How To LoveAuthor's Website | Goodreads
by Katie Cotugno
Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary
Published: October 3rd 2013 by Quercus
Source: Publisher
This is a love story. But it’s not what you think. This is not a first kiss, or a first date. This is not love at first sight. This is a boy and a girl falling in messy, unpredictable, thrilling love. This is the complicated route to happiness that follows.
This is real. This is life. This is how to love.
BEFORE:
Reena has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember. But he’s never noticed her, until one day… he does. They fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town, leaving a devastated – and pregnant – Reena behind.
AFTER:
Three years later and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter Hannah. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again.
After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer again?
Ohmygod. That’s the first thing I thought and literally said right after the book came to an end. And an ohmygod did it deserve.
Let me begin this by telling first the thing I didn’t quite
like, so the book could redeem itself later on. The pacing of How To Love was slow. It took me some
time (compared to my normal rate) to finish it. There wasn’t so much chemistry
in here (that’s in the typical contemporary) to hook me and make me read
nonstop, although, I still desired to see how the story would go. If you’re
seeking the sweet development of a relationship, or the cute budding of a
first-love, this one may not be for you. The description on the book’s cover
described it perfectly—“This is a boy and a girl falling in messy,
unpredictable, thrilling love. / This is real.” And yes, I agree, that’s what
this is; it’s real.
Katie Cotugno’s writing was ahhhhhhhmazing. It wasn’t
pretentious, wasn’t ostentatious; it was plain-spoken and straightforward. It
stabs you right in the middle of your heart. It hits that spot. I love her play of words—it’s downright clever
(Especially her paragraph/chapter enders. You’ll know what I mean once you read
it). Also, the dialogue between the characters was both witty and funny; the
exchange of comebacks was entertaining and smart, as well as the sarcasm in
them.
“I think of how it felt to lose him, slow and painful and confusing, and how it felt to wonder if I'd ever really had him at all.”
The flow of the book was nicely put up. With alternating After and Before chapters, the current story timeline could be easily understood.
The scenes were little threads being knit together little by little, and they
ended up as one neatly weaved beautiful piece of cloth in the end.
The three-year gap of the Before Reena and After Reena (as
well as Sawyer) was distinguished very well by the author. There’s this image
of the current Reena in my head, and another totally different depiction of the
Reena three years ago. It wasn’t difficult to separate their distinct
attitudes. The great amount of maturity Reena went through after three years
could be totally seen. In fact, I actually favored one over the other. I like
the developed Reena better.
“The hideous thing is this: I want to forgive him. Even after everything, I do. A baby before my 17th birthday and a future as lonely as the surface of the moon and still the sight of him feels like a homecoming, like a song I used to know but somehow forgot.”
The best thing I liked about the current Reena was her
development not only as a character but as a person. Her sense of maturity was
admirable, like she acquired some—or maybe a lot—essence of wisdom after what happened. She used it as a tool to
protect her daughter, herself, and to not make the same mistakes again.
However, she sometimes failed to. She’d commit an unwise action now and then. But
I adored how this book was constructed—it makes you understand. Understand that
life is like that. That love makes someone do stupid things. That life is
disordered, is a mess, is painful, is unpleasant. How To Love explains real love and real life in the most perfect
and accurate ways.
“I like him so stupidly much.”
I hate Sawyer LeGrande. I mean the younger one, not the
older. Because Katie Cotugno transformed his former character into someone
almost unimaginable. The cockiness wasn’t lost on him, but like Reena, he grew
into a developed man. He changed and knew his responsibilities and the
consequences of his actions. Though I wished that we got to learn more about
how all this commenced because it was definitely an enormous transformation.
As for the ending, I expected (perhaps wanted) another one.
Even so, I still liked and believed in Reena’s decisions (trusted them, even). It was such a dramatic read, but very
satisfying.
For those seeking another side of love—the messy, unpredictable, flawed love—you have to check this one. With the real elements of falling in love and breaking apart, and an astounding writing fit for its poignancy—this one’s a daring novel from Katie Cotugno.
THE NUB AND GIST: 4 STARS
