This Love Story Will Self-Destruct is the first book I've read by this author, but it won't be the last. I greatly enjoyed this story that follows Eve and Ben throughout college and beyond. There were so many places where this could have turned into a woe-is-me, overwrought, overthought book on dating, but it didn't. It was fun, held my interest and had very likable characters. I loved the descriptions of the various neighborhoods in NYC also.

There's so much to like about this book and it does not follow the typical boy meets girl storyline. Check it out! You'll be glad you did.

Thanks go to Ms. Cohen, the publisher and Netgalley for an early copy.

Look at the title.

Despite that, I was pleased with the ending.

Intrigued now?

This is certainly not your typical rom-com (notice I didn't just say romance). There's of course boy-meets-girl, only in this case it's more like boy-has-always-been-around-and-girl-never-really-noticed-him-until-one-day-at-a-Japanese-circus.

Recent history has become more prevalent in fiction as of late and, since this story takes place in New York, 9/11 plays a significant part in the relationship and connection between the two main characters. Starting in 2005, this story begins at the end of their senior year of college. Told from both Eve and Ben's perspectives, I was rooting for these two from the first mention of Ben's name in a 2005 chapter told by Eve, though at that point the mention was very much in passing. (Eve was quite focused on another guy at the time.) As time goes on, Eve and Ben are brought together and pulled apart. They're drawn to each other.

In essence, this book is about relationship development, and the maturing of said relationships, but also the maturing of the individuals in those relationships. We all grow older and, unfortunately, we can't stay in our senior year of college forever. (Much to my dismay.)

Three great lines:
-"It should be illegal for two English majors to date each other."
-"'You're the only one I know who wears metaphorical pajamas.'"
-"'Do you have any large chunks of wood lying around?'"

This isn't typically the type of book I choose to read. It's about a young woman, Eve, and her trying to find herself in life. She struggles with being with the right guy....and all her issues/quirkiness that prevent her from being happy. Then there's Ben, a very structured guy, who has been in her life but basically in the background. The story is about how the two are drawn together and then the struggles to stay together. This wasn't really a story I could get into that much....more for a younger audience than I am, I felt. I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

An inventine rom-com plotline with good writing, but it had a very slow start that caused me to struggle a bit to get into it and into the characters. By the time the love interest was introduced I had already lost any investment in the story.

Boy meets girl, girl doesn’t even acknowledge him on her radar, perhaps because he is reasonably safe, a little bland, not a bad boy? Eve is anything but stable, mature, she is a dreamer, waiting for her dreams to arrive and unfold themselves in front of her. She likes to think she is living life on the edge, but her own thoughts and insecurities keep tripping her up.

Ben is a young man who thrives on order in a chaotic world. He isn’t worthy of Eve’s notice until years later when their paths continue to cross long after they were “out in the world,” and even then, it isn’t some magically, eye-opening experience, but there is something. The pull of opposites attracting? Eve finally deciding to get off the crazy train and grow up just a little? Ben needing to add a pinch of chaos in his orderly world?

Funny how a character can irritate a reader, especially when she is so realistic, shallow, but far too realistic. Eve is that girl who wants to live life in the fast lane, complete with the drama, the bad choices and the ability to do it all in the shallow end of life. She has been damaged by her past, and it becomes her shield, her reason for why she is the way she is, which is often unappreciative (ie: her stepfather and her attitude towards the man).

I wanted to know more about Ben. Being less “volatile or quirky” doesn’t mean he isn’t just as complex.

Love is a funny thing, there is no rhyme or reason, it’s an attraction that just is. Real love doesn’t worry what others think, it isn’t life in the fast 24/7. Will Eve learn this before it is too late? Perhaps she will never find that “perfect love,” perhaps she will find what she needs as opposed to what she thinks she wants. Will Ben be there to cross her path one more time?

THIS LOVE STORY WILL SELF-DESTRUCT by Leslie Cohen is superbly written, there is no doubt that Ms. Cohen is a gifted wordsmith. She did evoke emotions from me, not sure all were good ones, but I was drawn in, partly because I needed to hope I could find that missing connection, that AHA moment when everything made sense and I could return to reality feeling settled, feeling I could like BOTH main characters. It didn’t happen, but maybe it’s just me, because I DO like Leslie Cohen’s sense of writing style, sharp, edgy and strong enough to create a world where not everyone feels warm and fuzzy.

