BOOK REVIEW: Landline – by Rainbow Rowell

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.

WWW Wednesdays #53 – August 19th

WWW WEDNESDAYS is hosted by Sam at Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.

• WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I just started The Death Cure by James Dashner yesterday and I’m not too far into the story yet. I’m not sure what to think of it, but at least I will be closer to finishing one more series… I’m about halfway with Fairest by Marissa Meyer and I still stand by my comment that it’s not as good as the main series. Levana just isn’t a very likeable character! I made some progress with The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt before the read-a-thon started, but I’ve temporarily put it on hold until next Monday.

• WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

Wait a minute; I’ve read EIGHT books since last WWW?! I checked twice, but apparently I’ve been reading like a monster for the last seven days haha.
The first book I’ve read is Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas; such a great read and the ending seriously messed with my mind!
I’ve had some start up problems with The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh; it took me a while to get used to the many foreign names and characters but I enjoyed it afterwards.
I had no such luck with Landline by Rainbow Rowell: I love her YA fiction, but I was seriously disappointed by Landline.
I then finally picked up The Kings Of Cool by Don Winslow, a TBR jar pick I have been posponing for the last I-don’t-know-how-many weeks. It was actually really good and I regret now waiting so long!
I’ve also read The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a book that has been on my TBR for ages and I enjoyed it just as much as I’ve hoped. I really need to get a copy of the sequels soon though!
I continued with Rarity From The Hollow by Robert Eggleton, an ARC I ended up enjoying despite some problems I had with the plot, characters and prose.
I then read Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher, a quite short and entertaining read that ends with a very painful cliffhanger! I will have to read part two soon and cross my fingers it won’t have such a big cliffhanger as the first…
The last book I finished was The Martian by Andy Weir, by far one of the best reads so far this month. The main character, plot, prose… It really shows why this book was picked as one of the Goodreads Choice winners.

• WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

I will probably try to read The Kill Order by James Dashner so I can finish yet another series… Although it will probably depend on how much I enjoy The Death Cure. I’m also looking forward to both My Heart And Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga and The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins. I guess it will depend on my mood which one I decide to read first. The last one on this list is my new TBR jar pick: The Geography Of You And Me by Jennifer E. Smith. I’m normally not a big fan of romance, but this title has been recommended to me various times so I will give it a try very soon.