Waiting for You by Elle Spencer
- Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, 2020
- Genre: Romance, LGBTQ+
- Format: Paperback (eARC)
- Page Count: 242 pages
- My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
Ever since Lindsay learned about her past-life lover Roo while hypnotized with her BFF Patty in high school, she couldn’t forget her. Now, in her late thirties, Lindsay was divorced with a teenage daughter Brooke, painting a little boy no one knew and Roo. When Ren dropped by the small town of Salt Creek visiting her BFF Deb before moving to work in Paris, Lindsay promptly fainted at the sight of her.
I cannot stress how much I enjoyed the whole story. It was way cuter than I had anticipated, filled with raw feelings, funny banters, and so much love between friends, family, and lovers. I always love an emotional read with a bit of pain and lots of love. Spencer did just that and more in Waiting for You. The tenderness of Lindsay and Ren’s relationship was beautiful, and both of them and their friends were genuinely wonderful people. I love every single one of them.
Could it be that the simple act most people took for granted—that of freely expressing love for another person—could change someone’s demeanor this much? Of course it could, Lindsay thought.
The story is unique with main and secondary characters spanning across multiple generations. And I do not mean past lives. Mrs. Stokely was close to eighty while Lindsay, Patty, Ren, and Deb were in their late thirties. Then there were the seventeen-year-olds, Brooke and Deb’s daughter Corey. They enriched the book with perspectives and life events that only people in very different stages of life could have had.
Lindsay liked to imagine her studio as a place where, for the first time in a long time, they were forced to reflect on stillness. The moment they gave in to the stillness was the moment she sought to capture. It was something she’d never seen in a photograph.
Maybe it was because of the paintings, or the short two-week time frame Ren had, Waiting for You reminded me of Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The ending of the movie was not exactly a happily-ever-after, but an open-ended longing. While romance novels aways have happy endings, this book would still be as good if it ended like that.
In addition to the wonderful characters and plot, I have to give a shoutout to the bi+ representation. Though Lindsay never dated women until Ren, her attraction to women was always valid. I am glad Lindsay clarified that.
Waiting for You was my first Elle Spencer read, and I fell in love. I will definitely be reading more of her works. [3 May 2020]
I received an e-ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
