This review will not be very articulate, because I'm still puffy-eyed and enthused from finishing up Landline. My takeaway from this book: Rainbow Rowell is magic. She writes relationships so believably, fleshing them out with such real feeling dialogue that flows naturally and conveys a broad spectrum of emotions without getting bogged down in cliche or literary angst. It's like she's been inside of my brain and pulled out all these thoughts and feelings and then made a story with them. 
 The plot seems a bit depressing at first - a middle-aged career woman on the outs with her spouse who is questioning her life choices and trying to hold her marriage together. Eleanor & Parkand Fangirl also have engaging and sometimes painful relationship woes but with the unspoken assurance that the protagonists are young, anything can happen, their possibilities in regard to partners and careers and futures are endless. I found myself feeling despondent over Georgie's lot, identifying too much with the threatening finality of life choices. Enter the "time travel" element, the lifeline for the protagonist and the opportunity for Rowell's mastery of dialogue to shine. Georgie's flashbacks also invite those young love situations the author captures so well (the conversations over Neal's illustrating table are just cut out from my undergraduate days). With all this heavy soul searching, there are still lovely side moments with pizza delivery and pugs and daughters who meow. Oh, all this love even though I have more in common with the husband than the protagonist. And of course this is a "Christmas" story (who knew?!) that I read at just the right time. 
 Rainbow Rowell, you are officially one of my favorites.