Title: How to Love
Author: Katie Cotugno
Published by: Balzar + Bray
Published: October 1, 2013
*A special thank you to my friend Krista, from Krista's Dust Jacket, for lending me this beautiful book.
From Goodreads:
Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.
After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?
In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.
My Thoughts:
This is one of those books that gave me a 'book hangover'. I started reading it one night at about 7pm, and while I do remember setting the book down briefly a few times to take care of some things, I quickly picked up right where I left off. Finally, after the pages started getting blurry, I looked over at the clock and saw that it was 2:30 am, and hubby was snoring (not so softly) right beside me. That's how engrossed I was in Katie Cotugno's first novel, How to Love. When I finished the book the later that day, I was in awe. I kind of wanted to pick the book back up and read it again.
The story is told from Reena's (Serena's) point of view. She unexpectedly runs into her old boyfriend Sawyer, who she hasn't seen in about three years. There's been absolutely no contact. No letters. No phone calls. No way to tell him that she had been pregnant with his baby, when he took off.
Reena had so many dreams and plans for her future. But for as long as she could remember, she was also in love with Sawyer. Reena never told anyone how she felt about him- not even to her best friend, Allie. In turn, Allie didn't tell her some things about Sawyer.
I really like that How to Love begins with the present events, and then goes into the past to explain how certain things happened. Katie Cotugno does a wonderful job of weaving the time elements together so that it all comes together smoothly. I also found all of the characters to be likeable even with all of their faults and issues. This story deals with subjects like forgiveness, vulnerability, denial, and at times religion.
Reena went through so much in this story, yet she was still able to be strong and to finally stand up for herself. She worked hard and was a great mommy, even though it seemed like she was all alone in the world. I really liked Sawyer too. He had a good heart, but he had so many problems that he wouldn't address or deal with. There was so much that Reena did not know. I'm not sure that he redeemed himself in the end, but he did make up for a lot. In a lot of ways, he had to do what he did in order to be better in the long run.
If I had to be picky, I would have liked for Reena and Sawyer to really talk about Allie more, and about how she affected them in the past and in the present. They touched on the surface of it, but I really feel like more needed to be said. I also would have loved and epilogue that told what was happening, maybe few years down the road.
I can definitely say that this was one of my favorite reads this year. I hope Katie Cotugno is writing more books, because I would love to read them!
Rating: 5 Stars
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