Reviews
Review: Who We Were by Lindsay Detwiler
Author: Lindsay Detwiler
Title: Who We Were
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: February 25, 2017
Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing
Cover Designer: Claire Smith
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“I guess that’s the thing about high school reunions, though. They make you snap a little.”
In the ten years since high school graduation, Maylee’s career, living arrangements, family, and especially her love life are at a standstill. When her twin brother, Mitch, falls for her high school enemy at their ten-year reunion, Maylee’s life is catapulted into chaos.
Maylee’s hatred for the blonde-haired Josephine isn’t the only thing she discovers at her reunion. Benson Drake, the introvert from high school, has matured into a sexy intellect. Now a writer and bartender, Benson’s grown into a man with a perfect balance of quirky wit and sex appeal. After a wardrobe malfunction, a spy mission gone wrong, and a dangerous cup of coffee, Maylee and Benson explore something they never even thought about during senior year. Along the way, they find out that reconnecting with the past can change you… or maybe just help you find your true self.
This book starts when Maylee Keagan is getting ready to go to her high school 10th year reunion. She’s getting ready to make an impression despite the fact that she hasn’t achieved any of her high school dreams. Once the perfect student, real life has kind of fallen short for Maylee and this is far from what she wants to portray, especially to her nemesis Josephine Crawford.
Instead of a successful husband, her date is her twin brother Mitch and instead of the perfect job, she’s working on a pale resemblance of her chosen path so when she falls on her face and experiences a wardrobe malfunction, all bets are off. To make it worse, her brother is openly flirting with Josephine and she ends up being helped by the least expected person, one she remembers as a shy boy who kept to himself, but is no longer that boy: Benson Drake.
This is my first read by Ms. Detwiler and it is a good book. I think the story and its message of moving on and letting go of the past are things that we all need to achieve in life, but I couldn’t love it as I wanted. I had a HUGE problem with Mitch’s loyalty to Maylee from the get go and no matter how things developed and resolved on the story, I couldn’t push past it.
There are a lot of things I could point out, but I can’t do it without writing any spoilers. As I’ve said, the book is good, the subject at hand is real and something most people go through in life though not in such a dramatic and extreme fashion, but it didn’t do it for me. Maybe I’d see things differently had I found myself in the same situation.
I know some people are going to think I didn’t understand the story or the ultimate message and I might even be judged by my opinion, but this book left me as the movie “Gone Girl”, no matter how many times I go around it, I can’t agree with their decision.
3 Book Corner Stars
*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review*
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A high school English teacher, an author, and a fan of anything pink and/or glittery, Lindsay’s the English teacher cliché; she love cats, reading, Shakespeare, and Poe.
She currently lives in her hometown with her husband, Chad (her junior high sweetheart); their cats, Arya, Amelia, Alice, and Bob; and their Mastiff, Henry.
Lindsay’s goal with her writing is to show the power of love and the beauty of life while also instilling a true sense of realism in her work. Some reviewers have noted that her books are not the “typical romance.” With her novels coming from a place of honesty, Lindsay examines the difficult questions, looks at the tough emotions, and paints the pictures that are sometimes difficult to look at. She wants her fiction to resonate with readers as realistic, poetic, and powerful. Lindsay wants women readers to be able to say, “I see myself in that novel.” She wants to speak to the modern woman’s experience while also bringing a twist of something new and exciting. Her aim is for readers to say, “That could happen,” or “I feel like the characters are real.” That’s how she knows she’s done her job.
Lindsay’s hope is that by becoming a published author, she can inspire some of her students and other aspiring writers to pursue their own passions. She wants them to see that any dream can be attained and publishing a novel isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
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