[Book Review] Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Georgie McCool's marriage is having issues, even if she's not ready to admit it. She loves her husband Neal, and he loves her, but she's worried that isn't enough. Two days before their Christmas trip to Omaha to visit Neal's family, Georgie tells him she cannot go. She's a TV writer, and something's come up on her show which means she must stay in Los Angeles. She knows Neal will be upset but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go on the trip without her. That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It's not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she's been given a chance to fix her marriage before it starts. Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

1.5/2 STARS 

Like always, Rainbow Rowell's writing is one of my favorite things to read. I feel like in many of her books I get so caught up in her fantastic writing and talent. Unfortunately for me, her writing was one of the only things I enjoyed with this story.

I'll start off with some of the good, since there is less of it, once again, unfortunately. I really liked the characters of Seth and Heather (and no not because of her name, however, it didn't hurt). Seth is Georgie's best friend and co-worker. Their friendship seemed very real and relatable. I thought his dialogue was often funny and I really liked that Georgie had a best guy friend. Unfortunately, something happens at the end with Seth that definitely pissed me off and it took away some of my love for his character. I was really disappointed with the author's decision. I liked Heather because she was also really funny, she was a good little sister to Georgie and I found her to be one of the more interesting characters in the book. I also liked the premise of the story, the idea of her going back in time and talking to her husband seems like a really interesting one and although I think it was done well, the romance wasn't. My last thing I enjoyed about the book is I loved the scene with the dogs at the end. I don't want to give too much away, but you'll know the scene if you have (or will in the future) read it. It was my favorite scene.

Now, the things I didn't like. Starting with both Neal and Georgie. I cannot understand why Georgie would go through all the trouble to want to be with someone like Neal. He was awful. Present and past Neal was so uncharismatic and he was so rude. I was hoping Georgie talking to past Neal would show the reader why they fell in love to start with, but instead I was confused because he was awful. I honestly didn't think they were good together at all. Like I said, the time travel idea was cool and done well, but the romance wasn't one I was rooting for. Which is the opposite reaction you want in a romance book. Georgie drove me insane because she moped a lot, and it made the story drag for what felt like forever. I also didn't feel like she cared about her kids at all. There's this underlying theme of "what if we never got together, would that be better?" not even putting her kid's lives into account. They don't even seem to really cross her mind that if they didn't get together she wouldn't have her kids. It felt so selfish and made me really not like her. Other than really disliking them, I was bored a good chunk of this book and had to force myself to keep reading. Which is never a good sign, obviously. It doesn't help that it doesn't seem like anything has changed at all by the end. There's no definitive conversation between present Neal and Georgie that made me think that they could work out their issues. I wish I could go into details, but I don't want to spoil anything. So if you want to discuss let's do that in the comments below this blog or anywhere I post it (so watch out for spoilers!).

Overall, I think this just wasn't for me. I feel like I could read anything Rainbow Rowell writes, because her writing style is so great, but unfortunately this bummed me out. I was excited to try out an adult fiction book by her since most of the books I've read by her are young adult. I would easily give another adult fiction book by her a try, because her writing style is worth it, but I will definitely be more hesitant than I was with Landline.

 

Thanks for reading!