Author: Hilary Grossman
Published: 2013
Number of Pages: 280
My Rating: 4
Summary from GoodReads.com:
For every girl who wondered if she should
love him or dump him.....
For every girl who
listened to her heart instead of her friends advice....
For every girl who l wondered if she was wasting her time dating
that guy....
meet Hilary....
She had gotten used to
dating the commitment-phobic Marc, thirteen years her senior. They had a great
relationship--why rush into things? She saw no need to pressure him for
marriage, believing that when the time was right, he would propose. But after
they had been together for four years, their friends decided to take matters
into their own hands, pushing Marc to propose and making Hilary realize how
much she really did want to marry the man that she loved. Unfortunately, Marc
still wasn't ready--and their friends' meddling in the form of a faux
engagement party led to a disastrous New Year's Eve that brought their
relationship to an inevitable turning point.
When I was first approached by Hilary Grossman to review
this book, I kind of thought it was just going to be another Chick-Lit love
story. However, once I actually started reading it, I realized it was a
memoir about Hilary's life and her romantic journey with her
commitment-phobic boyfriend. This book was a light read while at the same time
funny, honest, frustrating, and real.
Hilary shares everything about her relationship with Marc, her boyfriend
who was thirteen years older than her but none the wiser. What I appreciated
about her story is the fact that she shares all of the ugly parts of her
relationship, too, which would be really hard to do when writing about your
life. I feel like everyone wants to remember the good parts, especially about
relationships, and shies away from the frustrating, mean, and embarrassing
(she has a few of those!) stories that might make us or our partner look bad.
She falls in love with Marc pretty quickly, but Hilary realizes he is that
kind of man who doesn't say the L-word and who doesn't want to label things or
rush into them. She senses their relationship is going nowhere, but her
feelings and her love for him outweigh her logic, which at times can be
frustrating for the reader! While there were times I wanted to reach through
the book and shake her, it made me realize that she was just sharing all of
herself, even her mistakes, and that let's be honest, we've all made a
few.
I do have to say that there were times that I was
slightly confused as the author does a lot of flashbacks about her
relationship. I would be reading about one event and then she would jump back
to something that happened a month or a year before and then abruptly jump back
to the current time. While this wasn't distracting to the point that it ruined
the plot, there were a couple of times that I had to go back a few pages before
I caught on.
Overall, this is a heartwarming story about a fun, likable, insecure
girl who is not only falling in love with a stubborn man, but who is finding
herself and learning to love who she is. She has gone through a lot in her life
and she isn't afraid to bare it all- the good, the bad, and the ugly. I really
enjoyed her comments, viewpoints and writing and I would really like
to see what kind of fiction she could create. Hilary provided us with a
believable and realistic love story, and I can't wait to see what she comes up
with next!
-Busy Brunette 
Labels: Nonfiction, Rating 4
