Read of the Week: How to Love by Katie Cotugno

Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.
After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

Something I have to get off my chest before going on to critique this novel is that I really took a step away from my norm when I decided on reviewing Katie Cotugno’s How To Love. I do not read books about teenage pregnancy. I don’t find it in bad taste, but even the idea of it just rubs off badly on me. I don’t like cringing in horror at the sight of a positive pregnancy test, the sad inevitability of your skinny jeans running four sizes too small five months in, the morning sickness at the start of it all, the endless mood swings, the frantic cravings. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has personally scared me so much as any of this. Now, don’t get me wrong, pregnancy is a beautiful thing, and can also even be in the teen years, but this is just not me. Nope. No, sir. Just can’t do it.

So, let’s try that again.

I do not read books about teenage pregnancy. 

Something, though, felt right about How To Love when I decided I’d take a dip in that deadly shark-infested water. I’d call it a religious out-of-body experience, really.

That, or I may not have been thinking.

Either way, I’d like to thank whatever is going on in the subconscious side of my body because picking this little bitty book is probably one of the best choices I’ve made all year. It’s been a slow year in good books, I’d like to think, but How To Love has restored my faith in the ability of the publishing world to thrive when put in the right hands.

This is not a book about teenage pregnancy. 

How To Love isn’t just some story about a teenage girl’s struggle through pregnancy and life with a newborn, it’s about a girl who’s still discovering herself, even after giving birth; a young woman who still doesn’t know right from wrong, especially where her baby daddy, Sawyer, is concerned. It’s a love story of hope and heartbreak,  redemption and second chances, and definitely brought the waterworks to life more than once.

The characterization and general organization of Cotugno’s debut novel was absolutely fabulous. With each and every page, I found myself falling more and more in love with Reena, Sawyer, and Hannah and the tricky situation they were in. Focusing on the back story as well as the present scenario really put things into perspective and added some drama-slash-mystery along with making the story easier to understand.

There was so much passionate honesty in this novel, that while it wasn’t necessarily heartwarming or a novelty of any sorts, it rang just as true.

Writing was seamless, and surprisingly, lyrical, for a first time novel.

Most of all, How To Love is a book of hope and the ending wasn’t short of it. I liked how it was kept open but generally optimistic, though not bow-wrapped in the least.

As a debut novel, How To Love is beautifully true and an overall achievement, and I can’t wait to see what else Katie may have up her sleeve.

Rating: 10/10

*Thanks to Katie and Balzar + Bray for the advanced copy**