“In a sense, my time away from him felt like going to work, and the weekends and  summer were coming home — unwinding… being myself.” 

Happy #ThrowBookThursday!

Following the death of Macy Sorenson’s mother; her father decides to purchase a weekend getaway home for when their weeks are too overwhelming for them to handle. Little does Macy know that this getaway home will become more like her home than she could have ever imagined. It is there that Macy meets her new neighbor, Elliot Petropoulos. Elliot is the quiet member of a loud family full of wild boys. Similar to Macy, he is happiest with his nose in a book.

What transpires within the pages of Love and Other Words is the endearing story of what happens when your best-friend, becomes your first love, your first heartbreak and the one who you were never quite able to forget.  Fast forward 11 years and Macy is a pediatrics resident, who is engaged to a financially secure man and she is comfortable with her life. However, when she runs into Elliott outside of a local coffee shop, she is catapulted back into a past that she isn’t prepared to face.  

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren receives my highest of praise and is the first book of 2019 that I have read in less than 24 hours; I couldn’t put it down. There was something absolutely moving about this story that I think anyone who has experienced the innocence of first love can relate to. I especially appreciated the way that the story flipped back and forth between past and present; telling the story from the perspective of Macy as she navigated through her childhood and teenage years with Elliot.  

Also, there is something beautifully mesmerizing about a book that’s written about people who love to read. Especially when it involves two strangers whose lives become intertwined because of their love for words.  I can’t tell you how many times I thought to myself how wonderful it would be to have a friendship like Macy and Elliot had; I could feel their love for one another pouring off of the pages.  

Christina Lauren has made a fan out of me. I didn’t want Love and Other Words to end, I wanted to know more about where their lives went after I finished the last page. I was foolish enough to think that I would be able to finish the book without crying and I was very wrong. It’s not too often that a book can completely catch me off guard but this one did. 

I can’t say enough about Love and Other Words. I encourage you to go out and pick up this book and prepare for it to take hold of your entire day.  

Favorite word: limerence.