May 26, 2014
Rowell follows up children’s novels Fangirl and Eleanor and Park, both released in 2013, with an adult novel about the ups and downs of marriage. Georgie McCool (yes, that’s her real name) is a successful TV writer with a handsome writing partner and a chance to finally take her career to the next level; she’s just been offered her own pilot, which means no more writing jokes for characters she didn’t invent. The only problem? Her husband, Neal, is growing increasingly discontent with Georgie’s endless work and his status as stay-at-home dad to their daughters, Noomi and Alice. When Georgie cancels the family trip over Christmas, Neal takes the girls and leaves Georgie behind. This is where the story gets interesting. When Georgie calls Neal’s home, she doesn’t reach the husband who’s on the verge of leaving her—she reaches the moody cartoonist she fell in love with during college, a past version of the current Neal. This magical plot device allows Georgie to investigate what drove her and Neal apart in flashbacks, and consider whether they were ever truly happy. Rowell is, as always, a fluent and enjoyable writer—the pages whip by. Still, something about the relationship between Georgie and Neal feels hollow, like it’s missing the complexity of adult love, despite the plot’s special effects. First printing of 100,000.

May 15, 2014
A marriage in crisis, a magical intervention and a bittersweet choice. TV writer Georgie McCool is trying to have it all, but it becomes clear that she's failing when her husband, Neal, heads to Nebraska for a family Christmas with their kids-without her. The career opportunity of a lifetime has appeared, but now her marriage may be ending as a result. What seems to be the setup for just another contemporary novel about midlife struggles takes a near-paranormal turn when Georgie finds a way to talk to Neal, but he's not the Neal who's just left her. Instead, she's talking to him in the past, right before they got engaged. As the days leading up to Christmas tick by, and Georgie goes back and forth between talking to the Neal she fell in love with and avoiding her rapidly crumbling current life, she starts to realize that she might be able to undo the complications of the present and has to decide whether she wants to. Though Rowell started her career writing adult fiction (Attachments, 2011), she leaped up the best-seller lists with teen novels that adults love too (Fangirl, 2013; Eleanor & Park, 2013); in this book, she's taken the romantic excitement of great contemporary teen literature and applied it to a more mature story, examining whether the blush of first love explored so memorably in Eleanor & Park is enough to keep a couple together forever. Her characters are instantly lovable, and the story moves quickly and only a little predictably-the ending manages to surprise and satisfy all at once. Though some teens might not be interested in the story, adult fans will love Rowell's return to a story close to their hearts.The realities of a grown-up relationship are leavened by the buoyancy and wonder of falling in love all over again.

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Starred review from May 1, 2014

The New York Times best-selling author of Eleanor & Park and Fangirl makes a leap back to the world of adult relationships we last saw in her Attachments. Georgie McCool (her husband Neal didn't want her to change her killer name, either) writes with her best friend/writing soul mate, Seth, for a TV show, but they've just sold the program of their dreams to a network--as long as they can deliver four episodes by December 27. When she's supposed to be in Nebraska. With her family. For Christmas. After Neal takes the girls to Nebraska without her, Georgie's world begins to crumble. Neal seems to be dodging all of her calls until she starts phoning to the old rotary phone in her mother's house--and finds an odd connection to the past. Georgie's progress with her writing stalls as she tries to figure out her past, present, and future. VERDICT While the topic might have changed, this is still Rowell--reading her work feels like listening to your hilariously insightful best friend tell her best stories. [See "Editors' Spring Picks," LJ 2/15/14; national tour; library marketing.]--Julie Kane, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., VA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 28, 2014
Rowell’s touching romance has a supernatural twist, a telephonic portal that allows TV comedy writer Georgie to time travel back and forth from the present day to the period before she was married using a vintage rotary-dial telephone. Georgie and her husband, Neal, are struggling in their marriage at the beginning of the book. Georgie forgoes the family Christmas vacation to stay behind for work, while Neal, whose understated irritation is deftly implied by narrator Lowman, takes the planned trip with the kids. When Georgie can’t reach Neal, she discovers a magic landline that allows her present-day self to talk to a younger, bachelor version of Neal. Lowman captures the sweetness and vulnerability of their college courtship; there are intimate moments, spoken slowly and seductively, that are lovely and voyeuristic, including the couple’s first kiss. When Georgie coos Neal’s name, the heat is tangible. Lowman nimbly distinguishes between her women characters, capturing their confidence and quirkiness. Neal’s voice can be flat and is less appealing, but he isn’t supposed to be as charismatic as Georgie. Fans will enjoy this fresh take on the time warp. A St. Martin’s hardcover.

"The magic phone becomes Ms. Rowell's way to rewrite 'It's a Wonderful Life'...what that film accomplished with an angel named Clarence, Ms. Rowell accomplishes with a quaint old means of communication, and for her narrative purposes, it really does the trick."