Before We Were Strangers

Renee Carlino

N/A

3,5 Stars

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. 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

Reading “Before We Were Strangers” by Renee Carlino I learned something.

I learned that it is NOT a good thing if 3 of your favorite authors EVER recommend you to read this book because they love it. The problem is – even when you will deny it out loud – you WILL somehow compare the writing of those 3 authors to the book you are about to read. It can not be avoided and it will be unfair to the book because you will expect something that is unlikely to happen.

That being said. This story is not bad really but it is also not THAT amazing. After a short introduction into “Matthias” present day life the first 50% of the story flows slowly – introducing us to the past that Matt and Grace share. It is fluently written and it shows a deep character development BUT … inside me … there was nothing happening when I read those 50% … it could have been some random article in the newspaper if I review my emotions.

The three authors I saw talking about this book were Amy Harmon, Jodi Ellen Malpas and Colleen Hoover… anybody reading their books will understand If I say … I not only expected to FEEL something when reaching 50% of a book – no I NEEDED to feel something. I mean – it took Colleen Hover about 10 Minutes into “Confess” to make me cry and at 50 % of Jodi Ellen Malpas “This Man” I was considering the option of throwing the book out of the window as I was so pissed off by Jesse.

After leaving the 50% mark the next thing I know is – I could see the total “endgame” right before my eyes… and when I say TOTAL – I mean I could have even told you everything that will happen including the name of the persons… and I was right. So either I am very clever (doubtful as for example Colleen Hoover always manages to trick me) or it was really obvious. OR all in total it is just – coming back to the beginning – the fact that my expectations for this book were simply too high.

It is a well developed story with interesting characters so I can recommend it to lovers or the genre but I highly advise not to have too high expectations considering the twists or turns of this plot. Those were at least for me very predictable and came at no surprise. The second half of the book the story got me interested a little more than the first part. There were some dialogues that made me smile and at one point a single tear was threatening to leave my eye (it didn’t in the end …) – but my emotions were nowhere near into the story like I would have expected considering the blurb.

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