LANDLINE

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Orion Books
Publishing date: 2015
Pages: 356

Georgie and Neal's marriage is in trouble, for Georgie has been putting her work at first place for a long time. It's Christmas and they're supposed to visit Neal's mom in Omaha. But then a really important job comes into a view and consequently, Georgie decides to stay at home. Nevertheless, Neal does not intend to change his plans and is going to visit his mom anyway. And he decides to take the children with him as well. So Georgie is suddenly facing a Christmas time alone. She tries to reach Neal on the phone, but when she calls him from an old landline from her mom's house, Neal picks it up fifteen years earlier. Now, what does that mean? Is Georgie supposed to fix their marriage before it has even started...?

"I love you more than I hate everything else."

I really love Rainbow Rowell's books. But I kind of picked this one on a whim. I was supposed to read books from my TBR pile when I came across some recommendation of Christmassy books one of which was Landline. And I thought: "Wait, it's a Christmas book? Well, then I totally have to read it. Like, right now." And so I did. I was quite surprise, though, that I didn't recognize Rainbow Rowell in it at the beginning. I found the first fifty pages a little bit boring so I was actually considering putting it down, but right from that moment things stared to happen and I suddenly couldn't stop reading even for a minute. And sure enough, Rainbow Rowell won me over again.

My favourite Rainbow Rowell's book is definitely Eleanor & Park but Landline would be the second one. I liked it even more than Fangirl. It was absolutely different from her other books. It was actually something different from all of the books I read, and I really enjoyed it. Rainbow Rowell created amazing characters that I genuinely cared about. They were so sweet and funny. Plus they were very reliable. I loved them so much and was so nervous about what might happen to them that I was nibbling my nails during the whole reading. I especially adored the dialogue in this book. It was something absolutely incredible. It's definitely Rainbow Rowell's biggest power. She's really awesome at it.

Landline is a beautiful tale about love and marriage. Rainbow Rowell captured all the difficulties as well as the most beautiful things about being in love and sharing your life with someone you love. I was on the edge of tears most of the time. It's a bittersweet story that taste better than any gingerbread cookie I've ever tried. And it warmed my heart more than the biggest mug of hot chocolate. The most Christmassy part about this book is definitely the emphasis that is placed on the importance of family. It helped me remember what is all this about just as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens do whenever I read it. I am extremely glad I made time to read this book just before Christmas. And you should read it, too.

Rating: 5/5