I received an ARC edition from Gallery Books in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Publisher: Gallery Books (January 23, 2018)
Publication Date: January 23, 2018
Genre: Fiction | Domestic Life
Print Length: 336 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

This book was definitely messy. But in the way real world and real lives are messy. Nothing was sugarcoated here and I appreciate the author's approach to this love story.

When I first began the book, I admit that it did start off slow. I wasn't sure where it was going with Eve because she was clearly in a very bad place. She had a tragic childhood and was barely holding it together. And then we met Ben. Ben started to smooth the story out. Just as Eve was a whirlwind of emotions, Ben was her complete opposite. He was contemplative and logical but most of all, he was patient.

If there was one type of relationship that I would root for to work out for the long haul, it would definitely be this type. I enjoyed following the good, the bad, the misunderstanding, the self-destructive behavior, and all of the other pieces of the puzzles that seemed like they didn't belong, but somehow fit.

This is not your typical sappy love story and for that, it may just be one of my favorite books of 2017.

(Full Disclosure: I received a free eGalley of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review).

This Love Story Will Self-Destruct is definitely the kind of book I gravitate to: Recent college grads navigating their young adult lives, falling in love, and learning who they are over the years. I admit that when I initially saw it, I immediately fell in love because of the cover, but then when I saw the comparison to One Day, I knew I would actually like it. And I did!

I love how we hear about Ben at the beginning of the book, but don't really meet him in a meaningful way until much later. This kept me turning the pages and wondering what role Jesse would be playing as the story went one. I also love how Evie's 9/11 story is woven in without having it overtake the novel. The book is really well-written and the characters will likely pull you in, even if you don't totally love them.

I didn't love some of the cliche things that happened in the book (I don't want to spoil!), though I appreciate they were done in a bit of a different way. She's a really well-done character, but Evie's behavior made me cringe at times. I related to her in many ways, but she's a little too emotional and over-the-top in many instances. There were several times throughout the book where I wanted to shake her and tell her to calm down and appreciate her life. I really, really liked Ben, but also wanted to shake him a couple times (how could he think not immediately telling her about their little "coincidence" was a good idea??).

I read this book in less than two days because I couldn't seem to stop turning the pages. I was super invested in Evie and Ben's story and was sad I had to leave them at the end of the book.

I'm afraid Ben lost me instantly, in the prologue, by saying Eve has 20 irrational thoughts for every rational one. What a pompous dickbag. And this is supposed to be written *after* they're together, looking back at their story. I would be mortified if my husband said something like that about me. And then I'd leave him. I wanted to find Eve and warn her away, not root for the two of them to get together.

And while I should have instantly become Eve's biggest champion after that crack, she annoyed me, too. I couldn't get into the writing style. I wound up putting the book down very early on, with no interest in reading the rest.

This book was not for me. There were some great moments, but I felt like it took too long to get the plot started. I felt there was too much telling vs. showing, which relies too heavily on the characters' voices. I had high hopes for this, but it left me wanting more.

This wasn’t my favorite book to read. The beginning is kind of jumbled up but when I got about halfway, I wanted to see what was going to happen.

One of my first problems with the book is that Eve told her boyfriend at the beginning of the book that her mother died when she was 10. The book is broken up into timeframes and in one of the flashbacks to when she was younger, she kept growing older and older and her mother was still alive. For some reason, that was sitting in the back of my head as I read.

The two characters, Eve and Ben, are very different and ultimately end up together and it works as it so often does in real life. They knew each other throughout college but only peripherally as they went to the same parties and hung around with the same people.

This story is about how two unlikely mates find each other. I’m glad I finished the book so I could see Eve and Ben end up together.

This book follows something of a nontraditional structure for romance. The book opens with a brief narration from each character about their relationship, then flashes back to where the story began. This makes it immediately obvious who ends up with who.

As a result, the period of time where one character is actively dating someone else felt in many ways like a weird waste of time. For a while, I found this frustrating,, but as I kept going I saw the value of character development and laying the seeds for future plot points.

The back-and-forth narration between main characters Eve and Ben worked fairly well and the voices were distinct. It was fun getting both sides of the story, which isn’t as common (though certainly not unheard of) in a love story. The choice to bring Ben’s narration back only around the halfway point was a bit of an odd one, and I do wish we’d gotten to see a bit more of what he was doing for the beginning of the book so that his character was developed as well as Eve’s.

