Stephanie Sullivan: Review - Love and Other Words

TITLE: Love and Other Words

RATING: ★★★★

Summary (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.

REVIEW: Love and Other Words is a wonderful story of “firsts” - first boyfriend, first love, first kiss - and it’s also a beautiful story about loss, family, and friendships that withstand the test of time. I’ve always been a huge fan of Christina Lauren, and these two authors have such a magical way of weaving a story together that pulls you through every emotion you can possibly imagine. Elliott and Macy’s relationship made me cry, laugh, sigh…and I couldn’t help but reminisce about my own first love and the powerful and complex emotions that came with it. I adored the closeness Elliott and Macy shared, and the way they learned and grew together as a couple was so endearing. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is because the ending felt somewhat difficult to believe. I don’t want to give away spoilers, but I’ll just say that I found it very hard to believe Elliott didn’t know about Macy’s “revelation”, especially considering how much they were in love and how much they knew about each other’s lives. It just seems impossible he wouldn’t have found out sooner, in some way or other, about what happened. Despite that, I would still wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone, and it’s definitely earned a place in my top three favorite Christina Lauren reads.