Renée Carlino

a love story

Before we were strangers

ReadwithZanariah 

The present is our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking. It's the only free gift the universe has to offer. The past doesn't belong to us anymore, and the future is just a fantasy, never guaranteed. But the present is ours to own. The only way we can realize that fantasy is if we embrace the now.

joy-lynn

You can't re-create the first time you promise to love someone or the first time you feel loved by another. You cannot relive the sensation of fear, admiration, self- consciousness, passion, and desire all mixed into one because it never happens twice. You chase it like the first high for the rest of your life. It doesn't mean you can't love another or move on; it just means that the one spontaneous moment, the split second that you took the leap, when your heart was racing and your mind was muddled with What ifs?-that moment-will never happen the same way again. It will never feel as intense as the first time. At least, thať's the way I remember it. That's why my mother always said we memorialised our past. Everything seems better in a memory.

Tori Demarzio

Time passes, life goes on, places change, people change.

Lindsey Barnett

From the time you're born, you have no control; you can't choose your parents, and, unless you're suicidal, you can't choose your death. The only thing you can do is choose the person you love, be kind to others, and make your brutally short stint on earth as pleasant as possible. 

sarina

aurelia 

nostalgic (no, i don’t live in new york)

korfai 

I haven’t read a romance book in a long time but I needed a vibe change if you will. This book was so sweet and heartwarming. There was times I didn’t like the main character, he was just too cheesy sometimes. But the ending was just truly beautiful

Lauren Dale

I find miscommunication tropes extremely annoying, and this had a huge one in it. I also felt that the best friend character and the professor were pushy, annoying, and not at all supportive to what the character wanted, they just wanted her to do what they wanted. I didn't want them to get it. And I also felt that the main character didn't try at all to contact him, as she literally could've just told his mother, who she apparently felt super close to, yet she never did. That would've solved the years long miscommunication. Yeek. If it wasn't for the amazing college chemistry I would've given this one up. But I did love the college years chemistry and story. The miscommunication and annoying side characters ruined this one for me.

Sarah Campbell

This book is so bad omg, why tf would he give his mother pictures of him and the girl whos name i cant recall FOR christmas. And the fucking cheesy shit in like 5 pages in where their like having sex and hes like “yeah my mom teached me” OMG DISGUSTING. He is boring yawning and she is perceived as this little short cute girl who needs to be protected, and they like listen to Jeff Buckley and he takes pics and she plays chello such a cringe way of making them look and feel “indie and nobody gets them” type of stupid shit. I hate this hook

renata hernandez

only cause this is my story but with a different ending

florrr

Zoey Novak

Madilyn Taylor

alya adlina

i picked up this book bcs it has second chance romance….and if you knew me i love that trope SO SO MUCH. this book got me in tears i liked it and i did enjoyed it.

Indeed an easy read as I manage to finish this faster than other books I’ve read thus far. This book had mixed review therefore I was specifically whether I should spend time reading it but I am glad I did. 

The characters made me swoon with excitement and ache with anger at the same time. Just like in real life, miscommunication is unavoidable and with these characters, that’s exactly what happen. But having missed 15 years of the main characters’ life makes me realise that life is too short.

But seeing characters work through hardship, missed opportunities, real like hardship but still find their way back to each other is just timeless.

Indeed an easy read as I manage to finish this faster than other books I’ve read thus far. This book had mixed review therefore I was specifically whether I should spend time reading it but I am glad I did. 

The characters made me swoon with excitement and ache with anger at the same time. Just like in real life, miscommunication is unavoidable and with these characters, that’s exactly what happen. But having missed 15 years of the main characters’ life makes me realise that life is too short.

But seeing characters work through hardship, missed opportunities, real like hardship but still find their way back to each other is just timeless.

Ryan 

what a good book to start the new year. at first, i feel like this book would become 3.5 stars but the second half of the book really made me feel something in so many ways towards the characters so i bumped it up. more to come.

Keely Calagos

To be blunt, this book is not good. Or at least it's not to me, and here's why...

To be fair, it started off strong. I loved seeing Grace and Matt meet and develop a friendship. Their shared passion for their art was contagious and inspiring. The first 30% was addicting and I was really excited to see where the story would go but the middle slowed down and the last 40% was an absolute crash and burn.