There were a few times when I thought I could predict the plot, but Cohen surprised me and took things in different directions than I expected. This made the book a refreshing and engaging read. For a debut especially, I was quite impressed with This Love Story Will Self-Destruct and definitely recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a love story with a less typical structure.

I cannot resist a book with well developed characters. When those well developed characters are funny.... that is a winning combination and the book gets high praise from this reviewer. This is one of those books. Girl meets boy, girl dates boy, relationship implodes. Girl struggles to get over boy. New boy enters the picture.... readers wish hard for a happy ending.... but the story does not end there! I cannot say much more without giving too much away. Here's what I can tell you... read this book!!! It's really good, but ends way too soon!

This Love Story Will Self-Destruct is being called the When Harry Met Sally for the 21st Century. While there are some similarities, (both are about two college graduate acquaintances living in New York City) there are distinct differences. This Love Story Will Self-Destruct is grittier and darker than it's counterpart. Eve and Ben cross paths occasionally as students at Columbia University and in the early years after graduation, but it is not until mid way through the book that sparks begin to fly. Eve's life has been filled with abandonment (both voluntary and involuntary-there is a very sad subplot to the story) and this makes her pursue the wrong men and push the right ones away. The hyphen in "Self-Destruct" gives you a clue as to how Eve expects her relationships to end. Eve is quirky, spontaneous and flighty (she frets over how a single sock feels if it's mate gets lost in the wash), while engineer Ben is more analytical, logical and predictable. A match like this should be a recipe for disaster, but it is their differences that Ben finds most appealing. But eventually Eve does something to "self destruct" her relationship with Ben, and their future hangs in the balance. Leslie Cohen writes with the wisdom of one who has gone through the angst and joy of finding true love. Her dialogue is quick and crisp, and you can feel the pulse of New York City even if you've never been there. This Love Story Will Self Destruct is a thoroughly modern take on a tale as old as time.

Thank you Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book. There was a part in the middle when Eve and Ben were getting together when I was absolutely in love with this book. The beginning drew me in and I read the whole thing in a day, but the Jesse part in the beginning was so depressing in a cliche way. It did set a good contrast to the Ben part. Then the ending also felt kind of cliche and didn't pack the same punch as the middle and kind of dragged on but also I love Ben and Eve and I think that dominates my feelings for this book. Also, after reading the about the author page I have to question what percentage of this book was autobiographical. Just because I'm curious and nosy and a journalist, haha.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not even sure where to begin with a review for this book. I didn't like the story, the writing was just okay, characters other than Eve and Ben had little to no development so you never got invested in any of them. Ben's character wasn't introduced until half way through the book (which seemed to drag and take forever to get to) and even then his character needed much more detail to stand as a main character. Eve was not a believable or likable character. So there you have it. Some of the descriptions of New York were good.

I almost abandoned this book on several occasions but since it was an ARC copy felt obligated to finish it and give it an honest review.

I had high hopes for this story and was sadly disappointed. Many reviewers liked it, so I guess it just wasn't my kind of book.

This Love Story Will Self-Destruct by Leslie Cohen started off rough for me. In Chapter 1, Eve is everything I hate. Living in an amazing apartment/dorm in New York City with her friends and barely appreciating it, being borderline disrespectful to people she deems unimportant, and partying her life away. If I would have stopped reading after the first chapter, I wouldn't have seen her develop into the complex, beautiful, and flawed character she actually is. And I wouldn't have gotten to see the relationship that develops between Eve and Ben.

Synopsis:
This is the classic tale of boy meets girl: Girl…goes home with someone else. Meet Eve. She’s a dreamer, a feeler, a well of sensitivities who can’t quite keep her feet on the ground, or steer clear of trouble. She’s a laugher, a crier, a quirky and quick-witted bleeding-heart-worrier. Meet Ben. He’s an engineer, an expert at leveling floors who likes order, structure, and straight lines. He doesn’t opine, he doesn’t ruminate, he doesn’t simmer until he boils over.

So naturally, when the two first cross paths, sparks don’t exactly fly. But then they meet again. And again. And then, finally, they find themselves with a deep yet fragile connection that will change the course of their relationship—possibly forever. 

