Landline By: Rainbow Rowell

Plot:

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now. Maybe that was always beside the point. Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her. When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything. That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . . Is that what she’s supposed to do? Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Review:

I never should have doubted Rainbow Rowell. I wasn’t sure about this book, the blurb seemed alright, just not my cup of tea. I started reading and then had to force myself to stop at two in the morning because my daughter has been waking up at five and I needed sleep.

I love the fact that her characters are so real. The husband at one point is described as a hobbit. All the sags and wrinkles of the woman are mentioned, these aren’t the models that normally have stories, these are real people. Love it!

I cried, of course. She knows exactly what strings to pull and normally I hate crying when I read. Nope, not with Rowell. Her books make me cry for the people but at the same time she still gives them hope. There’s a real ending, a happy ending, but not an unrealistically happy one.

This also happens to be a Christmas book. If you can count Die Hard as a Christmas movie then this is definitely a Christmas book. The setting is Christmas. Christmas is mentioned by the characters and it plays a part of the story. It’s not a huge part, but it’s still there. Wonder why it wasn’t released at Christmas?

Anyway, if you liked Rowell’s book Attachments I think you’ll like this one. It’s not like Eleanor and Park or Fangirl, those are both YA. This is closer to Attachments, another great book, by the way.

So looking forward to whatever she has yet to come.

5/5