Before We Were Strangers by Renee Carlino Published by Atria Books Publication Date: August 18th 2015
Pages: 320
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From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City.
To the Green-eyed Lovebird:
We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House.
You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more.
We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other.
Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding…
I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello.
After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half?
M
This is my first Renee Carlino book and will not be the last. This book had me in a death grip from page one. There are times in our lives when we wished we would seize an opportunity, a moment and run with it. We wish we would have made different decisions. We look back on the past with a heavy heart and a feeling that things just weren’t finished. All of that is this book in a nutshell.
This book is about two people that remember the past fondly and wonder what if. What if you had the opportunity to reconnect with someone who meant the absolute most to you. What would you do? Would you do everything in your power to find them…see what is there…what might happen? How far would you go if you saw that one person from a distance in an overpopulated city and no idea how to find them?
This is the premise of Before We were Strangers. I read that Renee Carlino saw a Missed Connections on Craigslist and put pen to paper. New York is the backdrop. Matt and Grace meet while in college in their dorm. Matt sees Grace and is immediately enamored a bit. He is a photography student and just wants to take pictures of her. Little does he know, Grace is his next door neighbor and a gifted musician. Grace comes from almost nothing and struggles to pay her tuition and just survive. She has such a positive attitude and it is infectious. They become fast friends. Although Matt’s father is very wealthy, he doesn’t want to use his money and he and Grace find ways to earn money and even get free food. There is a slow build to their relationship and I adored it. Sometimes New Adult books can be a bit much with all the college drama and angst. Their relationship seemed real and the day to day life was dead on. They are both extremely lovable characters and you root for both of them from the beginning. You know the happiness can’t last and it doesn’t. Matt is given an opportunity he can’t pass up and he leaves for the summer. Grace prepares for graduate school and waits for Matt but then the bottom falls out.
Flash forward to the present and Matt sees Grace on a subway platform in NYC. Too many years have passed but the feelings are still there. What happens now…how will Matt find her…will they reunite. This is why you read the book. Pick it up and find out. You will not put it down. This story shows how imperfect life is but you never know what twists and turns it is going to through you. The twists and turns Renee Carlino wrote for Matt and Grace are fantastic to read…dive in to this page turner.
About Renee Carlino
I’m the author of Sweet Thing, Sweet Little Thing, Nowhere But Here, After the Rain and my latest novel, BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS. I’m a California native currently residing in a beach town in Southern California where I live with my husband, our two boys, and our sweet dog June
