Katie Cotugno

16-årige Reena bliver endelig kæreste med Sawyer, som hun har været hemmeligt forelsket i altid. Hun er på vej på college, han ud i noget skidt, og da han forlader hende og Florida efter et skænderi, er hun gravid. Nu tre år senere dukker han op igen og ved ikke, at han er blevet far

a novel

How to love

Isadora Cal

I really disliked it. I’m only giving 2 stars because I kept reading to know how Sawyer left, how did she get pregnant, among other things.

First of all, Sawyer is an ass. I could not fall for him, I did not find him cool, or funny, or sexy. All he did was mess with girls and disrespect everybody. Honestly I kept hoping Reena’s love story was going to be with someone else. It’s not the type of bad boy I like. He was just… bad, in general.

Reena is also an ass, but until a certain point you can be ok with it. You can think “well, that’s realistic for a teen”, but then it becomes just too much. Like the author really wants to push the Reena+Sawyer thing just because. I didn’t see any love between them, just something like “I had a crush on you my whole life so I’m not gonna change that now”.

Also let me tell you that I have a feeling the author doest have a baby. Reena has a 14mo baby and is able to go to college, have a job, have a boyfriend, go out with her friends, and cheat on everyone with her ex. Man, when my son was 14mo I barely managed to work and sleep. More than that was an unexpected gift from Jesus from time to time.

Tasha Ells

I've never been so speechless about a book, I mean it was predictable in the end, but it never got boring, and I loved every minute of it. It was sad and happy and everything you wish for in a book, I can't believe how much Serena changed threw out the book, so sad she was at the beginning, it was like sawyer was everything that made her, her again. And in away sawyer leaving, it was good he stopped doing the drugs and everything, because they got a good break and now they both can have a perfect life together, because at first it all kinda sucked, like there life was terrible. But how Katie wrote this book, I just love it. If only it went on forever

Briar Rose

This book made me sad, because I really liked Reena. She was well-developed and kind of awesome. Except when she was around Sawyer. As Reena's best friend Shelby said: Whenever Sawyer was around, Reena forgot how responsible and smart she was. I think the title of this book should be "How to Have a Destructive, Dysfunctional Relationship". Has a ring to it, right?

And Sawyer was a jerk. Just an epic a-hole. I wanted to kick him in the crotch. Hard.

Very disappointing story from a writer who obviously has a lot of skill.

Jessica Lee

** spoiler alert **
           I whole heartily believe that people who don’t like this book have never met people like Reena and Sawyer. 

This book is so real it hurts. I really hate when people get mad over REALISTIC troupes.

Every “flaw” in this books is something that actually happens! As a girl who was so in love with someone I forgot to think of others I could relate to Reena. Sawyer is a messed up boy who struggles but ultimately gets his shit together. 

I loved this book.

Lauren hughes 

WARNING! THIS IS GOING TO BE A RANT LIKE REVIEW! ( I do not normally rant or review in general,so please bare with me as I share with you my thoughts!:) )
I hated this book so incredibly much? Why,you ask? Well, it is because of the main character, Reena. 
She is one of the most unlikable characters I have read in a long,long while. First, she is always telling her love interest, Sawyer, how she has a reputation for being cold, almost as if she she takes pride and is trying to be that way. Another thing that is cringe worthy and annoying about her is how she handles her relationship Sawyer. Like she is unnecessarily jealous and possessive any time Sawyer even talks to another girl. She in general just is disrespectful to her parents as well.It is hard reading a book narrated by a character's voice that you hate...and its like...cringe....


 *SPOILER AHEAD*
Early in the book, Sawyer is dating a girl named Allie,who ends up passing away. Reena is jealous of their relationship,and brings Allie up at the most awkward and jolting times. 



This book alternates between before,(which is when she was 16) and after (which is present day). 
I would have liked to seen a lot more character development happen,and I think with this format it could have been done in a really cool way. But in the end,they are just kinda the same. 

OK MY RANTY REVIEW IS OVER!!! Thanks for listening !:D

Emi Gilmore 

3.75/5 stars 

Truth time: the only reason I’m reviewing this is because my internal pressure to review every book I read is getting to me. 

I don’t have much to say about this story. I read it because there were elements of the plot that are a guilty pleasure of mine, and also because I did the one thing they warned you about since childhood. I liked the cover. Oops. Admit it, we all do it. 

