November 14, 2013

Review/ Giveaway: How To Love by Katie Cotugno

How to LoveHow to Love by Katie Cotugno
Published October 1st 2013
by Balzer + Bray

AmazonB&NAuthor Website
Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.




      I really enjoyed How To Love very much. And I absolutely LOVE that this book has a Before and Present tense. It gives the reader a chance to go back in time and see why things are the way they are today. I hope I make sense when I say, I'd rather experience (read) what they went through, rather than the characters telling me what happened. In my opinion, it gives the book an edge. 

The Before tense in the book was when Reena was a young teen. And as a young teen she kept to herself. Fitting in wasn't something she really cared for. Besides she had a best friend who was more than enough excitment for her. I really liked Reena's character. She was very strong minded, very opinionated and she didn't easily fall into the typical high school/ teen drama. Except when it came to Sawyer.

The Before tense has a lot of angst. Reena has always been in love with Sawyer. But what I didn't like was the way that Reena lost herself in Sawyer. He was not the good boy he portrayed to his and her family. He had ugly demons eating at him and he sort of dragged Reena into them. And even though she wanted no part of it, she couldn't tell him no. I didn't like that about Sawyer. But let's face it, how many of us has done stupid things when we were teenagers for the sake of a boy we liked. I know I did. But the adult in me knows better and for that, I am not a fan of young Sawyer.

 Young Reena lost her best friend in this book and I think that's where she kind of spiraled a bit out of control. She didn't have that person to confide in. She wasn't close to her family so by losing her best friend she sort of lost herself in a way. That's when Sawyer intervened and she couldn't refuse to be with him. So whatever Sawyer wanted, Reena did. Thus, explains the teenage pregnancy.

In the Present tense, Reena matured a lot. She has a baby so she couldn't be an irresponsible person. She had to grow up rather quickly because of her daughter. Sawyer had left before he found out she was pregnant so she basically raised her baby on her own, with the help of her parents. I really liked the way she handled being a teen parent. She was very dedicated to her daughter. I also liked the way she handled Sawyer. He didn't easily get his way like he did with young Reena two years before. This Reena wasn't buying into anything he had to say. The decisions she made was because she thought long and hard about them. 

Need I say that I really enjoyed this book. In my opinion this isn't a HEA. To me, this is more a Realistic YA Fiction. The reality is we lose friends though out our lives, whether is by choice or not. And we all grieve differently. We make bad choices. Teenagers AND adults tend to lose themselves in the ones they love. And the part of our brain that makes rational decisions stop working when we're madly in love. So I absolutely love the reality in this book. And because I do love this book, I want to share it with you. Below will be rules on how to enter. 

I give How To Love a 4.5 stars and a definite Good Choice for Reading.






Just Three Rules To Enter!

1. US Only!!
2. Leave a comment below along with your email address.
3. Must reply back to email to confirm within 48 hrs or a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck!!

24 comments:

  1. I would absolutely love to win this book. It's been on my TBR list for awhile now. Thanks for the giveaway and the awesome review! :)

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  2. I forgot to leave my email address..... ah!
    hballa14@gmail.com

    Thanks again!

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  3. This book sounds so good! I'm dying to read it! I love your review. It definitely made me want to read it even more.
    pa2fl8904 @ yahoo dot com

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  4. This sounds very intriguing!! Thanks for sharing!
    efender1(at)gmail

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  5. It's been a while since I've read a contemporary novel. This book does seem to be different in that most don't have teenage pregnancies. It's great that this book doesn't gloss over the facts and try to make a happily ever after out of a story like this.

    haebookhae (at) gmail (dot) com

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  6. I agree , I love a book that gives you the before. Creates better depth of character -I always want to know why they are the way they are. Thanks for the giveaway.

    Uconnhusky13@comcast.ney

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  7. thanks for giveaway angelrulez19@yahoo.com

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  8. I've heard so many good reviews of How to Love. Really looking forward to reading this one! Thanks! ;)

    ann [dot] m [dot] vuong [at] gmail [dot] com

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  9. Looks and sounds like an interesting book. I've been wanting to read it for awhile now. Thank you for the chance. P.S. I loved your review.
    Email ~ Areuscared66@yahoo.com

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  10. thanks for the giveaway and I would love to read this book

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  11. This book sounds so great! I've been wanting to read it. I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for sharing :D
    cool_cat97@msn.com

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  12. Looks like a great read. I got a copy in the mail from the publisher but I didn't get a chance to get at it yet.

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  13. Thank you for the giveaway! bucmjt@yahoo.com

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  14. This book sounds good, but they are some parts that sound frustrating. Hopefully, I'll like it. Thanks! :D

    laughs4life14(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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  15. This is one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I STILL haven't read it yet! I love the sound of it being realistic YA fiction because we need MORE of those!

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  16. (oh and I forgot to add: purplebull @ hotmail.com)

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  17. i seriously have been dying to read this one! it sounds so good! thanks for the giveaway! beccaboo97200(at)att(dot)net

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  18. i have this one at the top of my list cx

    ridewitme(dot)ashley(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  19. This sounds like a great read. I've been wanting to read it since I first heard about it awhile back.

    bookaholicholly at gmail dot com

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  20. This book sounds amazing. I would love to read it. Putting it on my TBR list.

    ayancey1974(at)gmail(dot)com

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  21. Sounds like an amazing read!!
    I have heard great things about it.
    Thanks for the chance to win!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

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  22. I need to read this jenbook4 at gmail dot com

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  23. Not sure if I missed this or not, but this book sounds amazing! It's going at the top of my wishlist!!!

    june111(at)att(dot)net

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  24. I've heard this book is really good! Thank you for the giveaway!
    puppy(dot)lover2417(at)yahoo(dot)com

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