Jill Santopolo - The Light We Lost

He was the first person to inspire her, to move her, to truly understand her. Was he meant to be the last?
Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story their story at the very beginning.
Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated perhaps they ll find life s meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love. Was it fate that brought them together? Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other s hearts.

Comment: Last year I've read another book by this author and liked it enough that I felt like I'd want to try something else by her. I can't say if it was just that the other one was a wonder for me or that it's bad luck but this one certainly didn't engage me the same way...

In this book we follow the lives of Lucy and Gabe, two friends from university, as they go on about their lives, first as a couple, then as individuals going on about their lives and how much they still think of one another. While they are together, nothing seems to get between them, until a job offer too hard to say no changes everything. As only distant friends, they still talk from time to time but it's true nothing remains the same, except perhaps the feelings they have for one another. But can they move on from the past or whatever that unites them will never disappear?

While adding this book to my Goodreads page, I inevitably saw a few words here and there by other readers and I got the idea there would be some kind of twist at the end. I also saw the book being compared to certain titles and.... - seriously, what a seemingly silly idea, it's impossible a prolific reader wouldn't add two and two and guess what kind of story this would be, these supposed marketing tactics to bring more readers can be quite sad - I imagined where this might go but still wanted to be dazzled by the author.

I had read another book so I expected the style to be similar, but I can't say if my memory was that faulty or if this was just so different that the "voice" seemed very different as well and I was struggling to be interested. Actually, for a big part of the story I was simply bored and felt this had nothing to do with the other in terms of writing and captivating characters.

While I wasn't a fan of certain elements in the other book, the heroine's thoughts and personal life made me eager to keep turning the pages. However, the same didn't happen here and Lucy, the heroine who's POV we follow, just seemed whiny and obsessed with things that don't feel that important. I liked that she cared about her job and the work she was doing and that she felt she didn't have to defend this, as it was something she was good at, but apart from this detail about her life, everything else was simply seen through the perspective of who sh was by being in love with Gabe.

Now, if this relationship was cute or so amazingly done, I think I could have overlooked the repetition and the boredom of Lucy's thoughts and her severely annoying attitude in relation to this, especially since she was such a clever woman, but sadly for me, the story seems to be taken into those kind of doomed scenarios, where one is supposed to not be sable to look aside. I think that if I wasn't interested in seeing how the twist would be done, I'd have left the book unfinished because everything Lucy does feel silly and the behavior of an unhealthy person. 

Gabe was important for her, they shared a lot, had a wonderful connection and chemistry but their lives went different ways. Doesn't this happen to everyone, even if not in a romantic context? I just think the author made a lot of effort to convey a feeling and an intensity to something I feel was contrived and not that special after all. Lucy marries someone else and, sure, that person might not be perfect - no one is - but it feels as if the reader should dislike him just because he isn't Gabe. I really can't understand why we should think Lucy and Gabe were such a great couple...

There are some interesting things like Lucy's job at a children's TV show, Gabe becomes photographer and certain things outside of their relationship intrigued me here and there. But the story starts during 9/11 and while that is a fact no one can ignore has shaped the lives of so many Americans - and others too - , it still feels a little weird to see it used in such a way to propel this story's plot. I'd have preferred the author to have focused on both their POVs and in their personalities to develop the romance, but I don't feel I ever got to know these characters.

As for the twist in the end, well, it wasn't a twist, it was a silly move in my opinion to garner more sympathy and the tears of those who felt genuine shock or emotion in similar types of books. The author is free to do what she wanted but I think that end was a disservice to the idea of this plot, to how Lucy lived her life after she and Gabe broke up, and to everyone else who had to make choices in their lives, even at the emotional cost of their feelings. I can understand the idea of doing something many might see as powerful but my head just didn't see it that way.

In the end, this story was not what i expected before I started seeing reviews or after having read the other book. I'll think twice now, before trying another of her books...

