Landline by Rainbow Rowell - Book Review

Let's talk about the Cath and Levi cameo at the end. That was my favorite part of this book other than Neal.

Overall thoughts: Landline is a HIMYM Christmas special set in the world of The Lake House. (It's a really old movie with Sandra Bullock.) (I'm starting to think I am the only person on earth that has seen it.)

I'm not going to be able to form cohesive sentences with this one, so lists it is. Okay, let's go.

What I liked:

1. Georgie being a (semi)independent and confident woman - It shows that marriage isn't a smooth ride on the lake

2. It shows a broken relationship

3. NEAL. The males that Rainbow writes are always more wonderful (in my opinion) than the females (except Cath, but I still love Levi more than Cath)

4. Speaking of Cath and Levi, they have an adorable cameo at the end. And if you've read Fangirl, THEY'RE ENGAGED.

5. Rainbow shows us that gender roles shouldn't exist. Men can cook, paint, and stay home with the children while women can go and make the big bucks for their family.

6. The magical realism elements that surround the phone. Really, just the phone.

7. Georgie's family is a hilarious mess.

8. Also, I love Neal's family.

9. I like that she gives out the date whenever it is the next day. Because that's one of the things I am most terrible at while reading, knowing the timeline.

What I didn't like:

1. SO MANY LOOSE, UNTIED ENDS. It's basically Rainbow's signature. She just decides to not finish the story. It has something that has always (mostly) bothered me about her writing. It was endearing in Fangirl because I could just sit there and imagine the rest of their relationship, but here it's not endearing in the least.

2. Mostly because I hated that ending. Rainbow had such an awesome chance to plot-twist the bahooey (is that a word? because I'm making it a word) out of this and she didn't.

3. I watch too much Doctor Who and X-Men and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban have too many of my own feelings about time travel. Rainbow's display of time travel is very different than my own.

4. Georgie. She's an extremely frustrating character because she literally does nothing.

5. This entire novel I was wondering why Neal hadn't left Georgie before this because of the aforementioned fact. Why has he stuck around for fifteen years in a marriage that he's not happy in? Why is sticking through a relationship where he's not appreciated? (Because it's marriage) Because . . . it's spoilery, so I'm not going to say it.

6. Half of this book is in random flashbacks that have no identification of flashbacks.

7. It kind of felt like Rainbow just needed this book to be 300-odd pages, so she just added a bunch of randomness to make it longer.

Content: PG to PG-13

Language: Hardly

Violence: None

Sex: None

Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Published: 8 July 2014 by St. Martin's Press
Format - Pages: Hardback - 308
Source: BookOutlet
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Goodreads - My Goodreads Rating
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Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts...

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?