Skips so many cliches (the jock is out and proud after high school! No closet cases here!) and is funny and genuine. I finished it and thought, "i want to write this book." What else could I say? ( )

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I almost want to turn around and read it again. Immediately. ( )

What would you do if 20 years after parting with your first love, you realize you're still hopelessly in love with him and no one else will ever measure up? This is exactly the situation Travis faces and decides that he can't move on unless he finds Craig and sees him one more time. It might be a rekindling in that moment or they might just say 'hey' and part, but he figures it's worth a shot.

The construction of this book is interesting. It's a series of journal entries, letters, memos, and other correspondence to tell the story of how Craig and Travis came together and how they eventually come to cross paths again 20 years later. Overall, I very much enjoyed the story, I just felt like the format got in the way at times and muddled the story just a bit. ( )

Craig and Travis fall in love in high school but go to different unis and drift apart. 20 years later Travis decides there is a big Craig-shaped hole in his life and decides to find Craig again.

This was a fun read that I suspect I would have enjoyed even more if a lot of the sporting and theatre references hadn't gone over my head. ( )

What happens when we go to college?" I asked him nervously. "Is that the end of us?"
He glanced up from my chest and frowned as only Travis could frown.
"Do you love me?"
"Down to my toes."
"Then shut up."

I've been saying on here for a while that I wanted something with epistolary elements. I can't explain it,it just sounds good right now. I started this, and I was a bit confused through the first chapter by the format. Once I figured it out (e-reader formatting, I'm guessing) I didn't put this book down. I didn't stop laughing, I didn't stop crying. And I also held my breath a HELL of a lot. This is one of those reviews when I probably don't have the words. The run in the morning dew on an August morning feeling, the smell of your glove in softball, the joy and sorrows of those first loves and missed connections.

"We make families of our own," Travis whispered in my arms on the last night we spent together. "It starts with you and me and then it spreads. And whatever happens, there'll always be a part of me that's part of you. No matter what."

I always struggle emotionally with the missed connection type of stories. I think it's easy to see a million pieces of your past in them and sometimes that just hurts so good. What happens when you meet the your first love in your senior year of high school, go off to college across the country (like, 2988.2 miles away), and start living your lives. What happens when you've never really said good bye and suddenly after 20 years of being a lawyer and an American history professor, you realize someone's got a piece of you and you're feeling a bit unresolved. And what if, after all that time, you've had between 1 and 12 other love stories.

My whole life I've tried to remember the things he taught me. Not just about Ethel Merman and the Japanese American internment, but about finding the truth in everything you touch. Being Travis was a full-time job, yet that never kept him from teaching me how to be Craig.

Emails, journal entries, court cases, memos, written tests--I loved the way this story unfolded. And while the romance elements were swoony and lovely and heart bursting, there's no bitterness, there's barely sadness--It's joyful, Kluger gives us an additional cast and their relationships to adore. Take Gordon, travis's best friend since rooming in high school. He's a gem and a cheerleader to Travis's singularity, even starting in the late 70s in school:
TRAVIS: I never said I like boys!
GORDO: Ever beat off to Penthouse?
TRAVIS: No.
GORDO: Ever collect baseball cards?
TRAVIS: No.
GORDO: How old is Barbra Streisand?
TRAVIS: 36. Three weeks ago.
GORDO: What do you need? A fucking blueprint?


Of course, Travis- the big-hearted, courageous, genius whirlwind, Travis, falls for a jock. And frankly, Craig is equally lovely.
"I just can't figure this out," I said, kissing him yet again.
"It's easy," he replied, kissing back. "You love me."
"Oh, right."


I was bowled over by how authentic and warm these characters felt. There were times I didn't even know what I was rooting for (ok, ok, I usually did) Somehow, even Travis's students were lovely and we only saw test answers from them. The dynamic between him and Gordon. AJ, Clayton, and Charleen. All wonderful. Noah-a 9 year old spitfire.

I was afraid this would happen. When T falls in love, he does it with the whole world at once. Compared to him, Jane Austen was romantically challenged.

It's a romance. It's a love story. It's a story about love. Also, loved it..down to my toes.

( )