Love and Other Words

by Christina Lauren

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I wasn't sure if Christina Lauren would be able to make me love them more than I did for all the wonderfulness that is Autoboyography, but they totally did with Love and Other Words. I am getting a little misty just thinking about how wonderful this story was!

Who?

Macy - A doctor, who is engaged to an older, financially stable man, with whom she enjoys a comfortable relationship, but has yet to fully commit to him.

Elliot - Macy's former best friend and first love, who broke her heart, but still does not know why she disappeared from his life.

What?

After 11 years, fate intervenes, and Macy crosses paths with Elliot. From the very first glance at their reunion, Macy knew there was still a spark, and realizes how much she missed him in her life, but can she forgive him for what happened in the past and rekindled their friendship?

Why?

I honestly do not know where to start extolling my love for this book, but here's a list of things worth noting.

• This book made me feel so many things. I smiled and laughed and swooned, but I also shed a bunch of tears. There were sad tears and tragic tears, but there were also a bunch of happy tears.

• Man! Talk about making me wait! Christina Lauren kept the whole story to themselves for the bulk of the book, which made me nuts, but also kept me flipping the pages. As they flip between past and present, it's hard to understand what happened to destroy this friendship.

• I loved the alternating timeline, because it let me watch two romances unfold.

• I got to see them grow from ages 13 - 18, and I loved seeing what a beautiful and solid friendship they had. Some of the things they discussed were so intimate, and I have to comment Elliot on being such a great "girlfriend" to Macy when she really needed it.

• I have a special place in my heart for second chance romances, because they give me hope that not all endings are permanent, and the authors gave us one truly beautiful one in this book.

• Can we just talk about how wonderful Elliot's family was? They were so vibrant and loving and I want them to adopt me, but mostly I loved them, because of how lovely they were to Macy.

• Macy's dad was pretty special too. He had to raise his daughter on his own, and thank goodness, mom left him a list, because though he was trying, it was tough for him. I loved all the effort he made and his love and adoration for Macy was so obvious.

• These two were readers, like HUGE book nerds, and nobody loves a book nerd more than another book nerd. And seriously, their friendship and romance grew within the walls of Macy's closet-library.

• I loved Elliot!! I loved young Elliot and I loved grown Elliot. He wasn't perfect, but he was precious. He was always very open and honest and he spoke from the heart, and he loved full on.

And, because I am such a sap, I have to dry the tears that started falling as I recounted things about this book. This book was beautiful and heartbreaking and it just filled my heart with so much joy. Nothing but love for this one.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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