Loving Literatures

"It's all about the yearning."

First, this book’s design, exclusive to Barnes & Noble readers, is BEAUTIFUL, with its rom-com movie-themed painted edges and the book cover’s stunning overall aesthetic! I paid extra to have the upgraded design, and it was fantastic! **See images at the end of this blog post!**

Next, you need to read this book. How come, you may ask?

Exhibit A per Wes Bennett-

I exist to exist alongside of you.

Exhibit B per a conversation recalled by Liz-

Of him knowing exactly how many 12:13s we’d been apart.

Seven hundred and nineteen.

Wes was YEARNING for Liz, he NEEDED her to live, to breathe, to exist. I was obsessed with his POV, thoughts, and raw confessions. He put the truth out there in this book, even more than Better Than The Movies (Book 1). I appreciated Liz’s POV, but most of the time, she just talked about how stressed she was about school or how conflicted her feelings were about Wes, but fair enough on the latter, considering the damage their breakup did to each of them. I will note, Liz is very much a YES person, but it makes me wonder how she passed her classes with how many yeses she was giving to her internship?

** I loved Clark’s character — Clark was a funny, kind roommate to Liz, who also worked for the athletic department alongside Liz (for team promo). His comedic timing was PERFECT; he very much went with the flow of things, and I was kinda hoping he would get together with Sarah (Wes’s sister), yeah? Anyone else? Lilith was pretty chill and laid back for being a significant music and film producer. I was kinda shocked, but maybe that’s because I’m not in the music industry? Are supervisors/execs like this in real life? She was sort of a fun aunt to Liz, despite being her boss, working to produce a documentary about the UCLA baseball team.

I really enjoyed the pace of this book; it felt like a good rom-com movie pace, to be perfectly honest. There was heartbreak, comedy, drama, romance, forced proximity, lingering feelings, fake dating, return to hometown, so many La La Land references (which I loved, of course), baseball-induced blood, sweat, and tears, more raw love confessions, college sports trope, and plenty of YEARNING.

No complaints, except proper communication makes life so much easier, folks! Don’t suppress your true feelings if you love the person, tell them the truth! Additionally, I wish the book didn’t end, I very much dislike endings (I’ll get used to it eventually) — I wish we could’ve seen more of Wes and Liz as a couple in college and thereafter, you know?