Attachments - Rainbow Rowell

Attachments by Rae Carson
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction/Romance

Blurb (on back of book): A strikingly clever and deeply moving story about falling in love with the person who makes you feel like the best version of yourself, even if it's someone you've never met.

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder, coworkers at The Courier, know the newspaper monitors their office e-mail. But they still spend all day sending each other messages, gossiping about their coworkers, and baring their personal lives like an open book. Jennifer tells Beth everything she can't seem to tell her husband about her anxieties over starting a family. And Beth tells Jennifer everything, period.
Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill still can't believe that its his job to monitor other people's e-mail. When he applied to be an Internet security officer, he pictured himself protecting the newspaper from dangerous hackers—not sending out memos every time somebody in Accounting forwarded an off-color joke to the person in the next cubicle.
Lincoln is supposed to turn people in for misusing company e-mail, but he can't quite bring himself to crack down on Beth and Jennifer. He can't help being entertained—and captivated—by their stories. But by the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late for him to ever introduce himself. What would he say to her? "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you?"
With snapping dialogue and irresistible charm, Rainbow Rowell transforms an ordinary IT guy into a lovable and endearing romantic hero and proves that falling in love never happens the way you plan it. Written with whip-smart precision and charm, Attachments is a fresh and energetic debut that marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in fiction.

MY OPINION: ****

Longest blurb ever! And I even found a mistake in it! (If you get the hardcover book, see if you can find the mistake too!).

Anyways, I don't really like that blurb. So here is my own version.

Basically, there is this guy who reads other people's email. It's his job to make sure that nobody misuses the email. This guy basically doesn't have a life. No girl, lives with his mom, works nights. He starts to read these two girl's emails after they keep getting flagged, and he never sends them a warning because he starts to enjoy reading it. He knows that it's wrong, but he can't bring himself to stop. He soon falls in love with Beth, one of the email writers, just because of what she writes about her life. He hasn't seen her, he doesn't know who she is, but he loves her.

Soon, Beth starts to notice him, but he never sees her. She doesn't know who he is, what his job is, or anything. But she nicknames him, stalks him, and basically develops a crush on him. The only problem is, she already has a boyfriend who is amazing at some points in life, and invisible at others. Beth spills all of these problems to Jennifer via email, and Jennifer responds back with her problems in life, what with a husband who wants a family. But Jennifer doesn't want kids!

Yeah, so that is what the book is about.

The reason I didn't give this a five stars is because it is not what I have come to expect of Rainbow Rowell. I know that this is her first novel, but it isn't like Fangirl or Eleanor and Park. I expected it to be similar, but this novel was definitely different. The writing style was definitely changed. The book was good through and through, though.

Lincoln was not my favorite character. He sort of got on me because he refused to do anything with his life. I have to say, I agree with Eve, his sister, about his life, but I didn't particularly like Eve either. I think that Lincoln could have done something about his own life, made it better. When he moved out, that was definitely a step forward. But he didn't even tell his own mother!

Beth was so funny in her emails. I can see why Lincoln liked her. She listed all of her problems, and although they were just sad, I liked reading them and stuff. I felt kind of like I was invading her privacy with Lincoln. That's how real her emails and her character seemed.

Jennifer was definitely more serious. I liked her character and how she was really empathetic, understood Beth, and had a good relationship with her husband. Well, kind of. Mitch was never really drawn upon except in emails, but he sounded nice, but also needy. He just really wanted kids.

SPOILER ALERT

When Jennifer finally got pregnant, she was so mean to the baby. I feel as if she was trying to get rid of it! Then it died. Then she was sad and felt guilt. I feel as if this wasn't what readers would expect. She shouldn't be happy. But it still kind of was her fault. Even if it wasn't completely open.

Doris was a funny character. I liked her. She was an old foodie who shared her stories and life with the guy who read other people's emails. Ha. Not what I would expect. I liked Doris a lot because of what she did. She shared stories and basically befriended Lincoln.

D & D, or Dungeons and Dragons, was actually a nice element to this book. It was what you would expect of Lincoln to do on the weekend, not drink or go to a bar. I think that the people who played with him were actual friends, and really cared about what Lincoln did with his life.

Chris was so annoying! I mean, he was described as a gorgeous singer, but I always imagine him as that guy who talks to no one, refuses to date, and always is sitting by himself. Oh, wait. That's Lincoln. UGH.

But Chris really got on me. What kind of boyfriend was he?

At a wedding, telling your girlfriend you're never going to get married to her or basically anyone, but mostly just her, is a terrible idea. I would have dumped this guy before he had the chance to say such things to me! Like, listen to him! Just...just...JLFJAFIJELFL:JFPJA:EFJ

I've never done that before. Hmm, maybe I should do it more often!

My favorite character was probably Beth, only because she struck me as the type of person who was friendly, pretty, attractive, and someone who really was a good person deep down. Someone who had a heart. I liked Jennifer as well, but Beth really took the trophy for favorite of them all.

I liked the emails. It was fun to read, was different from other books, and definitely told a story. Which is what you need in every book. I think that between Lincoln chapters and email chapters, I would have to say that I liked reading the emails better. Even if it felt wrong.

I can really empathize with Lincoln as to why he hated his job. I understand that he felt it was wrong. I think that's because while he's reading it in the book, we, as readers, are reading it all in real life.

Amazing story. I loved it.

I would recommend this book to YA readers who like a different look at love and life.

Main Character: Lincoln, Beth, Jennifer
Sidekick(s): Doris, Eve, Chris, Mitch, etc
Villain(s): Invisibility, jobs, life, etc
Realistic Fiction/Romance Elements: All of this could happen in real life, though it does not mean that it will. This was a romance. Just read it and you'll know.

*Sorry for short review.
**Sorry for so many email send outs. Blogger was acting up and I had to keep updating. Sorry!