How To Love by Katie Cotugno, Book Review

By: Katie Cotugno
Published by: Balzer & Bray (Harper Teen)
Released on: October 1st, 2013
Source: book/arc from publisher to review
4.5 Stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town 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, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice

If you've been following MM's for awhile now, you'll know I'm picky when it comes to contemps and that I'm not usually a huge fan of them, but this book was good. I know, I'm shocked too. With contemps I like to feel some sort of connection to what I'm reading about. There was something about Katie's writing style, the characters, and how this story was told that hooked me from the get go.  

Reena Montero is a character I totally love, and rooted for the entire time. Feisty, and bound to prove everyone wrong, she's a character who's tough as nails, and does everything she can to be the responsible person through all that life throws her way. Sure, you could argue she wasn't responsible when she became a teenage mom, but the fact that this girl was that, and stays in school and is raising her little girl proves other wise. She's a girl who will do whatever it takes for her to make ends met, and still take care of her baby girl. But that's not the only thing she has to take care of, Reena Montero's love, and the father of her baby girl has left her once, but now he's back. She has to figure out if she's going to give him another try and if it's worth getting hurt all over again, or telling him to get lost all together with. 

Seriously, I really, really wanted to not like Sawyer. He makes some stupid choices in this book, but boy does he redeem himself. I swear I could see why Reena feel in love with him, and why she wanted to give him another chance. I will say this, that second chance wasn't an easy decision, and I loved that she didn't jump right back into anything with him. She made him prove it, and that he did. In proving himself to her, she also fell in love him all over again. Let me say this, Sawyer is patient, knows he screwed up, but boy this guy will do whatever it takes to get his girl back, and be the father to his little girl. Even though I wanted Reena to tell him to kiss off at first, I admire the fact she did make time for her and Hannah to get to know Sawyer. The more time they spent together, the more their story unraveled. 

Aside from the love story, that really is sweet, and heartbreaking, are some family dynamics that well I'll just say a few family members really frustrated me. I'm so glad Reena got to tell a few people off in this book, because they really deserved it. But, again, just like with Swayer, Katie allowed me to see things from their side. While I still didn't agree with how they went about things, I liked seeing things from their side. Speaking of sides, I really like how this book was written. With the Before, we see how things were between Reena and Sawyer and their families. I liked getting those glimpses, and seeing how the characters were. In the After, I got to see how much they all changed and how characters like Reena and Sawyer really grew up. The Before and After was also a great way to show readers how these two love birds first fell in love and how they fell in love all over again. 

This book totally surprised me. It is another book that I normally wouldn't have picked up, but boy this became one of those hard to put down books. How to Love is emotionally packed, has some incredible characters that I came to care about, and love story that's a breathe of fresh air. Katie's writing is beautiful and easy to get swept up in. What an incredible, beautifully written debut. I can't wait to read more of Katie's upcoming books.