Cannonball! And Blackout Bingo!

This is the first Rainbow Rowell book I’ve read, despite owning Carry On.  (I’ve been waiting to read that with faintingviolet, and she’s been waiting because it was the last one she hasn’t read, but now that the sequel is coming out…)  

Lincoln works the late shift working as a technology officer at a newspaper.  His job is to be the night-shift IT guy and to monitor the staff emails. He comes across frequent email exchanges between two friends, Jennifer and Beth, emails that he should send warnings about, but chooses not to.  They are chatting about their personal lives, not work, which is supposed to be discouraged. Through their emails, Lincoln feels like he gets to know the two women, and starts to fall in love with Beth. Jennifer is having trouble with the idea of trying to start a family with her husband, and Beth has a guitarist boyfriend who, to be fair, is kind of successful.  Up until around Chapter 20, Lincoln is following the email to the extent that we are. He’s reading along and getting mentally involved in their stories. But then he starts going up and walking past Beth’s desk, which is where things start to diverge. He goes out to see Beth’s boyfriend’s shows. (Which is still not too bad, I mean they’re all public places to an extent.)  He’s not trying to impact or change her life, he’s just kind of hopefully lurking. So he’s falling in love, and she keeps seeing him and thinks that he’s cute. And like life, things go wrong.

I like how everything that happens could happen.  (Well, the very end is a little much, but that’s okay!)  And there’s one thing you hope doesn’t happen, and it does, and it is sad.  And then one thing you wanted to happen does, and it’s good! And then another thing you wanted to happen doesn’t happen, but that’s good, because if it had happened it wouldn’t have been as good.  And if you’ve read the book, you probably (might?) know what I mean!

I’m not as fond of the formatting.  The constant

<Jennifer to Beth> and

<Beth to Jennifer> is a little annoying.  Do they ever email anyone else?  Rowell could have shortened it, or just had Jennifer or Beth, and we know who they’re sending it to.  Oh well.

I don’t have any IT experience (or knowledge, really) but I could totally do the majority of Lincoln’s job.  I could creep on other people’s emails! And a shift that goes until 1 a.m.? That’s fine. And I already live at home!

I was saving this book for now, because it was both my last CBR10 Bingo square and my very first Cannonball!  When I first started Cannonball I never thought I would get to the full one, but I did it!

This fulfills the CBR10 Bingo square of “So Popular!”