Grade: 4/10

Jill Santopolo - More Than Words

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost comes a tender and moving new novel about a woman at a crossroads after the death of her father, and caught between the love of two men.
Nina Gregory has always been a good daughter, a good girlfriend. Raised by her father, owner of New York City's glamorous Gregory Hotels, after her mother's death, Nina was taught that family, reputation, and legacy are what matter most. And her boyfriend Tim, thoughtful, kind, and honest, not to mention her best friend since childhood, feels the same. But after Nina's father passes away, she learns he may not have practiced what he preached.
As her world falls apart, Nina begins to question everything she thought she knew and to see the men in her life--her father, her boyfriend, and unexpectedly, her handsome and attentive boss, Rafael--in a new light. Soon Nina finds herself caught between the world she knows and loves, and a passion that could upend everything.

Comment: I got interested in this story around the last months of 2018. I n longer remember why and having read the book I can't see what element in it would have been the one to catch my eye but it turned out to be a relatively good read.

This is the story of Nina Gregory, a woman who has lived a privileged life and who works for a candidate for mayor until it's time to, at some point, take charge of her father's hotels management. That time comes too soon for her father is ill and dies and Nina isn't ready to let go of him, especially since she had lost her mother while a child. After his death, though, she starts to uncover some secrets he kept from her, which make her see him through different eyes. She starts to question many things, including the fact her best friend should not have become her boyfriend and that her life wasn't as charmed on the background as she imagined. What will the revelations change in her, what will she do in her future?

It was surprising to me how much I enjoyed reading the book. The wealthy privileged setting in which the story is set wasn't always as appealing as that, it offered a certain vibe of "look what I can/have" that I rolled my eyes at in some moments, but thankfully, Nina had enough in her to captivate me and make me forget she has, for most purposes, a kind of life so many would never be able to have. That could have made her vain or entitled but her personality was, for the most part, appealing and one I was sympathetic with, in particular when she was doubting her choices.

The plot isn't too complicated, basically focuses on Nina as she deals with her father's death, as she deals with her feelings towards her steady but somewhat bland relationship, her conflicting emotions when it comes to her boss, her shock upon discovering her father's secrets and her debating what to do in the future, for she feels the clash of her family's name in which she has been always so confident and the loss of contact with her mother's side, which she believed to have been a decision by them.

It's true there's a lot on Nina's plate but I liked how she dealt with most things. It was still easier for her to deal with some professional issues and even some situations regarding the hotels and the business aspects than, say, someone who might not have her bank account. I got the feeling, no matter how dire some problems might have seemed - and they could certainly be worrisome - she had a team (like the hotels' CEO, her friends...) to help her and that side of her life felt like it wasn't too much out of control. I liked how the author used this in the story but it wasn't too complicated to solve/deal with.

It was Nina's personal life that intrigued me the most to be honest. I was interested in seeing how she would evolve as a character, which steps would she take to become a good successor for her father and how her love life would affect her determination to grab happiness in all aspects of her life. We are told from the start she has a boyfriend, her best friend from her childhood, the son of the hotel's CEO. It's someone who understands her life, who shares the same interests and is used to the same lifestyle and, of course, has expectations regarding their future as couple. I liked he was not portrayed as a bad guy, so I could see how her decision to not be with him would be hard, were she to take that step.

However, we also see Nina developing feelings for her boss at the campaign and we are given plenty of proof on how suitable they are and how a good couple they would be. Nothing happens between them but awareness but I think the author was able to convey that very well, and I was being convinced pretty easily on how much better they would be together than Nina was with her boyfriend.

This isn't a perfect book because while reading I kept having the sense  there would still be some loose threads left up in the air by the end and that did happen. Mostly things related to her father's past, to her mother's family side how some situations happened in the past that it was so easy for them to not be on Nina's radar... I suppose, in one way, it was a helpful thing - after all, less distraction -  but on the other, it made some choices feel like they weren't a choice at all.

I liked the book though and for the most part I was eager to see how things would happen between Nina and her boss, how that would play out. I miss more on that actually, especially after the end, I think this is one of those cases where a short epilogue might have helped with closure on some of the looser elements and even o the romance front. 

I will try something else by the author one day.

Grade: 8/10