Loving Literatures

I don’t think I have felt emotionally gutted by a book before this book, honestly. Well, that’s a lie, it felt just as heart wrenching as If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin, but in a different way. Not a depressing or tragic sort of emotional gutting, but just a tug at the heart of relation and understanding of the circumstances. Despite being a romance, a lot of no-so-romantic themes hit my heart.

Leigh, our FMC, is looking for a fresh start from her current ad job and wishes to get back into her pursuit of creative writing by enrolling in an MFA program. She desires to make her own creative works on her terms and reignite a passionate flame of writing again. Things seem to be going well, until she realizes, Will, her high school crush and greatest heartbreak, is also enrolled in the same MFA program, same cohort. And being in all the same classes, working the same part-time writing center job, force them to face their past and present feelings for each other.

My gosh, my heart was all over the place. It was crushing every time there was a rejection, “break,” big confession, insecurity expressed as anger, obstacles in managing familial relationships, ugh, it all hurt!

However, the TENSION was so exciting, yes — you may be surprised with how romantic poets can be, I’m not! I was kicking my feet, blushing, and giggling by the tension between Leigh and Will, and of course, Will’s incredibly, flirtatious comments. He’s got moves, for real, don’t underestimate the quiet, bookish, artsy persona!

You know it’s also a good book when the so-called “enemies” agree, “this is a bad idea, we shouldn’t do this.” And, you know what happens when they promise, “just one time,” hehe.

While it was frustrating that these characters struggled to communicate with one another, I get it. The miscommunication trope wasn’t overly distracting, it was intentional. Yes, there was drama that came along with it, but it didn’t feel overwhelming and unnecessary. They both thought they didn’t deserve each other, as they both relied too much on other people’s opinions for their own self-worth and validation. It’s completely understandable and relatable; it’s a common insecurity. Both were so miserable themselves, it took some time to find their way back to each other, and the way they found one another made me so happy to read this book. Leigh thought Will would never love her, but Will knew he could never NOT love her and wondered if she could ever love him!

I simply could not put the book down, I just kept reading and reading, despite being up for 16+ hours. The beginning of the story was a bit slow with the introduction of Leigh and her backstory to why she was leaving her 9-5 job for the MFA studies, but I think the author executed this storyline very well. It was well-structured, intentional, personal, intimate, romantic, and poetic all in the studies of poetry, life, and literature.

**As an avid reader and lover of his POV, I would have given this book a 5+ stars rating if we could see more into Will’s mind!

❤ Josie