Love and Other Words

Ugh!!!! It actually took me a second to get into this book, but in the end, I didn’t want it to end! The truest of true love stories that you could want. To love young love and the truest young love heart break is this book. Macy and Elliot grew up together although in different towns they were best friends. Macy’s dad owned the weekend house next to Elliot’s. That allowed them to develop the truest, honest friendship. As they grew up they developed feelings for each other and just as they thought they were going to be able to start their relationship other than a friendship in one night everything changed that causes them not to speak for years. This book does go back and forth between present day and past, and normally I don’t like that as a reader, in this book I did not mind it as much. I will give you a warning you will need a tissue for this book.! Add this to your list to read for February

A great, sweet little read! Very cute and romantic. Not too heavy on the angst and overall a great little love story!

Summary: Macy & Elliot. They fell in love and became eachothers “everything“ Elliot was exactly who Macy didn’t know she needed in her life. That tall, skinny, bony, big rimmed glasses boy because her everything. So what happened that had her leaving him and what happened to make her stay away for 11years Shes older now, about to get married to a man she thought she needed, but just one look at HIM again has her feeling like she doesn’t know what she feels or what she wants. Eleven years later and She is still in love with Elliot “At thirteen you were my first real friend. At fifteen you were my first love. At eighteen you were my everything. We were about to take on the world together, until one mistake shattered our future” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶🌶/5 My dang heart❤️ Okay first things first: DAD DAUGHTER relationship! He did everything he could to help even if he was following a list his wife had made he followed through to a T! Mr. Sorensen was quiet but Macy loved it. “I like your kind of quiet. Your heart isn't quiet.” Now: My boy Elliot. **SIGH** He was perfect. Awkward but perfect. He wasn’t afraid to show his emotions. He didn’t have to pretend to listen but he always just did “Shouldn’t you only have to tell me once?” I wish we would have known more of that night, or that it didn’t happen and Emma happen to stage it, not a big fan of the whole “I thought it was you” but we’ll let it slide because otherwise the book was beautiful. Ms. Macy guarded her heart, she wanted to let Elliot on a deeper level than just friends but she was afraid and I get that, but they lost so much time besting around the bush. She was very passionate about reading and I love that She and Elliot were able to bond over something like that. I love her personality with Elliot while they were growing up. This book was precious, It brought smiles, laughs and tears. I like how realistic they made their first time, how they didn’t exaggerate his size or unrealistic expectations about Sex it went with the whole theme of the book it was Awkward but beautiful at the same time. I’d 100% read this book again.

Love and Other Words absolutely wrecked me in the best way. Christina Lauren crafted a story that had me laughing, swooning, and literally crying. It’s the perfect blend of tender romance, raw vulnerability, and a little steam to balance it all out. The dual timelines were masterfully done, weaving the past and present together in a way that made the emotional payoff hit even harder. The shifts in time lined everything up perfectly and kept me fully invested in Macy and Elliot’s journey. What stood out most to me was how deeply it made me feel. I experienced every emotion right alongside them. It’s not just a love story, it’s a story about grief, healing, and second chances. This is easily one of my new all-time favorites.

I am really enjoying books written by Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the talented duo behind the pen name Christina Lauren, and Love and Other Words is another beautiful example of their work. This novel highlights exactly why they are such a strong and successful writing team. One of the things I appreciate most about Christina and Lauren’s books is that the romance is built from the very beginning, not rushed or suddenly resolved in the final chapter as so many modern romance novels tend to do. The reader is given time to truly experience the characters’ journey, allowing the chemistry to develop naturally, meaningfully, and beautifully over the course of the story. I also deeply appreciate their refreshing approach to intimacy. They don’t spend half the plot focused on explicit sexual encounters or exhaustively describing every detail. Instead, when the characters do become intimate, it is written with restraint and taste, keeping the emotional connection at the center of the story. This makes the romance feel more authentic and emotionally satisfying. The writing itself is beautiful, emotional, and heartfelt. The characters are well developed, the story is engaging, and the emotions feel genuine rather than forced. Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings have a wonderful ability to capture love, nostalgia, and longing in a way that truly resonates. I listened to this book on audio and found the story itself very engaging and entertaining. The reason I did not rate it 4.5 stars is due to the narration — at times it felt more like whispering than speaking, which became somewhat distracting. Because of this, I would recommend reading the physical or ebook version for the best experience. I may revisit this book in the future, as I believe it could be an even stronger read outside of the audio format. Overall, Love and Other Words is a touching, thoughtfully written romance that further proves how well Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings work together. A beautiful story that stays with you long after it ends.

