WHO ZAN IS: Blow-your-mind brilliant. Stop-your-heart gorgeous. Hold-your-breath clever.WHO ZAN WAS: Joy’s boyfriend.
WHY JOY NEEDS HIM BACK: So she can breathe again.
WHAT THAT MEANS: An elaborate road trip involving a SAAB 900, Sprite, and Barry Manilow. Oh, and Noah, Zan’s irritating-but-almost-charming ex-best friend. Original and insightful, quirky and crushing, Joy’s story is told in surprising and artfully shifting flashbacks between her life then and her life now. (Goodreads)
In Back When You Were Easier to Love, Joy attempts to find closure after her boyfriend, Zan, leaves without telling her goodbye. She'd thought things between her and Zan were perfect, but maybe Zan didn't feel the same way. There were clues that he needed to get away, but Joy didn't pay attention to them until it was too late. And now that Zan's gone, his best friend, Noah, is practically stalking Joy for reasons unknown to her. Joy really just wants to be left alone, but maybe she can find a way to use Noah's interest to her advantage. Maybe she and Noah can take his car on a roadtrip from sleepy Haven, Utah to California to find Zan.
I expected to love this book. I didn't, but I thought it was cute. Joy kind of drove me nuts because she was so hung-up on Zan, who I didn't even like. I preferred Noah, hands down. I'm glad that Joy grew to discover just what a jerk Zan is and what a great guy Noah is. I love that their relationship developed slowly, and that they really grew to appreciate things about each other.
Joy and Noah, and just about everyone else in Haven, are Mormons, and their faith plays a role in the book. I didn't know this going in, but being LDS myself, I could appreciate it. Their religion wasn't in-your-face or anything, it was simply a part of them. And I really liked that.
3/5
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