How to Love - Katie Cotugno

How to Love by Katie Cotugno
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): 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.

MY OPINION: ****

This book was really beautifully written and had an amazing plotline and story. The only reason why I would dock a star was because of how long it took me.

At some points, I have to be honest, I was bored and tired of reading the book. It was just kind of tiring at some parts of the book. There were long blocky paragraphs and some of the chapters didn't really fit with the story. However, most of the story was amazing so that made up for the not-so-amazing parts.

Not that it was bad or anything; just a little tad on the opposite side of the spectrum of interesting.

Reena. First, let me just say, her character was unusual and unlike any that I've read before. She was feisty, funny, scary, scared, nervous, annoying, happy, amazing, and cruel at different points in the book (no, not all at once that would be insane). Reena was downright horrible at times; she hurt people and she honestly didn't really seem to care all that much; she was so caught up in her love and lust that she didn't care about how she was hurting others. 

Sawyer. I mean, I generally like the male characters, but this guy was not too likable. I mean, he took drugs, got drunk, had serious anger management, was funny when he was supposed to be serious, and also kind of rude or mean. However, I did like his sweet and caring side, the side where he took care of Hannah or the side where he was nice to Reena.

This book was about Reena, a girl who got herself pregnant at sixteen from a mistake with her boyfriend, Sawyer, who ran away before she could tell him. He left her, abandoned her, ditched her. Then all of a sudden, once she has the baby, he is BACK and ready to make Reena's heart flutter all over again. REENA STOP MAKING YOURSELF LOOK SO WEAK IN FRONT OF A GUY LIKE SAWYER.

Hannah was adorable by the way.

This book had a LOT of stories all mixed together. Allie, Reena's dad, Sawyer's issues, Lydia and Roger, Hannah, etc and at times it got kind of convoluted and confusing. However, I thought that the author handled it well and made an effort to make it all come together.

I would recommend this book to people who like romance novels and who like a messy, gorgeous tale of real life.

Main Character: Reena
Sidekick(s): Sawyer, Hannah, Allie, etc
Villain(s): Life, death, Sawyer (at times), etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: All of this could happen in real life.