This book won me over with backstory and with how it's formatted. Like many of my beloved books, this book splits each chapter between the two main characters. We are either looking at what is happening from Eve's point of view or Ben's point of view. I love when authors do this and do it successfully. It is done fairly successfully here. There are a few points in the book that I thought should have been covered by both points of view, but were only covered by one but we will get to that later. This type of formatting allows the reader to really get to know two characters when in a normal, straightforward format, we would only get to see through the eyes of one character.

The backstory. It is almost perfect. Eve's backstory makes her character and I don't see that as a bad thing. We get to understand why Eve does the things she does and why she thinks the way she thinks. Through the backstory, we get to see how Eve's mother ends up dying.and how (and why) that deeply affects Eve and her life. 

Ben also has an intriguing backstory. How his backstory ties in with Eve's is surprising but not cliche. We learn less about Ben from his backstory, but I think that is because Ben is less complex than Eve or less of what people would probably term weird. (Eve does things and thinks things that I related to immensely, but through other people's eyes, I could see some people  thinking it's weird). Ben finds Eve more interesting than weird and once he finds out the connection they have, he is drawn to her. I don't even think he understands completely why. Ben is very much the pragmatic one of the two. He is a structural engineer who is working on the Freedom Tower in remembrance of September 11th. He notices architecture and how things are built all the time. There are several points in the book where he actively admires how a building, a bridge, and a subway tunnel is put together. The interesting and unique details are what help shape these characters.

Finally, Jesse. Jesse is Eve's first boyfriend we meet in the book. Jesse isn't meant to be likable. I like how he is presented in the story and how he is shown through Eve's eyes as toxic. We, the reader, get that he is bad for Eve, but we are also made to see why she might find him acceptable for her. I thought their relationship was really well written in its complexity. Eve is in her early 20s when she meets and gets in a relationship with Jesse and it makes sense that as she grows older with him, she starts to realize how fucked up their relationship is and how she needs to get out of it. I just found it to be sad but very well done.

Okay, that was the good, now the not so good.

I feel the story needs more Ben. More about him. More explanation of why he is the way he is because we get SO much with Eve. Yes, we get parts of his backstory. We learn what happens with his family, but it doesn't feel like enough. He is portrayed as the logical/rational counterpart to Eve but, based on the very fact that he is in love with her, there is clearly more to him than just being the "straight man". I think one point where we could have learned a lot about him is when he finds out Eve cheated on him (she kisses a dude). She calls him and tells him this, but we only get to see it from her point of view. We don't get back to Ben's point of view until much later and I think seeing that moment through Ben's eyes or at least some of the moments after that would have been really beneficial to getting to know Ben.

Next, Eve's friends. I hated all of them. None of them seemed to be really interested in Eve. They seemed quite self-absorbed. Yes, they questioned Eve on her dating history and how she goes towards guys who are not good for her, but they were never really there for her. They were in a ton of scenes but they didn't have much of a purpose beyond being someone for Eve to talk to about whatever (her job, Colorado, their lives, boys, etc.).  I mixed up which friend was which constantly; they weren't really unique.. They felt like placeholder characters, if that makes sense. They could have been anyone. Ben's friends were the opposite. Well, one of them was. Glick is one of Ben's friends and he reminded me of Dustin from Stranger things. He is very much the clown of the group, the acceptable obnoxious one (except he's in his late 20s, so he is pushing it). He is imperative for the story to move forward the way it does, especially at one very crucial moment. Of all the characters that aren't Even and Ben, Glick and Eve's sister, Emma, are the only two that stand out for me.

One last thing I think I should mention is that Eve is a privileged white girl AKA she describes people in terms of their race at least once and she says/thinks problematic things at times. I got some Girls-vibes from her but not as much as I have with other characters. She is lovable, but she's got problems she needs to work on too.

If I am rating This Love Story Will Self-Destruct on a five-star scale, I would give it 3.5 stars. Good, but can still do better. Probably my favorite scene in the whole book was when Eve goes over to her Dad's house with Ben. It is just so painfully awkward and just really good. It is well-written, shows Eve's inner thoughts perfectly, and just another great way the readers get to know Eve by being shown instead of told.

