This Love Story Will Self-Destruct

(This review can also be found on my blog.)

I'm really glad I ended up picking this up. It was a nice, mostly light-hearted read that offset the thriller I had also been working my way through. From the moment I began, I just loved the voice that Leslie Cohen uses in her writing. I genuinely had trouble believing that this was a debut novel, as her talent makes you believe you're reading the work of an established and highly-lauded author.

Does an apartment still exist once you no longer live there?

I loved Ben and Eve both, and found them relatable in their own ways. I can understand Eve's compulsion to destroy something before it can destroy itself, and I found Ben's firmly-rooted logic to be soothing. They both felt like such real people. I also loved the way that Leslie wrote New York City, even though I'm pretty unfamiliar with it myself.

I was in that state of intoxication where you become very direct, very to the point. You tell people how you feel. You grab things that you want.

The story itself was great, and anyone who hates instalove will probably enjoy this book. Ben and Eve meet again, and again, and again over the years, before their relationship finally develops into something more. To me, this is a more realistic kind of love. Sometimes the people you love just drop out of the sky, but more often than not, I think they sneak their way in.

[...] we were in that weird in-between period when you've hooked up once or twice but you don't want to hold hands or even make bodily contact in real life because everything is very unclear.

Overall, this was a lovely book and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for Leslie's future work.