Leah Konen

A whirlwind twenty-four-hour romance about two teens who meet—and perhaps change their minds about love—on a train ride in the middle of a snowstorm. Leah Konen’s Love and Other Train Wrecks is perfect for fans of Emery Lord and Jennifer E. Smith. Noah is a hopeless romantic. He’s traveling home for one last chance with his first love, and he needs a miracle to win her back. Ammy doesn’t believe in true love—just look at her parents. If there’s one thing she’s learned about love in the last year, it’s that it ends. That is, until one winter night when Noah and Ammy find themselves in the same Amtrak car heading to Upstate New York. After a train-wreck first impression between the two of them, the Amtrak train suddenly breaks down—in the middle of a snowstorm. Desperate to make it to their destinations, Noah and Ammy have no other option but to travel together. What starts off as a minor detour turns into the journey of a lifetime, but come morning their adventure takes an unexpected turn for the worst. Can one night can really change how they feel about love...and the course of their lives forever?

Love and Other Train Wrecks

Macy Johnson

Ammy: "I swear, no one else on this train is freaking out as much as I am." 

Same, Ammy. 

I really loved this book. This was a 2020 read, published in 2018, and I asked for it for this past Christmas because I was such a fan. I've been paging through it again and smiling. I don’t always like 24-hour romances but this one was high-quality. I originally read it on Hoopla, a library app for ebook, audio, and movie rental, because my family was traveling and I didn't have anything I wanted to physically bring. So, I just rented this one from off of my list, and it was a very good choice. Noah and Ammy made my heart happy. The story was told from two perspectives, and they were both engaging right away. 

"He's a classic bro: sporty, boring, basic. And a bro of the worst order, from the look of those flowers. You know, the kind who fancies himself a 'good guy.' He probably thinks that just because he follows the Woman Wooing 101 Handbook that it's all going to work out just splendidly."

Ammy is spicy and ticked-off, which makes for a fun beginning. The two characters have clear goals and the writing was purposeful – Leah Konen makes common struggles interesting. I look for clichés and how authors deal with them a lot - and in this one, I was quite pleased with how little I felt the same predictable things occurring left and right. I managed to be surprised when the twist came - there were seeds planted, and you could have spotted it. But I honestly didn't, and I was glad because it's fun to be shocked sometimes. 

I liked that they were reasonable, even though they both had some realizations to come to. I liked how Noah took responsibility for his actions and consequently did everything he could to protect Ammy while they were...off their chosen route, haha. (It seems like he’s good at realizing his own mistakes.) 

“‘Fine,’ he says. ‘I don’t believe in regrets. I really don’t. I think it’s a crappy way to live, thinking like that. Can I say something I wish I’d done differently?’ I laugh. 
‘Er, that’s the exact same thing, dude.’ 
‘It’s not, though. Regret is all about sadness and mourning. It doesn’t do anything. Wishing you hadn’t done something—that’s about learning.’” 

Ammy was just not having it. She would lash out at poor Noah and my heart was protesting. Dude has had to deal with enough. Can you say, emotional manipulation? I felt for Noah - he didn't always react correctly in the past, but he was also mistreated. We witness Rina's voice in his head, making all these awful statements and accusations that are completely unfair. Ammy was a trial, but at points. And yet, she’s dealt with so much toxicity and unrest in her home for so long – and that can impact you!

“It’s a strange realization to have about someone you’ve loved all your life—that they’re not that good of a person.” 

Noah didn’t deserve her aggression, but I appreciated his forgiving nature and the way she knew she was being unfair and had that moment of appreciation for him when he let it slide. A lot of things kept piling up and parts of it were his fault. 

“I turn to her, shove my hands in my pockets, and it feel as if everything rides on this moment. It feels so very important for us to get a car here. If we don’t, what in the world are we going to do? . . . Soon, none of the shops will be open. We don’t have any other alternatives.... I imagine Ammy and me, huddled outside the Enterprise office, the awning our only shelter, trying to stay warm. This is why I don’t act without thinking. This. Is. Why.” :’(

Ammy should have been more forgiving. But she’s been so deeply unhappy and is looking for acceptance since her home life is riddled with trauma and her mom has mental issues that weigh heavily on her. She’s tired of being in this constantly trying environment where a balance cannot be found, where she can’t relax or argue with the madness. So, she takes a risk. What she’s risking is serious fallout with who feels like her only (although unhealthy) family member, all to be a part of this event that it looks like she’s not even gonna make it to. It’s all built up inside of her, all this misplaced frustration and aggression. I feel like it’s no wonder she’s falling apart. She is at her wit’s end and so she decides to give her aggression free rein because why not? Why not blow up at this random stranger? It would feel good, wouldn’t it? So she does. But this is a lesson: that we should always act with grace, even when we are weary and worn and we feel like the people around us don’t deserve it. Even if she was at her breaking point, she didn’t act correctly and she had no idea that Noah was already emotionally scarred by this same sort of criticism that she was now giving him. She was under a lot of pressure from ALL sides, so she let herself throw a fit.

