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Review
5 heartbreakingly uplifting stars
Wow, this is an amazing story. The story of a husband and wife, once blissfully happy and in love who now… aren’t.
Ryan and I are two people who used to be in love.
What a beautiful thing to have been.
What a sad thing to be.
After ten years together and six years of marriage, Lauren and Ryan find themselves unhappy and living a life full of resentment and bitterness. Somewhere along the way, they have lost their way, and in order to find their way back to each other, they decide to separate for a year. They will have no contact during that time, but anything else goes, and at the end of 12 months they will see if they have been able to recapture the love they have lost.
I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this book. It’s such an interesting concept, and Taylor Jenkins Reid has done a sensational job with it. And the feels! OMG, the feels! So intense, my heart actually hurt! But God, I loved it!
We meet Lauren and Ryan in the present, before going back to their beginning and seeing key moments throughout their years together – the sweet, the swoony, and the ordinary. We get a real sense of both of them, their relationship, and how they have evolved to where they are now. The break comes fairly early in the book, and even though I’d only just met Lauren and Ryan, I was absolutely gutted for them. I had to put the book down and walk away, I was so sad!
“Make no mistake: I do love you. Just because I don’t feel the love in my heart doesn’t mean I don’t know it’s there. I know it’s there. I’m leaving because I’m going to find it. I promise you that.”
I think what got me about this book was that it’s so real! I challenge anybody who has ever been in a long term relationship to read this book and not relate to something in this story!! It’s scary how recognisable so many of their situations are. Because it’s not all tragedy and uber-drama, it’s just the everyday stuff – a slow disintegration which is quietly devastating, and the believability and relatability of it makes it all the more heartbreaking.
The whole story is told from Lauren’s POV, but the author manages to tell the story for both Lauren and Ryan, and the emotion is incredible! As Lauren tries to go about her life, she runs the whole mix of emotions you would expect, and as she spends time with her friends and family, their reactions, advice, and their own situations all play a part in how she copes with the separation as she starts to understand how it all went wrong. I was alternating laughing and crying every few pages, and always with a sense of anticipation wondering how it was all going to play out.
I love these characters! They are just normal, everyday people. Imperfect, but instantly likable, and I loved watching their journey! And a shout out to Lauren’s family, who are are made of awesome! They are absolutely hilarious, and the dynamic between them all was gold! I love how they each had their own stories going on as well, each of them searching for (and representing) something different. But however they feel about Lauren and Ryan’s decision, they are totally supportive, and not afraid to say it like it is, and it’s a perfect blend.
“There is no failing or winning or losing … This is life, Lauren. This is love and marriage. If you stay married for a number of years and you have a happy time together and then you decide you don’t want to be married anymore and you choose to go be happy with somebody else or doing something else, that’s not a failure. That’s just life. That’s just how love is. How is that a failure?”
The writing is thought provoking, clever and emotive, and the story moves at a great pace, and even though there may not be a lot going on, there actually is a lot going on, if you know what I mean? And thank God, it doesn’t degenerate into an angst fest! Once again, it’s so real! I could understand everything that Lauren goes through, but she does it maturely, and the honesty is beautifully freshing. I just wanted to hug her and Ryan so many times!
We are tied to each other. We can hate and love, miss and loathe each other all within the same breath. We can never want to see each other again while never wanting to let go.
Whether you agree with their course of action or not, this is a fascinating read and it all wraps up really well. I felt every little moment so strongly and I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t want it to end.
“Isn’t it nice … once you’ve outgrown the idea of what life should be and you just enjoy what it is.”
I absolutely loved it! 5 stars.