Review: “Love and Other Words” by Christina Lauren

That’s right! I’m back again with another review for another Christina Lauren book. And…tbh, I’m not made about it because this book was good.

Content warnings: grief, death of a family member

Title: Love and Other Words
Author: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release date: April 10, 2018
Genre: New adult, romance, contemporary
Length: 432 pages (paperback)
Synopsis: (via Goodreads) “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.”

Ugh, excuse me while I go cry my eyes out. What the heck! 😭😭

This was phenomenal. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a parent, so while I was unable to relate to Macy in that regard I absolutely loved her and Elliot, both together and separately. I think childhood friends to lover is slowly becoming a trope I really enjoy, especially if it’s written well and CL did an amazing job with this one. To be honest, I was afraid something absolutely horrible had happened between Elliot and Macy and the back and forth between the past and present didn’t help either, but totally made me antsy and… Well, scared. Like what if it’s unforgivable?

I also feel like I understand why Macy did what she did with Elliot. I think that’s a way I would react too, to have a connotation with those two major events in my life. But you know what I did love? How right it seemed when Macy and Elliot were reunited. That they were able to work through the pains of the past to be where they are by the end of the book.

I’ll admit that I thought it slightly crazy for Elliot to be so in love with Macy, especially when I get like she was still struggle to figure out her feelings. But then everything seemed to fall into place for them (but only to come crashing down in the worst way). I also think Macy did need all that time (11 years!) to grapple with what happened. I think the person she was with at the time she ran into Elliot was nice…but also meh. Like there seemed to be absolutely no hard feelings for Macy there.

I just have the softest spot for someone who pines after someone else for so long, too. Like it’s…wholesome and never once became creepy. Elliot and Macy became friends during such a huge time in Macy’s life that everything that happened felt…good. I don’t know if I’m even making sense anymore.

This was so good that I’m just gonna go cry now. Byeeeeee.

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