Synopsis

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes 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

Imádom a „second chance” történeteket és ez a kötet is az első oldaltól magával ragadott. Ez a könyv szerelemről, életről, kihagyott lehetőségekről, elveszített évekről és újra egymásra találásról szól. Különleges a könyv felépítése, hiszen az első és az utolsó néhány fejezetet kivéve, a könyv a múltban játszódik.

Matt a National Geographic Pulizer díjas fotósa, azonban mégsem boldog. Úgy érzi csak éli szürke életét egyik napról a másikra, annak ellenére, hogy egykor imádta az összes kalandot, amelyet New York tartogatott számára. Azonban most ott találja magát 36 évesen egy irodai fülkében, együtt kell dolgozni az ex-feleségével, aki közben újraházasodott az egyik kollégájukkal és most minden egyes nap őket kell néznie (nem mintha bánná a kisiklott házasságát, inkább csak a magányos életét sajnálja). Aztán valami történik. Egyik nap a metróban meglát egy lányt, aki éppen felszáll a metróra és amikor a szemébe néz, ráismer 15 évvel ezelőtti szerelmére. Matt ugyan elkezd futni a metró után, de (ismét) elveszíti a lányt. Matt hetekig tartó internetes keresgélése nem vezet sikerre, így a férfi úgy dönt, felad egy hirdetést a Craigslist ‘Missed Connection’ szekciójába. Több hónap telik el mikor egyszer csak csörög a telefonja és a vonal másik végén meghallja azt a hangot, amelyet már 15 éve nem tud kiverni a fejéből.

A könyv középső része a múltban játszódik. Egyszerűen imádtam ezt az utazást, amely során megismerjük Gracie és Matt szerelmének történetét. 15 évvel ezelőtt Grace és Matt, egymás melletti szobát kapnak a ’Senior House’–ban, ami egyfajta diákszállás. Mindketten végzősök az egyetemen, de míg Grace a zenetagozaton diák és csellózik, addig Matt fotózást tanul. Egyből barátok lesznek, és mindenféle őrültséget csinálnak, miközben próbálják megélni New York minden varázslatát. Első perctől kezdve gyakorlatilag elválaszthatatlanok egymástól, majd a barátságuk szép lassan szerelemmé alakul. Mindketten nehéz anyagi helyzetben vannak, de mindig kitalálnak valamit, hogy hogyan segítnek egymáson, és mindig számíthatnak a másikra.

Aztán mikor közeledik a végzős évük vége, Mattnek felajánlanak egy olyan lehetőséget, ami az életben csak egyszer fordul elő. A National Geographic felajánl neki egy gyakornoki állást, amely során Dél-Amerikában töltheti a nyarat, és ott fotózhat a magazinnak. Gracenek eközben szintén tálcán kínálnak egy életre szóló lehetőséget, amely során a szimfonikus zenekarral egy 1,5 éves európai turnéra mehetne. Ő az első számú csellista az egyetemen, így mindenki hihetetlenül csalódott, mikor visszautasítja ezt a lehetőséget. Nyíltan nem mondja ki, de egyértelműen Matt miatt nem akar másfél évre elmenni, helyette a mesterképzésre jelentkezik. A nyár végére azonban elveszítik egymással a kapcsolatot, de ők maguk sem tudják, hogy mi történhetett a másikkal, és 15 évnek kell eltelnie, hogy megkaphassák a válaszaikat.

Imádtam a szereplőket és imádtam Renee Carlino magával ragadó stílusát. Ez volt az első könyvem az írónőtől, de biztos, hogy nem az utolsó. Voltak részek, amelyek megmosolyogtattak, voltak fejezetek, amelyek megfájdították a szívemet, de leginkább elgondolkoztatott ez a történet, főleg a rengeteg ’Mi lett volna ha?’ kérdés miatt.

