This Love Story Will Self-Destruct

Leslie Cohen

Jan 2018 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

This is the classic tale of boy meets girl: Girl…goes home with someone else.

Meet Eve. She’s a dreamer, a feeler, a careening 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.

Follow Eve and Ben as they navigate their twenties on a winding journey through first jobs, first dates, and first breakups; through first reunions, first betrayals and, maybe, first love. This is When Harry Met Sally reimagined; a charming tale told from two unapologetically original points of view. With an acerbic edge and heartwarming humor, debut novelist Leslie Cohen takes us on a tour of what life looks like when it doesn’t go according to plan, and explores the complexity, chaos, and comedy in finding a relationship built to last.

Ratings and reviews

An easy read if you're in the market for that. I did feel that the story didn't really spend too much time showing the development of the relationship between Ben and Eve. Felt like I understood the passion/ love between Eve and that other dude more than her and Ben. Seems as if the writer liked that other love interest more since she'd spend more time showing the details of a scene with them and would gloss over things and jump through time with Ben. So it made it hard to really feel invested in the main relationship. I did think Ben was an interesting character though. Eve was a bit too unstable for my liking, but she had some interesting quirks. Overall, an OK read. Easy to get through if that's what you need at the moment.

3.5 Stars – Rounded This is the story of Emily and Ben – polar opposites in both their approaches to the world and their willingness to ‘be’ out there in the way one might expect two twenty-somethings to be. Crisp and incisive word choices highlight this story that, for me, was far more drama and angst (much of it self-inflicted) than I expected and still I was compelled to keep reading on. Emily. Emily was difficult. Dramatic, self-destructive, judgmental, prone to stupidity and clearly unable (at least at first) to learn from her many, many mistakes. She’s shallow and prone to navel-gazing that really amounts to nothing: since NOTHING ever changes. She’s got issues – some well-earned, others just arrive because she is so focused on using her issues as a shield to ‘protect’ her from anything that may potentially signal some growth. This is not a person that is easy to like or even want to empathize with as she KEEPS repeating the same patterns over and over – to the (SURPRISE!) same end. Ben was the polar opposite: able to take much of the action in that dodgeball game we call life and just move on, around or through it. There’s a solidity to Ben that is attractive, even as we don’t often see the depth and layers in his personality. But, after repeated encounters with (and many rejections from) Emily: somehow they start to build something together. He always seems to be the incidental character until he isn’t – with al of the moments that are Ben come together to form a solid and even admirable character. His ability to roll with the many punches of Emily’s ride on the crazy train; her perseveration, lack of self-awareness contrasting with an over-reliance on her issues and the way those don’t allow her to ‘move forward’. Oh it was difficult – and not in the slightest bit romantic: but in some ways the story is realistic – at least for those who have found that person to stick by them when all indications show that they should have walked away long before. Oh the relationship has its moments of clear dysfunction (as do most relationships) it just so happens that many of these are repeats of the same issue manifesting in different situations. From solid moments of comfort in companionship to overly drama-laden spikes of activity Cohen has managed to twine together several moments that build images of the characters and situations to a conclusion that is perfectly suited to the story. A solid debut with difficult characters and too much angst and train wreck moments to call this an easy romance, the writing is the star here and promises many good things from this author in the future. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

About the author

Leslie Cohen was born and raised in New York. She studied fiction at Columbia University, and wrote a weekly music column for a newspaper in Colorado before working in publishing for several years. This is her debut novel.