So here’s a quick review, as I am already starting to forget details. I enjoyed the main character, not so much her love interests. I enjoyed the way the chapters alternated between time lines, but sometimes I felt like one storyline would start to drag behind another, struggling to keep up. There were probably way to many things that made me say. “So, um, okay...why?” 

Would I go recommending this book? Probably not. It wasn’t that complicated of a contemporary. But I still enjoyed it, and if you are looking for a book you don’t have to think much about, then look no further.

Cindy Lee

Read more of my reviews at Secrets of Lost Words.

I thought How to Love would swooning at the story but I'm quite disappointed. This book wasn't at all how I thought it would be.

The story transitions between before and after. That way we get to see the past and what's happening in the present as well. The constantly switching made it harder for me to connect with the story. Just when I felt comfortable, it switches yet again. 

I think my main problems were with the characters. I didn't like the main characters at all. I had the biggest problem with Sawyer LeGrande. I got a bad vibe off of him the first time I saw him in the story. I feel like he's a manipulative person and I still don't know whether he loves Reena or not in the end. I think he's a bad influence on Reena and I'm also annoyed at how easily Reena falls head over heels for him. Whatever he says goes. She doesn't even put up much of a fight. Even when Reena saw that Sawyer was a bad person, she still went for him anyways. I don't really get their relationship at all. I actually wished she went with Aaron (other love interest) because I see how he is good for her and the baby.

Basically, the main characters annoyed me to no end. It kept me from enjoying the story and I would always pick out all the dumb things that Reena did with Sawyer. I literally have an annoying voice ranting in my head at very single thing the two did together. Everything was pretty irrational and I don't understand how this relationship would work.

shalee olsen

Okay... how did I sleep on this book for so long!?! 

This is exactly what I look for in a YA book. The characters were so relatable for me. They didn't speak in all of the cliches that are in normal YA writing do you know what I mean?? They were just so real and relatable. The relationships were raw and I just couldn't get enough of it! I loved that this showed a powerful woman that didn't take anyone's shit, and just did her! she wasn't pleasant and perfect and happy. Also not shy, clumsy and "awkward" (eye roll) I swear I can't do another one of those characters. 

This was just so perfect for me honestly... I related to it a lot from my high school days and it just made my heart really happy!

laura

* I would give this book 3.75 for review*

I would rate this book higher then top ten but lower then you say it first. I really liked how this book explored teen pregnancy. I thought the structure of the book was cool. I also liked how these characters were most older in the second half of this book. I also really liked the setting of this book for being in florida. I did not love sawyer at the start of the book and found my myself screaming at them the characters in the first half of the book. It was not relationship i really liked. But i really did liked her relationship with the side characters. I also liked how grief played a role in is book. It was a fun read and i would def read more book about this author in the future. I thought it tackled the reality of teen pregnancy and found it be hard hitting read that also tackled drugs and drunk driving. This book is again very sex positive again.

How to Love

Anna Agarwal

DNF @ 53%

The cheating and manipulation is unnecessary and nonsensical

As seen on Caity Reads.

I didn’t have high expectations going into this book. I had heard a lot of mixed reviews, and from what I have seen, that remains the case. You either love this book, or you hate it. I happen to be one of the people who absolutely loved this book. I was very hesitant to read this, but I am so incredibly glad I did. I loved the characters in this book. I can however, see why some people would not love them.

I really enjoyed the writing and the format in which this story was told. You have chapters from before she had her daughter, and chapters from after she has her daughter. I really enjoyed watching her character develop not only in the sections by themselves, but also the change from the before section to the after section. I thought the story was beautifully told and very realistic. I enjoyed that Reena and Sawyer aren’t the type of characters you would typically see from this plot line. Meaning that they weren’t from a “rough” neighborhood where they struggled for a good portion of their lives. Though don’t get me wrong, they definitely have their struggles and short comings in this book.

I wish I had more to say about why I love this book. But then we’d get in to spoilers, and I’m really not into spoiling things for people. But what it mostly boils down to is character development and writing. The two reasons over anything else, that I love this book. Sawyer and Reena both go through some crappy stuff in the before section of this book. And watching them get from there to the after was an amazing experience. Yeah, Sawyer is pretty shitty in the before section. It’s getting from the “before” to the “after” that is the important part.

