nikki

really enjoyed reading this

left much to be desired, great writing; kept me reading despite having an unlikable main character

another amazing coming of age / love novel by dolly for us 20 something’s. funnily enough, I started this at the beginning of a new relationship and finished it about a month after we ended things. for that reason, I found myself resonating with the protagonist, Andy. He did all the post-breakup things: drinking with friends, drinking alone, staying with his loving mom, staying with his close friends, meeting someone new. His career took a nose dive, he had to watch his colleagues succeed while he failed, he watched his best friends get married and have kids. It wasn’t until the very end where we switched POV’s and went through a bit of the journey through Jen’s eyes. It wasn’t until then that we began to garner sympathy for her. Andy had made Jen look bad, in a way. Suddenly she had dimension, she wasn’t a bitch. She was someone who had to make herself smaller in order to fit in Andy’s life. She hid job promotions so as to not make him jealous, she was at the mercy of Andy’s mood. At the end of the day, I find really neither of them are to blame. Love is hard. Love is stubborn. It also isn’t ours to control. It never really leaves, forever lingering. Jen set her boundary and stuck with it, a courageous and brave thing. At the end she said “I couldn’t trap myself in a relationship that was so difficult to leave.” What would going back to him mean? Sure, they loved and missed each other. But really, that was the end. Their story wasn’t meant to go further together, whether we hate the universe for it or not. This book helped me be more at peace with the end of my relationship. Maybe he crashed out too, maybe I’ll see him succeed. Whether I’m there or not, I’ll always be cheering him on.