The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

"Love does that. It makes you feel infinite and invincible, like the whole world is open to you, anything is achievable, and each day will be filled with wonder. Maybe it’s the act of opening yourself up, letting someone else in— or maybe it’s the act of caring so deeply about another person that it expands your heart. I’ve heard so many people say some version of I never knew how much I could love another human being until . . . And after the until is usually something like my niece was born or I gave birth to a child or I adopted a baby. I never knew how much I could love another human being until I met you, Gabe.
I’ll never forget that." 

If you're looking for a book to read that will make you long for a first love or that fluttery first love feeling and ache for the way life sometimes makes a mess of things....The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo is it. I went into this book not really having any idea of what it was about, other than that I knew I would probably cry (like so many others warned me about) and that it involved missed chances and true loves. What's more devastating than a missed chance? Especially when it involves the truest love of your heart.

I don't want to write this review with spoilers but I will say that the flow of the chapters, the back and forth between Lucy and Gabe, the fact that from the very first day they met they were marked by unspeakable circumstances and the heartache at the center of it all made this book truly unique. I've read plenty of Nicholas Sparks in my time and cried over the unfairness of love but its a different feeling altogether when an author can hit home something deep inside of you. When two characters can be written with such honesty and normality that it almost feels like you're reading a story that could've happened to you. Yes, I could see myself sitting in that bar and walking over to a an old friend from college. Yes, I could see myself getting caught up in the meaning behind two lines in an email. Yes, yes, yes, I could see telling myself over and over again that it means nothing....that a love missed isn't the end of the world.

Jill Santopolo has written a truly remarkable, original and still very believable love story that takes place in one of the best places a love story can: New York City. I highly recommend this book if you want to escape into a love story that may break your heart but in doing so will remind you what it means to love someone, or multiple someones, in very different and real ways.

xo, R.




The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
321 pages
Publish by Puntam Books