Title: Landline
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
First published: July 3rd 2014
Finished reading: August 13th 2015
Pages: 308
“Nobody’s lives just fit together. Fitting together is something you work at. It’s something you make happen – because you love each other.”
After enjoying Eleanor & Park last year and loving Fangirl a few months ago, I was really looking forward to this read. I still think Rainbow Rowell‘s YA fiction is more than excellent, but I’m sorry to say I didn’t end up enjoying Landline at all. I still can’t put my finger exactly on the why, but I do know there were a lot of things wrong with this story. The plot was pretty much non-existent and I really didn’t like the main characters and how they acted. And the magic phone? Not convincingly done at all and it just didn’t fit into the whole contemporary romance genre. Maybe if the idea would have been presented better and you would actually get an idea of how the whole timetravel-magic-phone-thing works, Landline would have made a lot more sense. Now I just felt it was a bunch of random events with a not so satisfying ending. I have to admit the prose was pretty good, as I would have expected from Rainbow Rowell, but the rest of this story definitely didn’t convince me.
Georgie McCool has been having problems in her marriage for a long time, but she is too busy with her job as a TV writer do to anything about it. She still loves her husband Neal, but she doesn’t know how to save her marriage… When something’s come up on her show just before Christmas, Georgie is forced to cancel their trip to visit Neal’s family in Omaha. Neal does the unthinkable and decides to go home with their kids without her. Georgie wonders if she’s finally crossed the line and ruined her marriage forever… And even her best friend and coworker Seth can’t get her to concentrate on her job. Then Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past… But what is she supposed to do?
If you haven’t read any of Rainbow Rowell‘s novels yet, I highly suggest to try the other titles first. Landline is simply disappointing, and I don’t think I would have tried her other novels if I would have read this one first. I liked the prose in general, but the lack of plot and annoying characters were a mayor turn off. And then I’m not even talking about the magic phone… I had such high expectations for this one, but it just didn’t work for me.
OH NO!
That sucks that you didn’t like Landline so much.
I have the book, but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.
I love Rainbow’s other books that I’ve read, but haven’t been in a rush to read this one yet.
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I loved Eleanor & Park and Fangirl as well, so it was a huge disappointment that I didn’t like Landline. Who knows, you might like it, but it has a pretty low rating at Goodreads as well so I guess I’m not the only one who didn’t enjoy it. 😉
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That’s such a shame! It’s been on my TBR ever since it came out but I still haven’t gotten around to reading it. I’ve read a lot of people say that her YA novels are better though. I’ll still give it a go since I love her writing (and I read that Cath and Levi have a cameo in it), but probably not anytime soon! Great review 🙂
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I loved her YA novels and I’ve heard Attachments is pretty good as well, but this one just didn’t convince me… Hopefully you will enjoy it better if you decide to read it one day! 🙂
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Oh to bad 😦 Even the amazingness of Rainbow can’t get a 10/10 every time!
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Haha I guess not! I loved her YA novels, but this one just didn’t do it for me. Trust me, I was really surprised myself!
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I think Landline is the only one I haven’t read as well. Attachments is an adult novel and that’s brilliant!
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Good to hear Attachments is great! I was already beginning to fear her adult novels simply weren’t as good…
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Attachments is so quirky and CUTE! Which is what we love about Rainbows books 🙂
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Yay! I will definitely try to get a copy soon then. 🙂
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Oh we have the same thoughts for this novel. Eleanor and Park is my first read from Rainbow and Rowell and it is just so amazing. But Landline is good but it isn’t as awesome as I expected it to be. ?_?
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I enjoyed Eleanor & Park and loved Fangirl, but Landline was just disappointing… I’ve heard Attachments is a lot better though!
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I’ll be reading that soon. I do hope it will be better. 🙂
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Well shoot. This one is on my shelf only because I found a copy for $1 haha. I wasn’t too excited by the magic phone either. Sorry to hear it disappointed.
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At least it wasn’t an expensive copy… 😉 The whole plot just didn’t convince me; the magic phone idea could have been interesting, but the way Rainbow Rowell used it in Landline it just didn’t make sense.
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