About Books #72: The Time of Our Lives

Everyone has them, right? The friends from university that your life is, somehow, intrinsically linked to? After all, going through that many highs and lows together is bound to leave some sort of mark on you. So just imagine: 10 years on… And you see each other again. The boy (man) you almost had a thing with, the ex-boyfriend, the best friend, the goof, … They’re all there – and they’re having The Time of Our Lives! (Sorry about the pun – I know it was horrible, I promise not to do it again)

I was offered an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are strictly my own.

The Story

Love is in the air…?

Luca is used to being the ‘single one’ at weddings – it happens, when all your other friends are engaged, married or taken. But when she bumps into Tom, her friend from university who broke her heart into a million pieces, she finds herself wondering what could have been.

It’s ten years later, surely she should be over that Tom by now? So why is he looking even more gorgeous than ever – and why doesn’t he seem to be able to keep his eyes off her either?

And as the champagne flows and old secrets resurface, Luca realises that perhaps the time to take a chance on love and life is…now?

The Opinion

I will be honest – all of the flashbacks to the past, ca. 2008? They seemed to lead to something horrible. I mean, honestly, I thought some kind of murder cover up was about to happen. So when the big drama on New Year’s Eve – apart from, you know, the non-kiss – turned out to be what it was? I felt kind of let down. Relieved that nothing absolutely had happened, don’t get me wrong. But still – I thought something more was coming.

In better news, though, that’s probably the most negative I’m going to get about this book. There’s something quite nostalgic-yet-stressful about the idea of seeing all your old housemates again. Especially if you feel as if they have progressed in their lives more than you have. And Portia MacIntosh manages to capture that discrepancy just beautifully. On the one hand, you just fall right back into your old slots – taking 10 years of all of your mental ages, at least. On the other hand, all of you have moved on. Changes have been made, families have been started – and old wounds have been pestering.

The beauty in the flashbacks, for me, was that we got a perfect view not only of Luca and Tom’s (non-)relationship, not only of the big “drama” that happened 10 years ago… Mostly, it’s just that you got to see exactly how these people have grown, yet are still, in so many ways, the same they were in university. Sure, some dad-bod might have been added into the equation, some commitments have been made. But in the grand scheme? You get to see these people re-discover their friendship and who they, themselves, are and were.

The Rating: 3.5/5

If you’re in the mood for a fun book, something that’ll give you all those university-feels? This is definitely the one for you. Old friendships, new chances…

And of course- it certainly helps that there’s an adorable romance-that-keeps-getting-interrupted happening. What with all the elevators getting stuck, the bridges collapsing, … I just had to read through this entire book in one sitting, to make sure these two got back together! (Goodreads)

-Saar