This Love Story Will Self-Destruct by Leslie Cohen

This Love Story Will Self-Destruct

by Leslie Cohen

This is the classic tale of boy meets girl: Girl…goes home with someone else.

Meet Eve. She’s a dreamer, a feeler, a careening well of sensitivities who can’t quite keep her feet on the ground, or steer clear of trouble. She’s a laugher, a crier, a quirky and quick-witted bleeding-heart-worrier.

Meet Ben. He’s an engineer, an expert at leveling floors who likes order, structure, and straight lines. He doesn’t opine, he doesn’t ruminate, he doesn’t simmer until he boils over.

So naturally, when the two first cross paths, sparks don’t exactly fly. But then they meet again. And again. And then, finally, they find themselves with a deep yet fragile connection that will change the course of their relationship—possibly forever.

Follow Eve and Ben as they navigate their twenties on a winding journey through first jobs, first dates, and first breakups; through first reunions, first betrayals and, maybe, first love. This is When Harry Met Sally reimagined; a charming tale told from two unapologetically original points of view. With an acerbic edge and heartwarming humor, debut novelist Leslie Cohen takes us on a tour of what life looks like when it doesn’t go according to plan, and explores the complexity, chaos, and comedy in finding a relationship built to last.

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

3 of 5 stars

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is a book that I enjoyed towards the middle and the end. But the beginning is where I struggled. The main character is in a unhealthy relationship and she isn't really happy with where her life is going at the moment, but she doesn't seem to know how to change it. Instead of going on about how I don't like this part of the book I'm going to fast-forward to the parts I did like.

The middle of the book is where she starts taking control of her life and figures out what she wants and how to get that, plus she finally wants to get into a healthy relationship! (I know we all have unhealthy relationships, but as soon as we meet her ex I knew he was not good and just wanted that portion of the book to be over.) This is where we meet Ben whose job I found fascinating. Ben and Eve while dysfunctional at times grow and learn together. We see them go through so much and surprisingly I really enjoyed a lot of it. How they both were connected from a young age as well and didn't even know it was something new for me. This is also the first book I've ever read where the characters lost someone in 9/11 so to read that and to see how it affected both of them was something new for me as well.

Even though this is new adult, there were no sex scenes, sex is mentioned as well as drug use and a lot of drinking.

This is a book that I would not normally read, but I am glad I decided to try it out and got out of my comfort zone for a change.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 January, 2018: Finished reading
  • 5 January, 2018: Reviewed