Overall, I really loved this book and would recommend it to anybody who likes a contemporary that isn’t quite as cute and fluffy. It’s more on the gritty side of YA contemporary, and it definitely isn’t picture perfect. But it made me feel all of the feels.

This is a love story. But it's not what you think. This is not a first kiss, or a first date. This is not love at first sight. This is a boy and a girl falling in messy, unpredictable, thrilling love. This is the complicated route to happiness that follows. This is real. This is life. This is how to love. Before: Reena has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember. But he's never noticed her, until one day... he does. They fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town, leaving a devastated - and pregnant - Reena behind. After: Three years later and there's a new love in Reena's life: her daughter Hannah. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer again?

i was actually so excited to read this one bc i loved the premise. and i fucking love babies. but then the before-and-after-concept threw me off. and then the fact that sawyer was such a dick threw me off also. and then their relationship which is one big fat question mark threw me over the cliff. honestly, i felt like it was at times so toxic and just...not worth it? i could never see myself in a relationship in which we're fighting 50% of the time.

b.andherbooks

Chapters that alternate before and after Sawyer La Grande left Reena 16 and pregnant in a small Florda town paint the story of first love gone wrong, and then refound. Sweet, but often exasperating as a super smart gal constantly gets hurt but keeps coming back for more. Thankfully, redemption and forgiveness play a large part in making this love story work out in the end.

Megan

Review originally published at Love Literature Art and Reason

How to Love was frustrating to read. It’s a book about second chance love, which I thought sounded amazing. And it might have been, had Sawyer LeGrande not been an epic waste of time. This book should have been called How to Love A Terrible Person and Ruin Your Life As A Result. 

 I hate to be harsh because the book had promise and wasn’t badly written. I liked the constant jumping from Before to After as we got to understand Reena and Sawyer and how things ended up that way. I kept reading, captivated, wanting to find out what happened between them. How to Love is one of those books that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, but once I figured out the full story, it was a waste of time. 
 The story began with Reena. She was raising her daughter on her own and out of high school. She ran into Sawyer at a gas station and realized that he was back in town for the first time since he left her. The reader had no idea what happened other than Sawyer knocked her up at some point and then left and now he’s back years later. The book switched from After (the baby) to Before frequently throughout the story, so we eventually got the entire picture. Reena’s family wasn’t very happy with the fact that she got pregnant at 16 and her relationship with Sawyer’s parents was nonexistent. She hadn’t spoken to Sawyer since he left, shortly after getting her pregnant. In the Before sections, we found out that she had always had a crush on him since she was a little kid. 

 I am not judgmental and I love some flawed characters. I’m always rooting for the worst kinds of villains in fiction. Not just your typically bad boy, but the ones that are actually problematic, selfish, and sometimes evil. That is NOT why I dislike Sawyer, really. I can grow to love a flawed bad boy character. I promise. But Sawyer had to the be the worst character to have as the love interest and he was so terrible to Reena. Over and over and over again! And she just kept letting it happen! I wanted to slap her the entire time!

 Reena virtually never spoke up for herself. She was in a relationship with a nice, but generally uninteresting guy. She had a shaky relationship with her parents after having her child. The highlight in her life was Hannah, her daughter, but that was basically it. She took some classes at a college, but it was obvious she had gotten into a much better college and had some set goals before finding out she was pregnant. She dreamed of being a travel writer, but was instead a waitress and part time student. While I understood that things have to change when you have a kid, I was kind of irritated that she let her pregnancy stop her from doing what she wanted. No, she couldn’t go off to a 4 year college and ignore her baby, but she could have at least travelled and wrote a bit and not let her circumstances stop her from finding some sort of compromise and joy in her life. She could have at least tried to mend things with her parents by SPEAKING UP every once in awhile. You’re a mom, Reena, you’re an adult. Get the F up and do something with your life and stop letting everyone around you blame you alone for your circumstances. Rise above them and also stop treating them like your life is now ruined.

