5 Smooches
Synopsis
To the Green-eyed Lovebird:
We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House.
You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more.
We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other.
Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding…
I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello.
After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half?
M
Review
“I felt it for Grace before I even has a name for it. I might have said the word a million times, but it sounded different now that I meant it. When I thought about what we had, it didn’t matter that it was just friendship. I loved her.”
There are some stories you can just tell will stick with you and call to you to re-visit them again and again when you need to feel the intense emotions you had the first time all over again. I was unsure go into this book how much I would love it, I have a hang up about wasted years passing by – it gives me sever anxiety, but WOW this story was everything!
“Hi Jane. This is my friend, Matthias. He has excellent blood and he’ll like to sell you some.”
Witty, romantic, intense with surprises I didn’t see coming Before We Were Strangers was a perfect blend of a New Adult novel and a Contemporary Novel. We start off with Matt and Grace in the present and after having not seen each other in fifteen years they catch a glance at one another on a subway platform in New York. This leads to the Craigslist missed connections ad. Flashing back 15 year we spend half the book falling in love. We fell in love with Matt and Grace, fell in love with New York and in love with that early 20s intense friendship where you want to see the person first thing in the morning and every night before bed. Matt and Grace were fast friends and before anything else they were true friends. I miss that young, poor youthful exuberance that felt like EVERYTHING and in Before We Were Strangers I got to experience it all over again. New Adult perfection I laughed cried and desperately begged for them to take the next step and give in.
I didn’t know what happened, but in the span of a minute, I felt like my whole fucking life was over.”
But youth and love don’t always mix well for the long term and decisions were made, mistakes happen and before we know it the two people who seemed like they couldn’t be more in love and more perfect have not talked in fifteen years. My heart was broken and as the truth comes out and Matt and Grace attempt to be friends again my heart continued to break over and over again to the point I felt like I might never be whole again. I was drowning in feelings and I wasn’t sure I could ever breathe again.
“Would I ever be able to stop thinking about it felt to be wrapped up in him like that? Our bodies merged into one. Sleeping alone would never feel normal again.”
The new adult part of the story had me reminiscence about my own past and laughing and loving the whole time. I knew what was coming and try as I might to protect my heart I could not help but fall deeply for Matt and Grace. The contemporary half that takes place in the present left me emotional and raw. By this point I was so involved I could not stop even if I wanted to (but not for one second did I really want to.) While still witty and steamy (and yes this book is very very sexy) the present was all about falling for the person each has become and learning to forgive past mistakes and hoping that they can move forward.
“The present it our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking.”
I you love sweet romances, hilarious banter, ugly cries and epic loves than Before We Were Strangers will not disappoint. It was a story that gripped me and wouldn’t let go. I truly hope that you read this book and get the chance to experience the vast array of intense emotions it provokes I promise you will come out of it happy you did.
~miranda
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