Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Series: No
Publisher: Orion
Publication Date: July 3rd 2014
Souce: Netgalley

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything. That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts...

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Rainbow Rowell very quickly became one of my authors last year after reading Eleanor & Park and Fangirl. As soon as I read the synopsis for Landline I couldn't wait to have it in my hands. I was lucky enough to get accepted for a review copy on Netgalley (Thank you, Orion!) and I couldn't wait to dive right into it. 

Landline is the first adult book by Rainbow Rowell that I've read (I know she's written Attachments, but I haven't read it yet) and I was completely blow away by how fantastic it was. Landline deals with real life issues that a lot of couples probably go through every now and again.

Georgie is goal orientated. She's loves her job and she'll do absolutely anything to further her career, which in turn distances her from her family. Georgie, her husband and the kids are supposed to travel to Omaha for Christmas, but Georgie has a job opportunity that comes up and she has to stay in LA. Neal packs up the kids and they head off to Omaha - without Georgie - which is the last thing she ever expected. Georgie starts to wonder if she's ruined her marriage and whether her and Neal will be able to get past this. And then something strange happens: Georgie comes across a way to communicate with Neal in the past in the form of an old landline. Georgie's not sure whether this opportunity will help her fix her marriage or end it before it starts.

The main thing I loved about Georgie was that she's extremely flawed. She loves her career and she would do absolutely anything to get ahead. She often forgets about her husband and kinds of neglects him to a certain extent. It kind of felt like she'd completely lost herself in her career. Georgie's character development throughout the book was fantastic. She begins to question the way she's been acting and the way she's been treating her husband, and it makes her realise that she's been putting her family second and her job first. I adored Georgie.

The whole idea of being able to communicate with someone from the past was such a fantastic concept, and the fact that it was through a landline just made it even more amazing and added a really unusual aspect to the story. I adored seeing Georgie and young Neal's conversations. It was a little strange since Georgie already knew everything that had happened, but she had no idea what the outcome of these conversations would have on her life. The conversations also helped me connect with both Georgie and Neal a lot more because I was learning a lot about the both of them and it made me really start rooting for them.

Overall, I absolutely adored Landline. Honestly, it's probably my favourite Rainbow Rowell book right now, I just want to go and re-read it all over again (which I might actually do). This is definitely one book that I'm going to be recommending to everyone because I just completely loved it.