My review in English

I love „second chance” stories and this book hooked me from the first page, too. This was a story about love, life, missed chances, lost years and finding each other again. I really liked the structure of the book, because – except some chapters in the beginning and the end of the book – the story takes place mainly in the past.

Matt is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer who works for the National Geographic, but he is not happy with is life. He feels that his life is grey and he can’t enjoy the experiences what New York offers for him. He is 36 years old, he works in an office cubicle with his ex-wife who is now married with their other college (He doesn’t feel unhappy because of his broken marriage, but because the fact that his life is lonely and empty).

But one day something happens. He sees a girl in the subway, and when the girl looks in his eyes, he recognizes his college girlfriend, who was probably the love of his life. He starts to run after the train, but he cannot cath it, so he loses the girl (again). After that day Matt tries everything to find Grace on the internet and finally he places an ad in the ‘Missed Connection’ section of Craigslist. Several month passes when his phone finally rings and on the other end he hears the one voice he couldn’t forget for 15 years.

The middle part of the book takes place in the past. I really loved the journey where we learned the love story of Gracie and Matt. 15 years ago Grace and Matt moved next to each other at the ’Senior House’ dormitory. At this time they are both seniors at NYU. Gracie is majoring in music and plays the cello, and Matt is a talented photography major. They becoming friends very quickly and they do a lot of crazy things while they are experiencing every magic of New York City. They inseparable from the first second, and despite they are both financially broken, they try to figure out every difficulty, and they always can count on each other. Finally their friendship slowly becomes love.

Near the end of their senior year, Matt gets a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity from National Geographic. He can travel to South-America with the magazine for the summer. Meanwhile Gracie gets an offer too, so she could go on a year and a half long tour to Europe with an orchestra. She is the first chair cellist, so everybody is really disappointed when she turns off the offer. She doesn’t say, but she wants to stay for Matt, so she decides that instead of the tour she will attend to grad school. But by the end of the summer, they lose the connection with each other and they don’t know what happened with the other one. 15 years has to pass before they can get their answers.

I loved the characters of the book and I really loved the writing style of the author. This was my first novel by Renée Carlino but definitely not the last. There were parts which made me smile but there were chapters which clenched my heart, but mostly this book made me think about the lots of ‘What ifs?’ of our life.

My Favorite Quotes From the Book

“I feel like I’m living in a nightmare, like I’ve just woken up from a coma to discover that fifteen years of my life have gone by. Everything went on without me. I missed everything.”

“It was like the universe was teasing us; we saw each other just a second too late.”

“You have to learn to fly before you can soar.”

“You can’t re-create the first time you promise to love someone or the first time you feel loved by another. You cannot relive the sensation of fear, admiration, self-consciousness, passion, and desire all mixed into one because it never happens twice. You chase it like the first high for the rest of your life. It doesn’t mean you can’t love another or move on; it just means that the one spontaneous moment, the split second that you took the leap, when your heart was racing and your mind was muddled with What ifs?—that moment—will never happen the same way again. It will never feel as intense as the first time.”

“We were victims of bad timing. But here we are again.”

“The present is our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking. It’s the only free gift the universe has to offer. The past doesn’t belong to us anymore, and the future is just a fantasy, never guaranteed. But the present is ours to own. The only way we can realize that fantasy is if we embrace the now.”

“You have to learn to fly before you can soar.”

“Make me believe.”
He ran his thumb over my lip. “I will, even if it fucking takes me forever.” And then his lips were on mine and we were in it, pulling away from the past and rushing fast into the future.+

“ ‘Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.’ ” ~ Leonard Cohen

5- second chance- Stars

About the Author

Renée Carlino is a screenwriter and bestselling author of contemporary women’s novels and new adult fiction. Her books have been featured in national publications, including USA TODAY, Huffington Post, Latina magazine, and Publisher’s Weekly. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons, and their sweet dog June. When she’s not at the beach with her boys or working on her next project, she likes to spend her time reading, going to concerts, and eating dark chocolate. Learn more at www.reneecarlino.com