{"id":21228,"date":"2021-07-13T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/?p=21228"},"modified":"2021-07-12T16:25:58","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T23:25:58","slug":"the-rehearsals-by-annette-christie-book-review-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/the-rehearsals-by-annette-christie-book-review-excerpt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rehearsals by Annette Christie | Book Review & Excerpt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Review copy provided free by the author<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Feels and Reveals, For Reals<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Where do I even start? I think I was pre-disposed to love Annette Christie’s adult debut, The Rehearsals<\/a>, out today. I live in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve been to the San Juan Islands and I love a good time loop. (Did you read Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze<\/a>?) I mean, who’d pass up the chance to do something over or differently, if you didn’t get it right the first time? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except in The Rehearsals, for Megan and Tom, it’s not exactly about do-overs. On Wedding Eve, the universe peels back the layers on their 10+ year relationship. This is their chance to examine and fix what got them to where they are, as they relive their rehearsal dinner day, just before their wedding in the San Juans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upfront, this is not a rom-com, it’s domestic fiction\/contemporary fiction with a romantic relationship at its center. You run the gamut of emotions with Megan and Tom. They are messy! They are flawed. But they aren’t fundamentally bad people. Controlling and\/or dysfunctional families and old secrets stand between them. They both make bad (read: dealbreaker!) decisions. At times you want to shake both of them, and say, C’mon, stop! Think about what you’re doing! But the truth is, Annette Christie kept me rooting for them through every new loop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I loved is that The Rehearsals is it’s about self-discovery as much as it’s about Megan and Tom’s relationship with each other. And it’s told in alternating POV (third person). A clever way of telegraphing both of them are culpable for where they’ve ended up. That’s just one of the things that made me love this book. The Rehearsals is smart and real and wonderful.<\/strong> And there’s character growth and self-awareness! And in the end, The Rehearsals hit me. Right in the feels. Yes, there were tears. Happy ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.S. Play the song mentioned in the final chapter while reading it. As Megan once said to Tom, \u201cA good lyric simultaneously tells a story and makes you feel as though someone\u2019s drop-kicked your heart into your throat.\u201d Yep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get The Rehearsals from The Ripped Bodice<\/a> | Bookshop.org <\/a>| IndieBound<\/a> | Amazon<\/a> | Apple Books<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(This post includes affiliate links that kick us a small percentage at no cost to you if you use them to shop. If this review helped you discover a new book, please use them to support my work – thanks!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by Michelle (@dailywafflebooks)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>