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This Used to Be Us

By: Renée Carlino
Narrated by: Rob Shapiro, Eileen Stevens
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Publisher's summary

There are two sides to every love story—and every breakup. Get ready for an emotional roller coaster of family, marriage, and divorce that will have you both laughing and crying, from the bestselling author of Before We Were Strangers.

“Hilarious, unnervingly relatable, romantic, and heartbreaking in the best way.”—Julia Stiles

“This book is a gut-punch to the feels.”—Karina Halle, New York Times bestselling author

After twenty-two years together, Danielle and Alex are getting a divorce. Once fiercely in love, they can barely stand the sound of each other’s voice. Instead of shuttling the kids between two broken homes, Alex and Dani decide to share a nesting apartment while swapping days with their two teenage boys at the family home.

In the apartment, Dani and Alex, on their own, begin to reflect on the last two decades—why they fell in love and why the marriage fell, spectacularly, apart. With the newfound space and time, they are given a chance to rediscover their autonomous selves again. They both get back in the dating pool. Dani finds major success at work as a showrunner on her own TV project, while Alex faces the challenges of a new relationship.

Still, they find that they just can’t stay away from each other, and somehow, the distance allows them to remember (for the first time in years) what each used to love about the other. When a family crisis draws them back into each other’s orbit, Dani and Alex are once again put to the test, which leads to a dramatic conclusion that will have listeners weeping.

©2024 Renée Carlino (P)2024 Random House Audio
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Critic reviews

“An emotionally-charged and heartfelt look at the realities of marriage in all its beautifully broken moments. Carlino’s engaging prose brings Dani and Alex’s vibrant love story to life while reducing you to tears. This book is a gut-punch to the feels.”—Karina Halle, New York Times bestselling author

“Renée Carlino takes us through the anatomy of a failing marriage in this heartfelt novel that hits all the right notes. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll fall in love with Dani and Alex as they fall in and out of love with each other. You won’t want this book to end!”—Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, authors of Forever Hold Your Peace

What listeners say about This Used to Be Us

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Good Story, Middling Prose

I enjoyed this. The main characters were vivid, and their development was satisfying. i just wish the author would realize that people do not use each other's names every single time they speak. It really detracts from the naturalism of the dialogue. Also, the characters used (and sometimes misused) too many SAT words.

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Love and what it means to love

This Used to Be Us : Love and what it means to love ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.73
A very angry story in the beginning 😡😤🤬 BUT as it continues it turns into a peaceful read AND change is hard but ok….. but how it ends 🤯😢🥰 “love your people everyday”

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Beautiful

What an incredible story about love, loss and forgiveness. The author did an amazing job of making this book feel so real. There was no fairytale relationship. It was raw and normal. Couples bicker. Couple change. Kids test limits. This book was real the life of so many people. Absolutely wonderful read.
And the narration was incredible.

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Skip this one

*This book needs a major trigger warning for miscarriage.

Renee Carlino is a hit or miss author for me. I hated this book. What was the point of this story? They don't even like each other for the majority of the book, and then what was that ending? Rushed, out of the blue, and so unnecessary. I disliked it so much, I returned it for my credit back, and I NEVER do that. Skip this book. If you want a good book by this author, read Before We Were Strangers. I don't know what happened between when that book released and when this one did, but I have no interest in ever reading another book by her.

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Downer

The vast majority of this book is them disliking each other with very little reprieve. It’s realistic in a painful way.

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