Love & Other Words By Christina Lauren

2.5 out of 5 stars (because I have a heart) 

This is a contemporary second-chance romance where two childhood friends are reunited by a death in the family. The plot flips between the two timelines of “then” (starting when they’re 13 and 14 years old) and “now” (roughly 15 years later). So many people recommended not just this book but Christina Lauren I was… unpleasantly surprised by how little I enjoyed it.

The childhood sections were cute, but honestly? Kind of bland. Two kids who read together fall in love in the margins. They navigate this weird no man’s zone where they clearly care about each other, but no one wants to (in Taylor Swift’s words) “ruin the friendship”. But it’s just kind of painful to have to read, and keep reading, about the inaction from both the FMC and MMC. Also, I just didn’t find reading about two 17 year olds constantly wanting to have sex (but also kind of agonizing over are they ready, do they want to do more than kiss) that appealing, although I do admit that I had fun romanticizing lake houses and soft intellectual boy energy. The short chapters made it digestible, because nothing was really happening… 

All the book-reading bonding worked, though it felt dragged out but… that was a lot of scenes about kids reading. 

Beyond that, what was even more dragged out was whenever it switched to the “now” sections and you wonder why they hadn’t made contact for 11 years. I’m going to say that again: 11 years. 

And ultimately it goes beyond the big miscommunication trope. Because Christina Lauren works so hard to make sure no one is actually a villain, it turns out… NO ONE is the bad guy (beyond massive overreaction) which means it’s the huge thing that keeps them apart for 11 years is like… nothing? No one’s fault and could have been resolved (And then is resolved) in like an 11min conversation. It genuinely had me rolling my eyes because the issue could have been solved right at the start, especially given both characters seem to believe they were just soulmates meant for each other.

This had the following tropes: 

• Childhood best friends to lovers

• Dual timelines

• Book bonding moments

• Second chance romance

There were definitely  a few moments here and there where I wanted to just gently close the book and just leave it… I get that this is a second-chance romance, but I felt honestly more invested in others.