REVIEW & BOOK PROMO - Before We Were Strangers by Renee Carlino

Title:  Before We Were Strangers

Author:  Renee Carlino

Genre:  New Adult Contemporary

Publication date:  18 August 2015

AMAZON

Synopsis

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?

Before We Were Strangers by Renee Carlino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 Second Chance Stars

I love a good second chance romance story. And this certainly ticked all the boxes for me.

This is the first Renee Carlino book I have read. I had heard lots of wonderful things about Ms Carlino’s writing and I thought it was time that I checked it out myself. I was not disappointed.

Her writing style is simply amazing. Ms. Carlino writes with so much emotion and her characters are so well developed and real. Her storytelling is so effective in every way it will leave you wanting so much more. Written in dual POV, this story was set in the past and present. Ms. Carlino gives her readers a slow release of each scene which is completely absorbing.

Grace and Matt’s story is full of emotion. It was sweet, unique, intense and heartbreaking. It brings home that fate will always find a way. If you are meant for each other; your destiny, your fate, will find a way to each other.

It was a beautiful surprise for me as I delved into this story with high expectations and truly came out feeling so many things. It was highly addictive and I had a hard time putting it down. It really tugged at my heartstrings.

Recommended read

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia for providing an advanced reading copy.


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