Review: Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner (audio)

Title:Who Do You Love

Author:Jennifer Weiner

Narrator:Sarah Steele & JD Jackson

Published:August 2015, Simon & Schuster Audio

Length:13 hours

Source:Library

Rachel Blum and Andy
Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER
waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran
of hospitals, and she’s intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with
a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After
Andy’s taken back to the emergency room and Rachel’s sent back to her
bed, they think they’ll never see each other again.

Rachel, the
beloved, popular, and protected daughter of two doting parents, grows up
wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb. Andy grows up poor in
Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent that will let him
become one of the best runners of his generation.

Over the course
of three decades, through high school and college, marriages and
divorces, from the pinnacles of victory and the heartbreak of defeat,
Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again, until they are
finally given a chance to decide whether love can surmount difference
and distance and if they’ve been running toward each other all along.

With
honesty, wit, and clear-eyed observations about men and women, love and
fate, and the truth about happy endings, Jennifer Weiner delivers two
of her most memorable characters, and a love story you’ll never forget.

My thoughts:This is the first book I’ve read by Jennifer Weiner and I picked it up because it was one of the She Reads ‘Books of Spring’ selections. Don’t get me wrong…it’s not that I haven’t heard of her, but her books just haven’t spoken to me before, but I decided I would give this one a chance and I’m glad I did…I enjoyed it!

What I really liked about this book is that we see the relationship between Rachel and Andi grow over time from their first meeting at the age of eight until they are full-fledged adults and we see that relationship go through a range of stages. It is heartfelt and full of emotion and shows the importance of knowing that sometimes love isn’t enough. There needs to be more. 

Because the book spans thirty years, there is plenty of character development. It starts slowly giving us a full picture of just who Rachel and Andy are. We move on to the big stages in their lives, but then, the ending feels a bit rushed…why do that? Why take the time to set the stage and lay out the whole story and then rush the very part of the story that we are all waiting for? 

Overall, this was a good book and it does provide a little food for thought…who do you love? I will certainly be checking out Jennifer Weiner‘s other books – if you’re a fan, what do you recommend I pick up next?


Audio thoughts:This is the first time I’ve listened to either narrator and I thought both did a good job. Having a female and a male narrator was a great choice and made the story really come alive.

Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner is one of the She Reads “Books of Spring” reading selection picks. 

 

Head over to the She Reads website to read reviews and related posts of this book, as well as
posts related to the other “Books of Spring” selections.