Our biggest fears stretch from sleeping without our beloved teddy bear to finding out that we have no purpose in life. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. 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? This was my first read from Renee Carlino although she’s a name that has been on my list to read for some time. I would go so far as to say that it is in my top favorite second chance at romance stories… 5 Serendipitous, Sweet Passionate Love, Soulmates Forever Filled Stars!

I'm a sucker for books that the couple are friends first (legit friends) then turn into something more. I ahd Before We Were Strangers on my tbr ever since it came out, as many of my Goodreads friends loved it back in the day. Not only that but when he reads one of the letters she had written him (his ex wife had kept them from him) HE STILL DOESN'T APOLOGIZE!You cannot relive the sensation of fear, admiration, self-­consciousness, passion, and desire all mixed into one because it never happens twice. Everything from their early years when they were falling in love, to their unexpected reunion, to their trying to once and for all be together was done so heartbreakingly well. I loved it, and some scenes were very emotional for me, but I guess my expectations were little bit too high. His daughter for some reason who btw is a 15yo teenager just completely accepts everything, even him being mad at her mom.

The book starts out in his POV and for the first 20 some odd % into the book I was thinking "omg finally a 5 star read! Anything that might be considered a "flaw" is wiped away by the pure beauty of Carlino's writing and by the way she will pull you into this love story. I saw it coming the moment it was winked at, I thought this would in the long run make me lower my rating. According to Priscilla Johnson McMillan's biography of Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife, Marina, Oswald was "greatly excited" while watching We Were Strangers on television in October 1963, just a few weeks before he assassinated President John F. 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?

He didn't even think of her and would have obviously stayed longer and not even taken her into consideration.

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. This book is sweet, emotional, sad, heartbreaking, at times overwhelming, but most importantly it is an uplifting love story! You don't even think "oh shit maybe I should meet the daughter I'm allegedly so upset I've never met?Before We Were Strangers is easily one of my favorite books of 2015… Renée Carlino’s writing is effortless, and the story is engrossing and intensely poignant… This book is so skillfully crafted it can be considered both a New Adult and an Adult Contemporary novel. They don't get back together and he sees her crying and how sick she feels over the whole situation AND DOES NOTHING! a key plot point that plays into this book is miscommunication but i believe as humans, the reason we don’t like to read about this is because it’s so realistic.