The Story of Us Paperback – March 19, 2013

“Love was such a delicate thing, requiring tissue-paper touch and the safest place, yet there it was out in the real world, where it got battered by storms of ill will and bad circumstances and demons of your own or of other people. Love didn’t stand a chance.”I have read more than twenty books in the last several months, and ‘The Story of Us’ is the best thing I have read. In case my mere word is not enough, I will use this example to make my point: I actually skipped my entire lunchtime at work in order to continue reading this book. In the last several chapters as everything was coming to an end, after having walked the journey alongside these characters, I began to sob. I cried so hard that I couldn’t see the words on the pages. It was a bittersweet kind of ending for me; I hate saying goodbye to things that matter to me, just as main character Cricket does. We had that in common. We had many, many things in common. She became a friend. That’s what Deb Caletti accomplishes whenever she writes. She doesn’t give us characters and stories, she gives us friends and journeys that we don’t want to end.Cricket struggles with the same thing: this fear of change, of letting go and moving on. Some people may be able to leap right into change, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t all a bit weary of it. As I said before, I related to Cricket. I shared her values, her love for family, I even had her same quirks. There are parts of Cricket that we all can relate to – something familiar within her. We not only live this story with her, but as part of her. Caletti gives us all the opportunity to reflect on our own lives and overcomes our own challenges on this journey with Cricket. We remember what it felt like to be 18 years old, and younger. We remember what it feels like to grow up. We know what it feels like to learn about love – the good, the bad, the confusion, and the comfort. We are reminded that love – and all that it is – is what connects each moment, is what writes the stories of our lives.I fell in love with Cricket, her family, and her dog Jupiter from the moment I met them. I was instantly wrapped up in their world, experiencing their lives, creating moments that would become part of mine. And Jupiter… she became my best friend. She’ll become yours. Dogs are so easy to love. Because they love us back without any hesitation. Cricket discusses this – the love of dogs – with each letter she writes to her own true love. And Jupiter helps her – helps US – strive to love in the same way, without any reservation.Without saying too much, I will simply say that this book is not just a book. It is a story that has become a part of my life, and one that will inevitably become part of yours.Live, learn, love, and love again.

My feelings about Deb Caletti's newest offering, The Story of Us, are divided.On one hand, I really enjoyed the story as I read it... and related to it on a very personal level, having done something very similar to Cricket a year or two ago. On the other hand, there are aspects of this novel that are a bit blurry to me after having only read it a couple days ago.While some aspects of the novel resonated deeply with me, I didn't feel a deep connection to any of the characters, including the main character, Cricket. This is a definite issue and I think it's why the details of the novel failed to stick. The overall story - Cricket's confusion regarding her relationships and her search for herself - was wonderfully done. I truly enjoyed the themes of the novel. The characters and setting, for whatever reason, didn't do it for me. There wasn't an actual event that caused a deeper connection to form between myself and the characters.Caletti is a must-buy author for me, so I now own a copy of The Story of Us... and I don't regret buying it. The writing in this novel is fantastic and I don't feel like reading it was time well spent, but this book isn't one that I'll reread, like Caletti's Stay or The Secret Life of Prince Charming. If you're a Caletti fan or simply a fan of contemporary YA, give The Story of Us a chance, it's worth a read and you may end up loving it!

I generally don't write reviews but after reading this book I felt compelled. After reading this book I am left pondering whether or not I liked the book. There were certain elements that I loved. I loved the central theme of change and trying to figure out where to go from here. My major hang up with the book was the fact that I did not like the ending of the book. I was left baffled by it. A major part of the book was about Cricket and her relationship with her boyfriend. At the end of the book I did not understand where they stood. That might have been the major point by the author but when I read books I need definitive closure. I read books for happy ever afters and feel good moments...I crave good trumping evil and high school sweethearts going the distance. This book did not deliver that and it was a major let down for me.

I have never reviewed a book before, but after reading this book, I felt it was my duty to. I feel like EVERYONE should read this book. Its about home, love and family, but it is so unbelievably beautiful. I enjoy most books I read, I truley do, but I take a lot for me to love every bit of a book. I loved the way the emails with Janssen were set up, how we never hear him actually saw his responses, but we heard his voice through her emails and got to know him through Cricket's memories. I know its amazing book when I don't want to say goodbye to the characters, when things I see in the real world remind me of them. If you think the book is boring, you should start over and try again, becaus this book doesn't spell everything out, it tells you the story, but you still have to figure it out. Ahh I could go on forever and ever, but I will stop myself here. I highly reccomend this book, as a favor to me, it's brilliant author and yourself, please please please read this book! The joy it brings should be shared forever.

I was extremely bored by this book - it seems like the target audience is teenage girls. Hard to care about the relationship between the protagonist and her boyfriend, as young love is not necessarily meant to last. Skipped most of the emails about dogs -found those to be tedious as well. Left thinking at the end, "what was the point of all of that?"

I haven't been able to get into this story, and I am more than half-way through. After her other books, a disappointment.