4.5 stars rounded up 🥹 Love and Other Words was such a comforting, feel-good read. It reminded me of the kind of romance I devoured when I was younger—the kind that makes your heart race a little faster and fills you with that warm, emotional buzz you never quite forget. The connection between Macy and Elliot is so beautifully written—tender, emotional, and full of those little moments that feel completely real. The dual timeline added such depth to their story, and by the end, I was so invested that I almost cried… which is saying a lot, because I never cry at books. That earns serious brownie points from me. It’s a perfect blend of second chances, young love, and healing, all wrapped up in Christina Lauren’s signature easy-to-read, emotionally resonant style. If you’re looking for a sweet, heartfelt romance that will make you smile, sigh, and maybe even tear up a little, this is the one. Highly recommend!

I decided to pick this up audiobook because so many of my fellow readers loved this book hard. I can see why LOVE AND OTHER WORDS connected with so many readers, but I didn't entirely feel the same level of adoration to the story as a whole. Through past/present storytelling, Christina Lauren takes the reader on a journey back to Elliot and Masie's past from when they first met through when they fell in love and later fell apart. Eleven years after their breakup, the two meet again and Elliot is just as in love with her as he was as a teenager. But one problem—Masie is engaged. Christina Lauren almost always writes delicious red-hot chemistry with great banter and dreamy heroes. Those things are present in Love and Other Words. Even though Elliot's character fell into the "too perfect to feel real" category, I still swooned hard over his intelligence, nerdiness, and sweetness. Lauren built up their love story as children so well, showing the reader how these two bookworm nerds fell hard for each other over the course of several years. I loved reading their past love story. In a way, we got a what I like to call a "double love story" because we got to see them fall in love twice. This book made me feel addicted to it because I kept needing to know what happens next. I love it when that happens! This is Christina Lauren's first foray into women's fiction, so I was curious to see how their writing talents transferred into this new genre for them. My biggest question was how they were going to craft the conflict. In the past, the conflict in some of their stories hasn't been the strongest, which causes the whole story to deflate when it should be exploding. In an attempt to explain away some of the plot contrivances, Lauren asks the reader to believe a lot. Somehow, Elliot didn't know that Masie's dad had passed away. After being best friends for years and deeply in love, Elliot didn't aggressively attempt to reach out to Masie. On the flip side, Masie didn't want to talk over what she saw with Elliot? I don't buy it. If she was that in love to drive hours to see him that night, that same girl would have been pounding at his door and shoving at his chest screaming, "WHAT THE HELL?!" Neither Elliot nor Masie ever met their mutual friends in nearly six years of friendship, until the night they broke up. Masie was engaged when she sees Elliot again. But it's a little too convenient that her fiancé is not really that in to her and was totally fine with her ending it. Both characters felt like the same character type we've seen in other Christina Lauren type books. We have the really nerdy sensitive guy and the female professional whose profession didn't really play a part in her character. Though, I did like see Lauren write a story with everyday people, instead of high-powered executives we've seen in the past. With this being billed as women's fiction, I was expecting to see more of an interplay between Masie's profession and her life as well as a more developed emotional arc for Masie's character. Neither of those things really occurred here. To me, this felt like more of a contemporary romance and less like a women's fiction novel. Also, Elliot's life in the present isn't really explored in any detail either. I couldn't even tell you what he does or what he likes (aside from Masie and literature). I really didn't like that we find out that Elliot had been essentially raped, yet this trauma wasn't explored or dealt with in any way whatsoever. Rather, the focus was on the breakup between him and Masie. I did enjoy reading their love story as teens and seeing them reconnect in the future. If you're a die hard women's fiction reader, this book may leave you wanting more. But if you like second chance romance, then I'd recommend you give this one a go (with some reservations), especially to meet the adorable Elliot.

I’d heard about this book for a while, and it seemed like everyone who read it loved it. I’ve read one Christina Lauren book before and really liked it, so I figured I would enjoy this one, and that was definitely the case! Macy and Elliot’s story is so sweet, complicated, heartbreaking, and swoon-worthy. I loved how the book flashed between the past and the present, with their story woven throughout both timelines. From the start, you know something horrible tore the two apart when they were teenagers, but you don’t know exactly what happened. This keeps you in suspense for the entire story, but the ending wraps it all up nicely. I loved the easy conversation and immediate bond these two had from the time they met as very young teenagers. I loved that they were both book fanatics and talked about their favorite words when they saw each other after time apart. Although Macy and Elliot were separated for eleven years because of a huge miscommunication and traumatizing event, and even with all the drama between them when they see each other after those eleven years, they still seem so able to pick up where they left off. I believe this is the result of them being the closest of childhood friends before their feelings developed into something more. I also loved Macy’s relationship with her parents. Her mother passed away a few years before the story starts, but the way Macy thinks of and remembers her shows how close they were. And her relationship with her dad is different, but still so beautiful. This book will make you laugh and cry. It will give you all the angst of teenage love and bring you through processing grief and second-chance love as an adult. If you’ve never read anything by the very talented writing duo Christina Lauren, or you’re just looking for a truly heartfelt love story, I highly recommend you read this book!