Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Review: How to Love - Katie Cortugo

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 4 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (Lovely.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Page Count: 389 p.
Add it: Goodreads

Reena has loved Sawyer since she can remember, so it's strange when her friend starts dating him. Reena and Sawyer and drawn together and then just as swiftly swept apart. Their relationship is anything but uncomplicated. Then Sawyer disappears. What he doesn't realize is that Reena is pregnant. A few years later Sawyer shows back up and Reena is thrown for a loop. She doesn't know what she's supposed to do now. She thought she had moved on from being that girl who was hopelessly in love with Sawyer, but apparently she's not. Some love doesn't come easy and ends up making your life a complete mess.

I really enjoyed this story. The narration alternates between the past and present which I feel really worked for this story. It helped to be able to like Sawyer in small bits because sometimes he seemed insufferable. He was just really into himself and his needs in the past, but present day Sawyer is slightly more tolerable.

Reena was a mess. Her emotions were all over the place and I think this made her very realistic. She was looking forward to getting out of town and then got pregnant by a guy she doesn't see for years and then he wanders back into town and wants to be a part of her life. They both had a lot of crap going on in their lives and it showed. They didn't have it together, and that's okay because they can work on figuring it out.

I wasn't a huge fan of the very end. I was all pumped and cheering for Reena and then she made a decision I didn't care for. It was terrible, but a little less empowering.

I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a love story that is rough. Their love did not come easy and a lot of unfortunate things happened to both of them. I really enjoyed their story though and I'm looking forward to more books by Katie Cortugo.

First Line:
"I've been looking for Sawyer for half a lifetime when I find him standing in front of the Slurpee machine at the 7-Eleven on Federal Highway, gazing through the window at the frozen, neon-bright churning like he's expecting the mysteries of the universe to be revealed to him from inside."

Favorite Line:
"His hands were like white spiders in his hair."

1 comment:

  1. I've had this for ages but haven't had time to read it yet, and I've seen such mixed reviews, I wasn't sure. I do like the sound of the time frame and it's good that it worked for this story. I am intrigued by the ending now, too!

    ReplyDelete

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