My Goodbye Girl by Anna Gomez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story follows Tessa, an impulsive author with commitment issues who meets Simon, a super-organised scientist who is eager to settle down. They’re both attracted to each other and decide to meet up every now and then in various places around the world until they inevitably fall for each other and each has to decide whether the other is worth giving up what they thought they always wanted. I liked this concept, but I didn’t get attached to the characters until halfway through the book. Neither of them seemed likeable at first, their relationship seemed awkward, it seemed to be purely about sex until the halfway point. At that point, you can see that they truly care for each other and are willing to sacrifice to make the relationship work. Of course, this is when everything changes. I was gripped when reading the second half, finding myself emotionally attached to the characters and not just Tessa and Simon, but Jacob, Riley, Liam, and Will, too. I recommend this book because whilst I didn’t get too attached to the romance aspect of this book – which is probably for personal reasons, and so a lot of readers will probably not agree with my opinion – the grief aspect had me in tears, and I could not put it down once I got to part two. I even cried through the acknowledgements. I also have to commend Anna’s ability to switch from past to present tense, and her portrayal of grief. I would love to read more about Riley and Jacob’s story. “Unfortunately, time is temporary. It passes. You have to live with what you have here and now. Contentment, acceptance—these things are hard to come by. But if you spend your life living in the past, you’ll never be able to truly appreciate the present.

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