This Love Story Will Self-Destruct comes out on January 23, 2018

Thank you, NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow you guys. Is Gallery books sure this is Leslie Cohen's debut novel? In all seriousness this book was written will outstanding talent. I didn't know about this book right away. I actually got it as an email from NetGalley. Most of the time, I dismiss these types of emails, but for some reason I clicked on this one and I immediately fell in love. I went on to request it right away. I couldn't wait to get some time to read this. Once I did..I was HOOKED. So thank you NetGalley, Gallery Publishers, Simon&Schuster, and whomever else involved. I absolutely loved this novel.

Okay, so obviously with the synopsis we meet Eve and Ben. In actuality they aren't together until maybe 30-40% of the book. While a part of me is always anticipating the immediate romance between characters, I actually enjoyed the character buildup of Eve. I didn't enjoy her involvement in drug use (I'm just not that type of person...) but I get some people are and I respected that for the story's sake. I really felt like we were witnessing Eve grow up and adapt to who she was truly meant to be. I do wish we had that sense of closure between Eve and her biological dad like we did between Eve and her step-dad, but that definitely was not a deal-breaker for me.

I feel like TLSWSD touches deep in the heart of us somewhere. The dramatics really ground this book and give it that "real" moment, those "real" feelings, and that "raw" emotion that gives us that "ah ha!" moment.



Anyways, TLSWSD was quirky, fun, passionate, funny, and at times dramatic when it needed to be. The cover is enticing, the character development of Eve was superb, the funny cute quotes (which I can't quote at this time) were super cute and funny. It gave us something to life the spirits of some of the heaviness inside. This book was great.

Would I recommend this book to a friend? You better believe I would.

I may have connected with this book because I feel like I can relate to Eve in a way. When I read books like this, it's always easy to throw yourself in one's shoes. Eve made that easy for us to do because she is a girl, on her own, struggling to become who she wants to be in a world that has made it difficult to do. She makes mistakes, she makes rash judgments, she owns up to them, she tries to make herself better. She tries. She's determined. A brilliant way to read of "coming of age" if you will.



This wasn't a book about Ben..or he would be on the cover. This book wouldn't be called This Love Story Will Self Destruct, it would be called something like This Love Story Won't Be Allowed To Self Destruct.. Ben wasn't some overbearing guy who made Eve feel like she had to be someone she wasn't. They saw each other throughout college, but never really had the opportunity to know one another. Once they do, it was so normal for them to be in company of themselves that it felt normal. Ben didn't ask Eve to change, didn't keep her from anything. He truly let her be herself and grow! I loved that. GO BEN!

This Love Story Will Self-Destruct Releases January 23, 2018! Make sure you pencil this release in because it is one you won't want to forget. A great start to your New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend you Guys!

Much Much Much Love,

DauntlessReading

This was a sweet story that had very believable characters and the gorgeously described setting of NYC.

An enjoyable read about navigating into adulthood. Eve and Ben exist on the periphery of each other's lives through college and into adulthood with mutual friends until one night they notice each other. Eve is afraid to let Ben in because she's afraid she will self destruct their relationship. Slowly Ben works his way into her life until she does something foolish. A story of letting go, growing up, and deciding to let go of fear and live life.

In some way, this book is what real life is about for college kids in Manhattan. NYC is a tough place to live in; it's gritty, it's fast-paced, it's exhilarating and very lonely. In that respect I felt very connected to the story.

Eve's story is strewn with flashbacks to her childhood years, to when her father left, to when her mother died, to times with her sister and their step-father. It's also packed with her thoughts and intentions. I must confess that throughout a lot of her POV I found her a little overbearing, over analyzing everything and a little nuts. I mean, who the hell personifies clothes?

Then there's Ben who I loved instantly. I adored his thirst for knowledge, his analytical approach, his saneness. And weirdly enough, while Eve annoyed me, I loved the way he was drawn to her, even in the beginning - when they only found themselves in the same places without anything in common.

Surprisingly, a lot is going on in this book - besides the fact that almost everything the book touches has something to do with 9/11, there's a great deal of loss, for both Eve and Ben, confusion that's altering their lives paths, and their emotions are all over the place at times.

I must admit, I found the story a little odd. It might be Eve's inner ramblings, but the plot felt like it stretched a bit too much. I feel like I'd have loved it a lot more if I read it at another time.