Have you ever wondered what the future love of your life is doing at this moment or marveled that you and your current sweetheart lived entirely separate lives before you found each other and discovered you fit together perfectly?

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour uses the story’s structure to bring this idea to life.

Although waxing on about a novel’s structure is generally reserved for professors, book reviewers at the New York Times, and people you hope you’re not seated next to at a wedding reception, I’ll ask for your indulgence in this case.

The beauty of this story, aside from the writing which positively shimmers, is that as readers, we get to know Emilie and Sara as separate characters with their own storylines. They meet, and then only briefly, about midway through the novel. Their love story doesn’t begin until the last third of the book.

When Sara and Emilie reconnect, the reader is equally relieved and terrified. Both of them have experienced so much tragedy that it’s hard to know whether love will be able to transcend their brokenness or level them both to ashes.

If I were reviewing this for a general fiction newsletter, you’d be left to wonder about the outcome. But mercifully, this is a romance newsletter, so you can be assured of a happy, albeit hard-won, ending.

Find your copy of Yerba Buena from your favorite retailer.

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