Story in Review: These Are The Moments by Jenny Bravo

These Are the Moments by Jenny Bravo was the slow Sunday afternoon that I needed. It’s a novel for 20-somethings who aren’t sure what the next step in life is. For the ones hung up on the past or on a boy. For the ones who just want a good will they/won’t love story to make them feel alive.

Wendy cannot get past Simon. He was her first love, her only love. She hasn’t seen him in over a year, but the marriage of her best friend to his best friend brings them back into each other’s circles, causing her to reevaluate every time they tried to make it work – and whether or not she wants to try again.

Bravo tells their story in alternating chapters of “Then” and “Now,” allowing the reader to fill in some of the blanks, but pulling the novel along at a pace that crescendos toward a resolution. It’s a book you’re going to want to pick up and not put down.

Favorite Quotes:

(read on Kindle, no page numbers)

“Twenty-four. It sounded so adult. Just last week, Wendy told someone she was twenty-three. Not because she was lying. She just forgot.”

“It smelled like incense and whatever hope was made out of.”

“Wendy felt light. And she wanted to hold onto that lightness, like a delicate bubble threatening to pop.”

“She could paint anything she wanted to, any and all memories, but she would not repeat another painting. She wouldn’t repeat anything at all.”

“She’s all, I’m happy, let me spread some sunshine into your bleeding wounds.”

“When he hurt, he cut deep enough for only her to see.”

“If I die in a theme park because of a boy, then I probably deserve it.”

“She looked at him, and he looked at her the way you look your favorite thing in the world, like he absolutely, decidedly could not get enough of her.”

“Women did not watch Saturday cartoons and drink their coffee out of Disney princess mugs.”

“The more they fought, the less of a voice she had.”

“For Simon, everything started with a decision. For Wendy, everything started with a feeling. He decided to be with her. She wanted to be with him. He decided to love her. She just did.”

“Minds were easy to change. They were like dough, one minute balled up and the next pressed flat. But what about hearts? Those couldn’t be that malleable, could they?”

“She wasn’t going anywhere, but she liked knowing she could. Someday.”

“It was real. But real doesn’t make it permanent.”

“He wasn’t in any photos. He’d never seen this furniture before. They were two different people, leading completely separate lives.”

“She loved him the way that you love your favorite part of yourself.”

“You’re really brave.” “Why? For cutting someone out of my life who had no business being there? That’s not bravery. That’s common sense.”

“Love is a decision. It is not an emotion that we see on movie screens or read about in books. It isn’t the dramatic crescendo that leads to happily ever after. Love is hard work. It’s the decision you make, knowing your differences, knowing your flaws, but choosing anyway, because you can’t imagine life without the other person.”

“Being afraid is never stupid. Not acting is the stupid part.”

What made this a great story? I loved how perfectly average the lives of all the characters were. So often, we get stories about people leading exceptional lives, but its hard to relate to those. I like that Wendy and her friends were just trying to figure life out, and acknowledged that it is messy and hard and uncertain. I also loved that the main characters weren’t perfect: they were imperfect characters who fell in love and had to work through those faults. Bravo did an excellent job at tipping the story from light to dark and back again, adding just enough comic relief to balance the weighty material of first loves and heartbreak and learning that people let you down.

What could have made it a better story? I wanted a little more “oomph” to the characters. I wanted to know a little more of who Wendy and Simon were before they entered each other’s lives: what were there hobbies? Their personalities separate from one another? I’d also love to know why Wendy and Vivian are friends now that they are all grown up. What are Vivian’s redeeming qualities? Why does she still have a place in Wendy’s life after all these years? I know Bravo has a sequel in the works, so I’m hoping we learn some of these answers then!

Have you read These Are the Moments by Jenny Bravo? If so, what did you think? Do you have a book suggestion for me that you’d think I’d like? Let me know and I’ll add it to my list!

P.S. If you liked this, you’ll probably like Eleanor & Park!