 And then came Sawyer. He had so many problems and he was the kind of guy who made Reena turn into mush and stop being responsible. It was clear that he wanted back into her life and he even attempted to form a relationship with Hannah. It complicated things, especially because she cared about him. But he was terrible. In the Before, he was a drug addict. He took her to parties and scored drugs and just LEFT HER in rooms with strangers KNOWING she was uncomfortable. He flirted with other girls ALL OF THE TIME in front of her. He lied to her in order to not hurt her feelings. He wasn’t the kind of bad boy who was better around the girl he loved. He wasn’t the kind of guy who made her into a better, more well rounded person. He didn’t make her take risks that eventually opened her up in a positive way, like so many bad boys in romantic fiction. There were literally NO redeeming qualities about him. And she just let all of this happen. In the After, he was clean, he was back, and he was willing to be around for her, but there was still this general perception that he really had no responsibilities. Nothing about his past was addressed other than the fact that he wasn’t doing drugs or drinking anymore. Everyone blamed Reena for getting pregnant and even looking Sawyer’s way in the first place and it was generally perceived that it was her fault for getting involved with him. When he came back, that perception was still there as her family warned her not to mess up this time. Which was BS. Where was his slice of blame and responsibility? 

 Also, when Sawyer left, there was no reason for it. Honestly, he just left and I think it was to create a plot device. Later, it was the general idea that he was afraid she would go off to college and leave him. She was good, he was bad. He worried about her leaving him, she worried about him leaving her. So he left first. And then she was pregnant. And they rarely talked about anything important, or those fears could have been alleviated. Why would anyone want to be with someone who made them feel like less of a person? She never spoke up about her feelings or her wants, and he never talked about his issues. They didn’t belong together at all. 

 My feelings about the book are directly related to Sawyer. The fact that he’s supposed to be the main squeeze just made me lose all respect for Reena and not enjoy the way things panned out as a result. A better story would have been her finally finding someone who treated her right that she also could fall for and for her family to support her. It seems as though other readers liked Sawyer and rated the book highly because they didn’t have the same problems that I did. My advice is to decide for yourself. How to Love is a quick read and it’s certainly worth reading. It was written pretty well and dealt with a lot of issues. If you don’t hate Sawyer, I’m sure it would be quite enjoyable.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

3.5 stars!

Audiobook Review:

Let me start at the beginning… I LOVE this cover. The simplistic colors and fonts definitely had me intrigued the first time I saw it. I’m a huge contemp fan, and this cover just SCREAMS contemp!

How to Love flip-flops between Before and After, telling the story of Reena and her love for a boy named Sawyer. The flip-flopping is something I usually really enjoy in a book. I’d much rather see for myself what happened in the past, rather than having the author simply tell me. But this back and forth was a bit too sharp for my taste. Though each chapter begins with a “before” or “after” mention, I often got confused between the two and felt I was pulled from the story too much.

I have this semi weird obsession with pregnancy and babies in books. I really enjoy them. Though this story was a bit tough for me because it seemed like the most important questions remained untold. It is never discussed exactly how or when Reena got pregnant. It’s kind of just mentioned as a fact, and left alone. I would have loved to hear more about the pregnancy itself, not just the fact that it happened and now Reena is a mother to an adorable little girl, Hannah.

Sawyer and Reena were tough characters for me. Though I did feel for Reena and understand where she was coming from with all of her pent-up anger, she at times went a little overboard. Sawyer… well, that boy just annoyed me to my very core. And again, some of this may be due to the narrator reading it the way she did. Sawyer was just FAR too conceited and overly dramatic for my taste. He irked me to no end. I had trouble seeing what Reena ever saw in him to begin with, so at times I didn’t believe in the relationship between the two.

I don’t want this to seem like too negative of a review, because overall it was a good story. The concept and storyline carried with it a strong message about everlasting love. It was sweet, and at times very sad. If I hadn’t read this book, I know I would still be wishing I had. I’ve seen others mention this book as a story of “true love against all odds” and honestly, that’s exactly what this is. A YA romance packed with all the feels.

(Thanks to Balzer + Bray/Harper Audio and Edelweiss for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

For fans of Sarah Dessen and John Green, this is a breathtaking debut about a couple who fall in love...twice. Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember. But he's never noticed that Reena even exists...until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. Then Sawyer disappears 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. Reena's gotten used to life without Sawyer, but just as suddenly as he disappeared, he turns up again. Reena wants nothing to do with him, though she'd be lying if she said his being back wasn't stirring something in her. After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

Joséphine

Milana Marie Waller

okay but i always end up loving Katie Contugo so i should prolly go order her other books so byeee

How to love a novel

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