Love and Other Words

Christina Lauren

Apr 2018 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

After a decade apart, childhood sweethearts reconnect by chance in New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren’s touching, romantic novel Love and Other Words…how many words will it take for them to figure out where it all went wrong?

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.

Ratings and reviews

It's not horrible but I'm giving this book two stars because it wasn't the type of love story that excited me. If I was an angsty fourteen year old who had never experienced love, I would have been floored by Elliots unwavering and undying love for Macy. But alas, this book was like a stereotypical manuscript for a hollywood chick-flick.

Christina Lauren is one of my go to one-click authors. I haven't read a book by this duo that I haven't loved. Love and Other Words is yet another magnificent masterpiece by these ultra talented ladies. Macy and Elliott's story is more than just a romance. It is a coming of age, second chance, best friends and family story with a hint of romance. Told through present day and flashbacks this story will grab a hold of your attention and your emotions, running you through a gauntlet of real life experiences. If you are new to Christina Lauren's writing then this is the perfect book to get your feet wet. Not as steamy as their Beautiful series and not a rom-com like Dating You/Hating Youbut thoroughly enjoyable all the same. 5 stars **Review by Amy W., Late Night Reviewer for Up All Night w/ Books**

First love is difficult, and you never forget it. But, not everyone has a chance to go back again and experience those firsts with the person they left behind years ago. Macy and Elliot met over books years ago: sharing favorite moments, lines and scenes, that common thread turned to friendship which soon turned to love. Their first love. But now, years later, Mary is a resident in pediatrics with a settled plan, engaged to an older, successful man and setting herself up for an ‘expected’ life. She’s content and secure – both elements she feels are most important at this time, even if her fiancé doesn’t make her heart skip a beat. Then after an eleven year absence, Elliot appears. Bringing up all of those long-buried feelings of hope, butterflies and excitement that she thought weren’t for her. And of course, Elliot is even more attractive now than before: now that she knows that life isn’t always full of potential and excitement, and finding that one person you can share your deepest secrets and fears with is rare. Of course Elliot is everything she’s missing with her fiancé, things she didn’t even realize she wanted or needed, having pushed the emotions and feelings of that first love into a box. The authors have used a present / past device here that puts those emotions for both Mary and Elliot (and readers) into easy reach, smoothly presenting the development of their relationship as it happened, as they are restructuring and reacquainting themselves with who they are now, and then adjusting and allowing for the connection, built so long ago to reappear. There are bits of mystery surrounding the end of their young romance, as well as moments that show how both have grown and matured, and perhaps even matured in ways that could find them reliving the past while building to the future. Charming from the start, completely engaging and easy to see the relationship as it builds on two levels: past and present, keeping readers cheering them on and remembering their own firsts. A favorite read for characters, depth of story and the beautiful inserts of ‘past moments’ that help to both deepen and inform their present. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

About the author

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the New York Times, USA TODAY, and #1 internationally bestselling authors of the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series, Autoboyography, Love and Other Words, Roomies, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, The Unhoneymooners, The Soulmate Equation, Something Wilder, The True Love Experiment and The Paradise Problem. You can find them online at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com or @ChristinaLauren on Instagram.