Thursday, November 19, 2015

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan


Love and Other Foreign Words
Erin McCahan
Stand Alone
Young Adult Contemporary
ebook, 336 pages
1st May 2014 by Penguin Group 

Goodreads Ratings : 3.9/5
My Rating : 4/5



Can anyone be truly herself--or truly in love--in a language that's not her own?

Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue--the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiancé up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn't always like, and the best friend who hasn't said a word--at least not in a language Josie understands.


Leon of Bookalicious suggested me this book few months ago, saying that this is my type of book. "You will love it," he said. I read the blurb and I replied, "Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know." I wasn't interested at the time. 

Today, 19th November 2015, I decided to give it a try and now all I can say is, "Leon knows me well."

Love and Other Foreign Words is about a girl named Josephine "Josie" who is a 15-going-16 high school girl and also a fast-track college girl (Shes THAT genius.) ((The book will explain to you about her school life)). She has a different view about the world, like genius people would. (Think Don Tillman of The Rosie Project but less weird). Josie loves languages and she has her own way to interpret words and languages. 



“I can speak the languages of lots of groups and learn others with some ease, but no matter how fluent I am, when I'm not speaking Josie, I am merely acting. We all are when we interact outside of our natural cultures. It is inevitable, because it is impossible to be fully yourself in a foreign language.” - Josie



The story starts with Josie who disagrees with her sister Kate over the guy Kate chooses to marry, saying that Kate is making a mistake. She tries to make her sister understands that George with a silent p is the wrong man for her while Kate disagrees and says that Josie knows nothing about love. And now we have a story.

One thing by the way, ISNT THE COVER JUST SCREAMS CUTE ?!!!!

Moving on.

Josie is a weird girl. She sometimes comes of as a genius & funny but other times shes just plainly irritating but tolerable-and-can-still-be-loved kind of irritating. Sometimes shes rude and too much. Its just who she is and she cant help it. Shes not perfect and I get that about her. I feel for her, though. Cant say that she and her feelings are relatable to me but I can definitely feel her. I feel her in every way possible. I understand her heartaches, her curiosity, her frustration, and I understand her when she's completely numb and clueless. I really really love that connection between me and Josie. 

I love almost all characters in this book. I love Stu (can i have a Stu too, please?), Kate, Maggie, Ross and Sophie. I love the dynamic between Josie&Stu, Josie&Kate, Ross&Maggie&Josie, Josie&Sophie, Stu&Sophie. They totally spiced up the book even more! 


The ending is totally predictable!!! And I really really love it!!!! But I especially love how the author made it seems oblivious yet so obvious with the right amount of sweetness. Its very natural and not so suddenly thrown, if you get me. 

I love love love how the author connects the title of the book with the content of it. Love and Other Foreign Words. This book discusses all the 'foreign' words there is in the most creative way. Most importantly, this book discusses the topic love itself brilliantly because 'love' means A LOT of things. Romantic-love is one thing but family-love and sisterhood-love is another and both parts are excellently delivered by the author.

I read this is in the ebook form and I might just buy the physical book soon, or at least when I have the money to do so. In the meantime, I'm gonna private message all of my friends and force them to read this book. I AM FORCING YOU TO READ THIS TOO, in case if you dont realize it yet.


"Sometimes, people think they are in love when they choose to see in ties, none of the bad ones-- only the qualities they most admire, none of the flaws or the obstacles. “Good becomes perfect, but perfect is an illusion. And illusions are like all spells—temporary and soon broken. And when that happens, feelings change.”

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