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How do you feel Sue and Mike's love story compares or differs to more traditional love stories of younger couples? Do you think their relationship was a realistic portrayal of older romance? In real life, how do you think relationships between older people differ from those between younger people? Do you think the book got it right?

One thing that seemed to be different--and probably is different in real life too--is that Sue and Mike both seemed to be more in tune with what they were looking for in a relationship/partner even before they met.

Many things that occurred in their relationship seemed to be a lot like you would see with younger couples. For instance, consider the big fights over petty misunderstandings like the one with Mike's story about his friend or the use of the word "gibberish" in the email.

I think that Sue and Mike's love story is just as any other love story, except for their ages. One can love in any age and the author succeeded to point it out to the reader. However, the couple was more free of conventional rules of dating due to their ages and life experience. They don't have time to play games and cut directly to the chase.

The book presents just one kind of an older relationships and in reality there are various kinds of relationships, no matter the ages. There isn't right or wrong when writing about a relationship.

I think the difference was actually that this story seemed more "real" then other romances I read. I may just be speaking from the quality of stories I read, but this seemed to have more of a relationship then others with younger characters. Some romance books plots are just based off conflict of how the girl gets the guy (sometimes vise versa) and it's a tedious process. This book did have characters that wanted to "get laid" but they were also more mature, and skipped a lot of the fluff that some books possess, and showed real situations in modern times that occur in real life romances.

I thought Sue and Mike's love story was realistic and similar to young couples except for the fact that I felt Sue and Mike said what they wanted whereas younger couples tend to bottle up relationship issues. I thought the book told exactly how relationships are now.

Upfront confession: I have not read the book. So this is a very general post. I have, however, read a few books where the narrator/main character(s) are in their 40s+ and, thus, did not embody the typical young romance based on age alone. I enjoyed these stories and did not find differences in the fundamentals of their relationships (i.e. worrying about whether the other person likes you as much as you like them during the early stages of the relationship, wanting mutual respect, etc.). However, since I like to consider myself young (27), I did have a harder time relating to the issues between them and their general approach to the relationship because I am still figuring out the more minuscule steps in life and figuring out what I want from life. There are definitely more mature, and dare I say reasonable, components of relationships that start later in life. It's definitely something I can appreciate, though.

I agree with the other comments. Their love story seems more realistic than other love stories that I've read. While reading the other stories I'm thinking "Yeah right!" all the time. Their love story makes me smile because I can actually picture a couple just like them. It's cute and sweet.

I think there's a need for thoughtful, well-written stories about older couples seeking companionship and romance. Also, more mature characters have more background, and more background can mean a better story!

I thought Sue and Mike's romantic tale was practical and like youthful couples with the exception of the way that I felt Sue and Mike said what they needed while more youthful couples tend to restrain relationship issues.