Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Lt Landline

Ever since laying my eyes on Fangirl almost 3 years ago, I’ve been a whole-hearted advocate for Rainbow Rowell. I devour everything she writes, and (im)patiently wait for her to publish something new to fall in love with.Thus, I knew that Landline would fling me from the reading slump I felt creeping in at the edges of my conciousness.(I was right.)Whilst Landline certainly wasn’t my favourite Rainbow Rowell book, I still loved it astronomically more than plenty of other books I love. Rainbow Rowell just has a certain effect on me, her words casting an irrefutable spell on my better judgement, and enchanting the pages to flip on their own.(I SWEAR THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS.)I have delayed so many tasks to read a Rainbow Rowell book, and never regretted it even a tiny little bit.The thing is, to read a Rainbow Rowell book is a full-body experience; you can’t just reserve a section of your mind for you current read if it’s a Rainbow Rowell book. Oh no, the book takes over your mind, body, and soul, making your fingers twitch irrepressibly in search of a page to turn.Like any Rowell book, the characters of Landline are vivid. So utterly and completely realistic and vivid, it’s only the indents my fingernails etch into my palms as I squeeze my hands into fists as the characters fall in love that remind me that I’m not right there with them.(I WISH I WAS RIGHT THERE WITH THEM.)And everything they do and say and think and know is real. They are real people with real problems, and their stories are not idealistic but realistic.And that’s why I love Rainbow Rowell’s books, and Landline is no exception.This novel opens to the haphazard, busy life of Georgie, our protagonist, who is a married mother of 2, as well as a workaholic (she’s a TV screenwriter…so awesome!). She narrates the story, jumping between the past and present and places in between, illustrating for the reader what married life means to her, and what she has taken from it.Now, whilst this book does orbit marriage, this is not to say that you won’t enjoy this book if you are not married yourself. I am 15 and was interested in everything Georgie had to say on the topic, entertained by her narration and attitudes and humour.In fact, I was utterly engrossed!On another note, the tone of this book, although dealing with serious themes, is light-hearted and jovial and wholly effective if you’re looking for a pick-me-up. The chapters are fast paced, with injections of humour with each page, so much so that there are many witty moments, and even laugh-out-loud moments.Overall, whilst I was apprehensive to read this novel (the first Rainbow Rowell book I’ve read that is aimed at adults), I found myself engrossed in the story, and entirely pleased I decided to give it a chance. Although I describe it in this manner, there wasn’t any astronomically amazing attributes of this book, explaining as to why I awarded it 4/5 stars.

Landline put me on a rollercoaster of emotions and out of all of Rainbow Rowell's books, this one was the only one I wasn't completely in love with. Rainbow's writing, however, will always be amazing and there's nothing of hers I wouldn't read.Landline is Rainbow Rowell's second adult novel, her first being Attachments, although Rainbow has two other releases under the YA umbrella; Eleanor & Park and Fangirl. Georgie McCool is a TV comedy writer with her best friend Seth who she's has known since she was a teenager. As Christmas comes closer, Georgie chooses to stay home to work instead of going to her husband Neil's parents house with her children, causing the problems in their marriage to arise in her mind as he picks up and goes without her. As Georgie wonders if she's finally ruined their marriage, she discovers the landline phone in her parents house can ring Neil - 20 years ago. Georgie continues to speak to Neil-when-they-first-met and attempts to fix their marriage before it even began.Firstly, the idea of a "time-travelling phone" confused me. I've never been too good with the concept of time travel, getting confused at even the mere mention of it. However, this is purely a subjective opinion since I know most people aren't as confused by time travel as I am. The book itself wasn't confusing and the time-travelling aspect was fairly well explained, my problem lies in my own inability to understand the concept. The one problem I did have with this book was the transition between the past and the present. I struggled to differentiate between flashbacks and which version of Neil Georgie was talking about. At times, she would say "1998 Neil" to make it clearer, but the transition between flashbacks or the present was jarring and took me out of the story itself.I really liked all of the main characters in the book and I loved how cute Alice and Noomi (their children) were. Georgie was pretty similar to myself in some ways, so I found myself connecting with her more, despite her almost double my age. We didn't get to know much about present-day Neil but I really enjoyed learning about him at a younger age and his quirky personality made me understand why Georgie fell for him. Seth wasn't as developed as the other characters, despite appearing quite a bit throughout the book. He seemed to serve as a discussion point in Neil and Georgie's relationship, rather than being his own character and building on his and Georgie's friendship.Overall, I'm glad I read Landline because Rainbow's writing transports me (get it?) every time I pick up one of her books but I'm not sure I'd ever reread it. If you're into heart-warming cutesy books (and aren't confused by time-travel), you should check out Landline.

