Attachments by: Rainbow Rowell (2011)
336 pages
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Source: I purchased this one!
Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads Summary: "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.
Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.
When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.
By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.
What would he say . . . ?
My Review
Attachments is the first book I have ever read by Rainbow Rowell. Attachments is cute, quirky, and fun, and I liked it a lot, but I didn't love it.
The MC, Lincoln, is an adorable dork who is also kind of hot, and he reads the emails of Beth and Jennifer (best friends who have a quirky and wacky way with words) while at work. This story takes place when computers were becoming more popular, and therefore it is Lincoln’s job to read emails at his place of work (newspaper) that have been flagged to make sure his co-workers are not using their work emails for personal reasons. The best part of the setting of Attachments is that it takes place before the whole Y2K thing. I found it funny to see how much Lincoln’s boss was nervous about Y2K and the computers crashing, especially since I lived through all that and as far as I know all the hype was all for nothing as long as programs were updated. I also loved the newspaper setting because I used to work at one, and it is portrayed pretty darn well. So the setting was spot on, the characters are very likable, and Attachments is an incredibly cute novel but...
There really wasn't any sort of plot momentum or conflict until half way through the book, and as you all probably know by now, I’m not a fan of books that have a slow first half. However, once the book started to pick up pace I was hooked. It is charming and fun. The emails between Beth and Jennifer are funny and clever and Lincoln’s reactions to them are even more interesting. I know you may be thinking that this whole set up is kind of weird and creepy, a man falling for a girl just by reading her private and personal emails is creepy, but Rowell manages to work past it by showing Lincoln's issues and regret with reading the private emails, and the fact that he has to read the emails for work, making the situation a little less creepy. Anyway...
I do want to give a big round of applause for Rowell for how she handled Lincoln and Beth's meeting/interaction/real life discussion. It was perfect, okay it was a tad cheesy, but I like cheese. I awed and giggled a lot. I wish the ending wasn't quite so abrupt because I would have loved to get to spend more time seeing how Beth and Lincoln’s future unfolds, but other than that the ending was nice.
I recommend this book to Rowell fans and to those of you who are looking for a cute and funny romance novel to read. I know the beginning is kind of slow, but hang in there and you will be pleasantly surprised.