Let's start with what I enjoyed:
- The fact that this story was set in the 90's and the lack of technology was a fun element
- The feeling of being in college, following your passions, and living in the dorms came to life at the beginning of this story

Now, what didn't work for me:
- The story was filled top to bottom with the most irritating and ridiculous miscommunication tropes
- I just couldn't buy into some of the character development (or lack thereof), I'm sorry but in what world (view spoiler)[ his mom say he said to tell anyone who called what was going on and not explain he was only calling her because he could call collect, I'll tell you, she wouldn't she would have told Grace more and Matt would have asked his mom to contact Grace and tell her what was going on  (hide spoiler)] It was so bad that it exceeded the "wanting to throw the book across the room" to "these idiots deserve each other, and I literally don't even care if they speak again".
- (view spoiler)[ The second she threw up talking to Dan, I wanted to throw up in anger. The accidental pregnancy trope on TOP of the miscommunication still makes me angry just thinking about it  (hide spoiler)]

The moral of the story is second-chance romance rarely works for me and miscommunication tropes done wrong can absolutely ruin a book.

danna

“We were victims of bad timing. But here we were again.”

my love forever and ever and ever and ever this book is inside my soul

sage g

nuélle

[1.5/5] 
would love to know what everyone sees in this book cause definitely didn't find it

rakshu

i don’t think ANY words will be able to convey how much i fucking love this book. god. from starting to end. i fucking loved every part of it. Ash especially, has my whole heart.

If you know me I love a good second chance and knew that I would eat this one up easily. And man did I, I started it yesterday and am already done. I really really really like this book. Grace, I absolutely adore her and I was seeing a lot of people say she was childish and I didn’t see that. What I saw was someone who was forced to grow up too soon and was trying to make the most of her circumstances. Matt was an iffy for me. To do get into it and spoil anything I’ll just say some of his actions and words were questionable in situations. He is one reason that it got a 4.5, the other would be I think the ending was rushed. You have so much build from their past and then their present was so rushed. Like I get it it’s been 15 years but 50 more pages would have made it all come together instead for me. That could just be me though, I’m curious if anyone else thought this. 

Priscilla Stanfield

I would give it 10 stars if that were possible 

Valeria Chaurero

I need a love so strong like theirs …. My heart ache for this book, for them. 

drea <3

Victoria

It was a good love story, for the most part. I can relate to that "intense, unbreakable connection" that Matt and Grace have going on, but that's just it. I honestly have no idea when I've become this mush of a cynic when it comes to romance or love stories that they all seem like MEHs to me. I still gave this 4-star rating though because it was beautifully written and the story itself is really good and I don't want my possible personal vendetta against romance novels to get in the way. Haha.

Ariel

** spoiler alert **
           3.75 I liked the 1st half a lot better than the 2nd half, I found it unnecessary to have a whole daughter-you-never-knew-about plotline and the whole relationship seems to have taken a step back after the daughter was introduced, and went a little downhill from there, in my opinion, had it not been there and replaced with some emotional scene of them reconnecting or getting married definite 4/4.5 for me 

Edit: 3 sept, i dont remember anything other than long hair and photos thus 2.5

Veronica 

3.9/5 ⭐️ 
Overall Review:

If you don't like miscommunication, don't read this book. That was the only thing to me that was unrealistic about this book. However, This book was a 3.9 for me because I almost enjoyed it enough for 4 stars. It was the epilogue that made it a 3.9. One of the biggest things I hate about books happened in this epilogue. That's a personal preference, because I think this type of epilogue is good for people who like closure. Me, personally, I like when the book ends, and it is left up for interpretation of the reader. 


Matt: his full name was Matthias, I pretended it was Matthew because I like that way better. I also pretended he didn't have a man bun.

Beatrix Haase

Honestly, the main characters really annoyed me throughout the whole book and I felt like everything happened way too fast.

This book had tears running down my face multiple times. I know so many of us have “what ifs” about past relationships; and this book was just that… giving the reader a glimpse of what could come out of a broken relationship that gets a second chance. I found myself rooting so hard for Grace & Matt. I was so drawn into this story. It was so easy to read and I never felt bored or felt the need to skim over parts. The whole story just felt so real and raw and I truly felt every bit of sadness and joy. 

It’s totally NOT needed but I wish I had a little bit more of the time between when they were apart. I loved the little bit we got but part of me craved a little bit more. That is literally the only critique I have but I love this book even without it. 

BROOKE A

This book had tears running down my face multiple times. I know so many of us have “what ifs” about past relationships; and this book was just that… giving the reader a glimpse of what could come out of a broken relationship that gets a second chance. I found myself rooting so hard for Grace & Matt. I was so drawn into this story. It was so easy to read and I never felt bored or felt the need to skim over parts. The whole story just felt so real and raw and I truly felt every bit of sadness and joy. 

It’s totally NOT needed but I wish I had a little bit more of the time between when they were apart. I loved the little bit we got but part of me craved a little bit more. That is literally the only critique I have but I love this book even without it. 

Before we were strangers a love story

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