Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell.

Book: Landline

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Pages: 308

How Long it Took Me To Read: 2-3 hours

Read On: My iPad

Plot Summary: Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

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 an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

General Thoughts: I read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell last year and I wasn't exactly charmed. It had all this hype and massive amounts of people fangirling over it. I hadn't managed to read Eleanor and Park- her superhit from last year but I thought I'd read Fangirl first and then get on to her other books. I reviewed Fangirl on the blog and you can read my review HERE. 

I liked it, but I didn't love it. I definetly didn't love it as much as most people seem to love it. But this book sounded interesting and an adult novel, so I thought I'd give it a read. And like all of Rainbow Rowell's books the hype on this one was out of control. 

What I Liked: 

1. The writing is pleasant enough. Simple, to the point and easy to breeze through. 

2. The characters were all well-written and incredibly memorable. From Georgie to Neal to their kids and even the secondary characters like Georgie's mom, her step-dad and her half-sister Heather, her best-friend/writing partner Seth were all fun and didn't just blend into the background. 

3. There are pugs in this book. A whole lotta pugs and pug puppies. Any book with pugs in it is a good thing be! 

4. The popular culture references were fun. 

5. Georgie and Seth's job and the whole setting of a TV show was fun and interesting to read about. 

6. I liked that none of the characters in the book were stunningly beautiful or perfect. They were real- short, chubby...

What I Didn't Like: 

1. This book isn't anything special. It's chick-lit, plain and simple. It's no work of art or a stunning piece of literature. It's just a pleasant little book. Cliched. Typical. Nothing in this book is a surprise. 

2. I was bored half-way in. 

3. I didn't like Georgie...at all..her name was interesting but she got on my nerves a little bit. 

4. There are loads of flashbacks to when Georgie and Neal first met and I didn't like those bits at all. I much preferred the present. 

5. Also, I think that if Neal didn't like Seth, and if Georgie was at some point in her life in love with Seth and added to that if Neal felt that Seth and Georgie were soul mates- this would create bigger conflict in any marriage. 

6. This marriage was in trouble. This was stated in the book but the reality of this marriage in trouble didn't ever get real. We saw Georgie and Neal when they first met, we see them now..sorta, well her in the now and him in 1998, but we don't see their marriage in action. We don't really see their issues. 

Rating: 2.5/5