Review first up on For The Love of Fictional Worlds :)

Abstraction, adj.

“Love is one kind of Abstraction. And then, there are those nights when I sleep alone, when I curl into a pillow that isn’t you, when I hear the tiptoe sounds that aren’t yours. It’s not as if I can conjure you these completely, I must embrace the idea of you instead.”

I am not a romantic human. I do not understand the nuances of romantic relationship nor do I understand the need for grand romantic gestures. I have never understood the need to have the passionate love affair that drives ones crazy.

I have, however understood that it is easy for words to be said, but far better to focus on actions. I have found love, not in the amount of declarations one espouses but in the amount of times one compromises for the other's happiness. I have found love, not in the gifts lavished on the other but in the time one spends to perfect a moment.

Love isn't exactly an unknown quantity. I have been fortunate enough to never doubt the love my parents have had for me. Or even the love I have had for myself. Yet, the love that is most wanted is the love a stranger can give you. After all, isn't the start of every romantic love with a stranger?

Lover, n.

When I say, be my Lover, I don't mean let's have an affair. I don't mean, sleep with me. I don't mean be my secret.

I want us to go back to that root.

I want you to be the one who loves me.

I want to be the one who loves you.

Every single one us, especially who reads, wants that kind of love. A love that is all encompassing without compromising your own identity. It is a delicate balance no? Yet very easy to achieve with just the right person or so the books would like us to believe.

Lover's Dictionary disavows that exact notion. David Levithan has taken an almost boring concept of vocabulary to teach us that a relationship isn't all fun and laughter. A happily ever after isn't achieved because you found your other half. It takes work. It takes a conscience decision made everyday to choose someone to spend your time and life with.

Only, adj.

That's the dilemma, isn't it? When you're single, there's the sadness and joy of only me. And when you're paired, there's the sadness and joy of only you.

This is a short book. It took me an hour at most to complete it, but it's effects are still resounding in me. It has everything from the nervousness of first date to the joy of knowing that you're with someone to the sadness of understanding that the one you're paired with isn't always going to be perfect.

It took a small book filled with a whole relationship within to make me a Levithan Fan for life.