Review: You should really give it a chance.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 24, 2014
It was nice to read something different from the usual teenage drama we find in almost every book nowadays. It gets really boring after a while.Twice in a lifetime is a love story and not only that. In this novel we see how the lives of a group of friends develop. Three of them in particular – Allie, Ben and Jake.Allie and Ben meet during their last year of college on a blind date. He’s a player and she’s the kind of girl who has her nose stuck in a book most of the time. Not a nerd, but she takes her studies very seriously.They fall in love and, after graduation, they get married. Ben and Jake, his best friend, start a business together and Allie becomes a kindergarten teacher.Here, the author takes us on a journey in the past so we can batter understand which events lead to the current situation. I really liked how she’s done this and how smooth the transition from past to present was later on in the book.Jake plays an important role since the beginning and he’s present all throughout the book, but more so after Ben’s death. He’s been in love with Allie since the first time he saw her but never acted on it and watched her make a life with Ben.Allie will be forced to learn how to deal with everything from bills to raising a fifteen years old boy without a father. One of the things I liked about her is that she pulled up her sleeves and decided to start sorting things out instead of hiding in a corner and allowing the grief to consume her. Her strength is even more admirable after a secret about her late husband is revealed that affects everyone and makes her reconsider their life together. Jake will be there whenever she needs him but she is not about to let someone else carry her burdens for her.Again, I have to give credit to the author for not skirting around the most unpleasant aspects of Allie’s situation such as her fears regarding her stubborn son, the frustration when it comes to fix something around the house or not knowing how certain things work, and her not being able to forget or forgive her husband’s betrayal and being conditioned by it.Ruthie made it so that the readers, or some of them, can actually identify with the characters and understand, even like them better for that.  She made it even impossible to hate Ben for what he did in the end.Also, like I said in the beginning, there’s no useless drama even if Allie did step on my nerves a little bit in the end with her stubbornness.I really liked this novel and I can’t wait for the next installment. You should really give it a chance.Happy Reading!