Later on, Ammy realizes she’s overreacting, and treats Noah with kindness and respect, even becoming more curious about him (after she gets over her initial frustration.) It’s so cute how amazed Noah is by someone who is willing to give him slack for making mistakes. He’s used to lash-out but not forgiveness – and Ammy isn’t usually so harsh, she’s just in a bad circumstance.

“I’ve never felt this way about an eye roll before. For some reason, it’s amazing. It’s like she puts me in my place but makes me feel warm inside all at once. It’s something about the way she does it. Like she’s making fun of me but is somehow on my team all the same.”

I liked that they were each well-read and literary-minded individuals. I mean, he's a literature major (with a Taylor swift pin on his bag.) LOVE IT. And her favorite book is Anna Karenina – I appreciated that, having read it and agreeing that what she said about it is true. And so I liked all the literary and cultural references thrown in. Their relationship grew more layered as the book went on, which I loved.

There's this scene at the beginning where he buys her a sandwich and she's like how-do-i-interpret-kindness-i'm-too-unqualified-for-this, and they do this little adorably awkward dance. You have to realize that Ammy doesn’t have people in her life who do little kind things for her, except maybe her friends sometimes. Her mom is too caught up in spite and her dad was unhappy for a long time. She and Noah are both so used to unhealthy relationships that they don’t know what to do with each other. That’s what melts me.

(If you're not into the enneagram that's cool but I LOVE IT and my best guesses as to their types were: Ammy, one; Noah, six. They had a lot of interactions under stress and it was fun to read because both of these types can kinda be total wrecks under the sort of stress they were under :) A one - already riddled with trust issues - and something messes up their schedule, and people are depending on them; thus, they feel out of control and frustrated. And the same for a six but he let someone down and is messed up for his own redemption with someone he is struggling to let go of and p.s.!! he already feels hyper-sensitive to his inadequacies :) the perfect disaster! ..poor souls.

The book had some language, I cannot lie - but I thought it was worth it. The ending is not my favorite ever - but I liked the rest of the book enough that I wasn't too upset about it. I feel like many endings could be better than they are. Writing an ending is hard, though. 

SOLID 4.5 STARS : )

Sidenote. It was tragic - you know how I rented an online copy of the book? It was tied to my library card; said card literally managed to EXPIRE and I lost it the night I was gonna finish it. When I tell you I almost cried. And then I didn't get to finish it for three weeks. I was so sad. (so sad.) Tragedy befell this bookworm this winter. (And I was kicking myself - I literally almost finished it earlier that day and was like nah I have time. ....... a moment of silence.) My card got renewed less than a month later. I wasn't even mad at that point just honestly really happy to get to finish the stinkin' book. 2020, man. *shakes head in weary defeat*

Jimena Vázquez Oliver

Someone please make this into a movie I’m begging.

laura

I wanted to love the book more then I did. I found these characters to engaging. I really did like the time frame of this novel. I wanted to love this book more. I felt the plot was not as engaging for me and it was slower pace novel. The ending "shock" was not as fuild and felt like it was not as ending plot. I really did like the locations that characters went to but wanted to feel more connected to these characters. I enjoyed this book, but did not love it enough to re-read it.

A Today.com Best Pick for Valentine’s Day * An Amazon Best Book of the Month A whirlwind twenty-four-hour romance about two teens who meet—and perhaps change their minds about love—on a train ride in the middle of a snowstorm. Leah Konen’s Love and Other Train Wrecks is perfect for fans of Emery Lord and Jennifer E. Smith. Noah is a hopeless romantic. He’s traveling home for one last chance with his first love, and he needs a miracle to win her back. Ammy doesn’t believe in true love—just look at her parents. If there’s one thing she’s learned about love in the last year, it’s that it ends. That is, until one winter night when Noah and Ammy find themselves in the same Amtrak car heading to Upstate New York. After a train-wreck first impression between the two of them, the Amtrak train suddenly breaks down—in the middle of a snowstorm. Desperate to make it to their destinations, Noah and Ammy have no other option but to travel together. What starts off as a minor detour turns into the journey of a lifetime, but come morning their adventure takes an unexpected turn for the worst. Can one night can really change how they feel about love...and the course of their lives forever?

Love and Other Train Wrecks

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