In Twenty Years, Allison Winn Scotch

In Twenty Years by Allison Winn Scotch

Six students from Penn lived together in a small apartment almost twenty years ago, and before they left, they all made a promise to stay friends and to meet again in twenty years. So, when five of them gets a package from Bea, a friend that has passed away and that was always so happy to keep the group together, saying that she has purchased the apartment and that she wants them to gather for her 40th, the five of them decide to visit, even when their own lives are falling apart.
Catherine, the CEO of a domestic empire, who is struggling to keep her company; Owen, a stay at home dad, who is married to Catherine after they were the cutest couple in college; Colin, a plastic surgeon that is trying to keep Bea´s secret; Annie, a stay at home mom that tries to show an ideal life in social media to cover her loneliness; Lindy, a famous rock star who is struggling to find herself and the music she loves; and Bea, the brightest and the most passionate person anyone has ever met.
They all gather these fourth of July trying to celebrate Bea, one of their best friends, some of them may not be in the best terms with each other, but one thing is clear: Bea is the missing link that they all need, what they need in order to become a family again because that´s how family works, when one person starts disliking someone, there will always be someone else that will bring them back together. And Bea is exactly what they need and they are what Bea needs.
This is the type of novel that you would expect to read when you love novels that narrate stories about a group of people in college, in my case, I have only read one in Spanish, which I absolutely loved, and I am not saying that the characters are similar or the plot, but it follows a group of people that were once inseparable in college, where many dreams start and many ends. It was interesting to read a story that narrated the beginnings and the endings of relationships.
I really liked the different characters because they brought different aspects of adult life, for example, we could see how sometimes your dreams don´t work out and you find an alternative like Owen, or how sometimes those dreams change like Annie´s, or how those you dream of when you are younger can actually come true like Lindy´s. Also, seeing how characters with different traits and dreams could be connected by a friendship that was shared years before, was beautiful because it showed that people change and that is almost inevitable, but small moments and things that become meaningful to us will always stay like that because they will be saved in a special place inside us that may change the way the moment was truly.
I enjoyed the way the characters were created because you were able to see the good and bad sides of each character, they felt very human-like since some of them struggled with things that others didn´t and they all had their different points of view.
I liked how every character was struggling on their own and was afraid to show others about it because it happens in real life too, people are always afraid to show others what they are struggling with because we have evolved into a society that is supposed to not show others what makes us seem weak. Also, this side of the characters really adds to the story itself and the experience because every character has a secret of their own that you start discovering while reading the novel.
On the other hand, I loved the different themes and topics In Twenty Years included, it shows how we tend to act around others and how we change throughout the time and how our lives only change because we decide to make that turn.
I enjoyed learning about their journey from college till their forties because it is a part of life that no one really talks about, especially at my age because we are so eager to go to college that we don´t usually think about what happens next, so reading about it kind of gave me an idea of what could happen and it definitely made me start thinking about my own future because not everything may work out for me. 
Another theme that I liked reading about was how sometimes life is so easy but we decide to take the difficult route to the things that we want or the route that consumes too much time that sometimes makes us wonder and formulate all these what-ifs. 
Moving on, I loved the writing because it was so beautiful and it taught me a lot of meaningful things that really added a nice touch to the novel that already taught you a lot about friendships, dreams and growing up.
I liked how each chapter was about a different character, although the characters didn´t really narrate the novel, they still got their minds read by a third point of view. 
As much as I liked the novel, there were several things that I didn´t enjoy too. I didn´t really like the pace of the novel because it was too slow for me. I mean, there were too many times that scenes were lived again by a different character and it was kind of tiring at some point, but nothing too extreme. Also, I feel like there were many characters that I didn´t get to know too well, like Colin, who was a character that I really wanted to read about since he was the closest to Bea.
On the brighter side, I liked the way that Bea was still present in the story because her being there was like the linking part of the group and it was beautiful to see how a person´s heart can still be there if there are people that want her to be there. 
In general, this was a very pleasant reading, you will be crying and laughing with the characters because they are full of life and they have different personalities and comments that will keep you going for a long time! 

4 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua