BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS by Renee Carlino-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 18, 2015

A love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City.

To the Green-eyed Lovebird:

We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House.

You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more.

We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other.

Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding…

I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello.

After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half?

M

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REVIEW: BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS is a story of first loves, broken hearts and second chances.

Told from dual first person points of view, from present day to the past and back to the present, BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS follows the growing relationship between two college students-photographer Matt Shore and cellist Grace Starr –who on the first day of senior year met, struck up an immediate friendship that would eventually find our leading couple as best friends, confidants, and lovers.

Throughout the storyline we are witness to Grace and Matt’s connection; the bonds they formed with one another, the friendships that would last a lifetime; and the dysfunctional family situations that force Matt and Grace to lean upon one another more times than not. But all was for naught when Matt is eventually offered an internship with National Geographic while Grace remains behind to complete her graduate studies. A promise to return within three months finds Grace lost and brokenhearted when news of a different kind force Grace to make a life altering decision.

BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS follows the ‘before and after’ of a fifteen year separation for two people who promised one another the world; their memories of times spent together were balanced with the reality of what had happened and what was to come. But a mistaken belief would send our couple in opposite directions and fifteen years would pass before a fleeting moment in the subway would push Matt to begin a search for the woman he had never stopped loving. Matt wanted his happily ever after but the road to happiness is filled with heartbreak, betrayal and loss.

BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS is an unforgettable storyline of first love and second chances. Grace and Matt’s all consuming love for one another is matched with passionate promises and seductive proclamations but life and everything else in between had a funny way of destroying what was and what was to be.

If I had one complaint it is the unreality of Grace’s inability to contact Matt throughout the fifteen year separation. The author tried to explain the issues and problems Grace encountered but I have to question some of the situations and responses.

Reviewed by Sandy