, was assigned to one of these types, and I thought it was a efficient way to develop the characters.

The story had so many charming nuggets. I loved all the movie references, and the movie related banter. It was a lot of fun. The relationship Gael had with his family was lovely, especially his relationship with his little sister (who was pretty fabulous).



Overall: Super cute, super fun examination of the many types of love. My heart if warm and my mouth is smiling.
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