It's 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. They both know that the next day, after college graduation, they must go their separate ways. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. As the years go by, Dex adn Em begin to lead separate lives - lives very different from the people they once dreamed they'd become. And yet, unable to let go of that special something that grabbed onto them that first night, an extraordinary relationship develops between the two.
Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day - July 15th - of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.
My thoughts:
Hmmm. This is a book that slowly grew on me. At first, I wasn't really sure I even wanted to finish it, but somewhere along the way, I found myself wanting to find out what would happen to "Dex and Em, Em and Dex". Its a book that I would categorize as a cross between lad lit and chick lit - which is not a bad thing. The writing is engaging and the characters are depicted as flawed and somewhat damaged and the flow of the story is up and down, which is rather representative of the various places in life that "Dex and Em, Em and Dex" are at with each other and in their lives. And let me say, that these two are often at odds with one another with regards to their romantic feelings toward one another and their significant others - which I suppose is typical when you are trying to stretch out the plot of a "will they every get together?" type of story. Admittedly it was rather fun to read about their attempts to find themselves, because I could relate to their dilemma of accepting the fact that what you dreamt about in your youth may not come to fruition as quickly as you wanted or, at all. And yet, I hoped that the time would come when "Dex and Em, Em and Dex" would finally couple up and live happily ever after - Yes, I know, its rather sappy, but I wanted my happy ending. Lo and behold I did not get it, instead I got rather angry with a certain event that occurred towards the end of the story and let me just say that I found myself comparing this tome to those western television shows from back in the day - the ones in which the female characters always die, because after all, you can't have the male leads tied down to one woman, right? UGH! From that point on I found myself looking at this book with disappointment and muttering the word, "Typical." underneath my breath. I thought to myself, that I would rather the two characters remained solid best friends throughout their lives, instead of having them get together - because that was the end of the beginning for them. And though the book ended with a look at how their first day together in 1988 was brought to a close, it also showed us just how much they truly liked each other from the get go - but yet, I still wasn't pleased. Don't get me wrong, this is a book I would recommend, because at the end of the day, it is well written and quite engaging. I just didn't like the bit about the dying. Hmmm. Does make me wonder what anyone else thinks about the death and the way things turned out for "Dex and Em, Em and Dex". Am I the only one who didn't like it?
Anyhow, I'm off to finish The Hunger Games - I finally got hooked and have to keep reading!! Cheers!