I am a big fan of Rainbow Rowell, but for me 'Landline' was not as enjoyable as 'Fangirl' and 'Eleanor and Park' both of which I love to bits.'Landline' is a story about a marriage that is disintegrating, though for no obvious reason. I was expecting the ''magic phone'' to provide answers but it didn't.On one hand I like Georgie because she is a nice person, but on the other she annoyed the living daylights out of me. She takes all the responsibility for the state of her marriage on herself which is ridiculous as it does take two to make or mar a relationship.Georgie has got it into her head that Neal and the kids do not need her - ''Neal and Alice and Noomi - they are a closed system, an independent organism''(p105). I guess that is working mums guilt but her relationship with her girls seemed good. To be honest I don't understand what she saw in Neal in the first place given that he ''growls at people, literally, if they get to close'' (p93), hardly spoke, never smiled and let Georgie do all the running. He was also rude about her career in comedy saying comedy was just ''messing around'' (p138), and that her dreams would be a ''waste of (his) time'' (p138). What a charmer! Just to be clear - I did not like Neal.I would describe Neal as a bit of a waste-of-space -1) He goes to university to study oceanography - having never even seen the ocean, only to discover he does not like the ocean.2) He is a brilliant cartoonist, but thinks it is beneath him - ''I want to do something real. I want to make a difference'', but can't work out how to achieve that.3) He marries the girl of his dreams, has two lovely children which he gets to stay at home and look after while his wife supports him handsomely but...4) Neal is not happy. Neal does NOT say he is unhappy, he just ''wore it''(p105). Give me a break.I was expecting a big ending but I did not get one. At the end nothing is discussed, nothing is fixed. Georgie merely says ''I'm going to be better'', and Neal replies ''We both are''. That's it . The end.

Well I don’t know where to start! I guess I start by saying that Rainbow Rowell is an awesome writer and believe it or not, this is the first book I’ve read from her! I haven’t read Fangirl or Eleanor & Park or Attachments yet… I know right?!? I’m now officially on a book BUYING ban and I will have to wait a very long time before I will have those beauties in my hand and read.But back to Landline – wow what a story! This Is a very unique love story of two people, Neal & Georgie; mainly Georgie, who are figuring out what love in a marriage truly means. Every married couple (and unmarried of course) go through these phases, and it was nice to read about it in such a lovely, funny but also emotional way. As I am a newlywed of almost 10 months, I felt that this story was really tugging on my heart strings.Georgie and Neal have childred, Noomie and Alice. Oh how I wanted to grab Noomie and Alice and give them a mega hug and squeeze – two such adorable kids it’s unbelievable! Neal, Neal…you are one big star as a husband but also as a daddy – definitely as a daddy! But Georgie has got a best friend Seth and with him she runs the writing studio’s (Neal dislikes him with a passion) and they have a deadline which will mean working through Christmas. Dismayed by his wife’s priorities, Neal takes the plunge an heads to Omaha with the children, without Georgie. It was sad to read the relationship between Neal and Georgie; how taking each other for granted, really has come between them, to the extent that it may break down their marriage!During their time apart, Georgie stays at her mums and she finds this old Landline (hint hint!). As her mobile is broken she decides to phone Neal from this phone and et voila she is in contact with Neal from before – The Neal from the year that they almost broke up, but ended up engaged!These phone calls ranged from very funny to again very emotional. I’m not sure how I can describe to you why this story was so close to my heart, but maybe deep down I wish all ‘almost broke up couples’ would have a magic Yellow Landline, just to see if it can be fixed you know.At times I wanted to shake some sense into Georgie, other times I wanted to shake Seth – but I did quite love Seth. He is an outstanding person to have as a friend, and at the same time frustrating, as he just didn’t seem to understand how important Neal and their marriage are to Georgie….I liked it that it had a sort of open ending, a marriage such as that can’t be fixed so quickly which made it more realistic for me.Well enough of me rambling on, as you can see I find it really difficult to find the words for this beautifully written story, with a bit of time-travelling and a big yellow magic landline.I am optimistic that my own marriage will not come to this, but hoping that there is a yellow Landline hidden in my wardrobe… just in case!

Like most of Rainbow Rowell’s books, Landline was a quirky and entertaining spin on a love story. I feel as if it is a very relatable read for any of us who have ever gone through rocky times in our marriage or been close to people having marital problems. It also talked about how much of or past we are willing to change to ensure our future.I found this an incredibly enjoyable read. Rowell has an immense power to submerge her readers, to make us feel included in her worlds and to make us worry and feel for her characters.In all honesty I do not enjoy romance novels all that much, but hers are an exception.As for the book as an object/product: I definitely recommend buying it. The cover design is absolutely beautiful. It is really simple, but looks really nice on my bookshelf.(I bought the paperback edition, in case you were wondering)