From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist missed connection post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City.

i enjoyed how easy this book was to read and how i flowed through it so incredibly fast. these characters made me swoon and ache with anger, almost equally. a key plot point that plays into this book is miscommunication but i believe as humans, the reason we don’t like to read about this is because it’s so realistic. we miscommunicate everyday. things get lost in translation and there’s missed opportunities. so when reading over the fact that the main character’s lost 15 years worth of time due to that (and that psycho crazy bitch iykyk) it reminds us that we are, in fact, humans. flawed humans. 🥲 Such a beautiful,sweet,heartbroken,intense and emotional story!!I didn't want to finish it!It felt so realistic and unique and I had so many feelings while I was reading it!This story touched me in so many ways that there are moments that I was crying and other moments where I was smiling and swooning because I was so happy!The story is told both in the present and in the past and this made me feel so inside the story,like I was with Grace and Matt! Three seconds doesn’t seem like a long time, but when you’re gazing into someone’s eyes, it’s long enough to make a silent promise.” The present is our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking. It’s the only free gift the universe has to offer. The past doesn’t belong to us anymore, and the future is just a fantasy, never guaranteed. But the present is ours to own. The only way we can realize that fantasy is if we embrace the now.” First love...all the tangled emotions that come with it.The hopes,the dreams,the insecurities but because you love so hard you firmly believe in the future...

The story draws on events that occurred as part of the political violence that led to the overthrow of Cuban dictator Gerardo Machado y Morales in 1933. In 1932, a violent opposition group, the ABC ( abecedarios), assassinated the President of the Cuban Senate Clemente Vazquez Bello. They had constructed a tunnel to reach the Vazquez family crypt in Havana's Colón Cemetery and planted an explosive device there, anticipating that Machado would attend the funeral. The plan failed when the family decided to bury Vazquez elsewhere. [1]

And in that moment, you realize how little control you have over your own destiny. From the time you're born, you have no control; you can't choose your parents, and, unless you're suicidal, you can't choose your death. The only thing you can do is choose the person you love, be kind to others, and make your brutally short stint on earth as pleasant as possible.” There were things I loved about the present as well. Aside from the miscommunication, it was great to see Grace and Matt reconnect again. They are both endearing characters. I love how they both never had anything like their first love. Their love for each other. It’s a romantic concept. Falling fast and hard and never truly moving on from the first love, the love of your life. Throughout the book, I rooted for these two. I desperately wanted them to have their happy ending.Grace is yet again the "omg I am totally not pretty and guys do not notice me at all" 🥺🥺🥺 when she is the most gorgeous person on this planet and I just do not vibe with stuff like that at all. but this is getting a high rating because it made me feel things. i wasn’t reading this to “escape from reality” as the entire book was a form of realism. so i went into it with an opened mind. 😃 Everything after they met again for the first time. Grace forgives him right away and never not once questions why he didn't ask his mom about her. His daughter for some reason who btw is a 15yo teenager just completely accepts everything, even him being mad at her mom. Dan got the worst card in this book. This lady knows how to write pure romance and infinite love. She writes about seemingly real people with realistic plots. No fluff, no bull! Before We Were Strangers was sheer perfection! It is a timeless and epic love story... This book has it all. DO NOT MISS THIS ONE! Fabulous job Renee. You are one of the great ones! Keep going... -- Blushing Babes are Up All Night

Watching these two fall in love was a thrilling experience. I fell head over heels with these two characters. They were so well written, complex and carried such depth. There was this whimsical feeling that made you feel just as carefree as these two souls as they had the world at their feet. A young love, rich in feeling even if they were managing to get by with just the bare essentials. I stopped and faced him at the top of the steps going down. “Scott, this conversation is wrong in so many ways. Let’s just end it here, okay?” From the time you’re born, you have no control; you can’t choose your parents, and, unless you’re suicidal, you can’t choose your death. The only thing you can do is choose the person you love, be kind to others, and make your brutally short stint on earth as pleasant as possible.” Just a little side-note too, I thought the cover and title of this book were gorgeous but after reading it realize just how amazing they really are.

Once the two are finally together everything is smooth sailing but their relationship is kind of in limbo. He accepts a National Geographic photography internship out of the country for 3 months and never even considered her at all when saying yes. At this point they are in a relationship and he claims to be so in love with her. Wtf? So we are expected to accept this as romance when the hero doesn’t even give a damn to tell the love of his life he’s planning on leaving? Bearded, bad-boy barber Knox prefers to live his life the way he takes his coffee: Alone. Unless you count his basset hound, Waylon.

Mesmerizing. Intoxicating. Heartbreaking. Before We Were Strangers was everything I love about reading. I was completely enthralled by Grace and Matt’s story that I was unaware of everything that was going on around me… This story will stay with me forever… This is one I could reread every year.” Time passes, life goes on, places change, people change. And still, I couldn’t get Grace off my mind after seeing her… Fifteen years is too long to be holding on to a few heart-pounding moments from college.Before We Were Strangers is easily one of my favorite books of 2015... Renee Carlino's writing is effortless, and the story is engrossing and intensely poignant... This book is so skillfully crafted it can be considered both a New Adult and an Adult Contemporary novel. It's a friends-to-lovers story as well as a second chance romance... This is the first book I've read by Renee Carlino, but it certainly won't be my last. -- The Book Geek Renée grew up in California and lives in the San Diego area with her husband, two sons and their sweet pup John Snow Cash. Before We Were Strangers was a stunningly beautiful story. I would go so far as to say that it is in my top favorite second chance at romance stories… 5 Serendipitous, Sweet Passionate Love, Soulmates Forever Filled Stars!" Madsen, Axel (1978). John Huston: A Biography. Doubleday. pp.96ff. ISBN 9781504008587 . Retrieved January 21, 2016. This book is sweet, emotional, sad, heartbreaking, at times overwhelming, but most importantly it is an uplifting love story! ...I not only highly recommend this book, but can't wait to dive into other books by Renee. -- Three Girls & A Book Obsession