Years ago I went to this amazing restaurant, I found it by accident, long before Yelp made it easy to find your newest food obsession. I went in looked at the emptiness and almost walked out, I mean, that cant be a good sign, right? But then I saw the prices and thought, $4.99 lunch combo. I’m in! Sure, the idea of getting sick crossed my mind, but being a typical broke college student I took the risk of getting an awful case of the bubble guts, just to avoid eating top ramen (again).

I ordered my food, sat down and waited anxiously. When the food arrived, I prayed that my dwindling bank account, wouldn’t force me to spend the night on the porcelain throne. I took my first bite, and I swear to you, it was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted. It was as good as that moment when you get home, and take off your bra, freeing your boobs after a long day of captivity. Or as good as that moment when you get to pee, after holding it for an unhealthy period of time. I ate as if it was going out of style.

I ate. And ate. And ate until I hated myself.  I knew one more bite would make me do the unthinkable, unbuttoning my jeans in public. But it didn’t seem to faze me, so I took that last bite. And I must say, it was worth it! I looked at what was left on my plate, and sighed. I knew I couldn’t take one more bite, but it was too good. So I did something I never do. I took home leftovers. I placed it in the passengers side, and was already excited about the prospect of eating my delicious leftovers.

I got home and placed my leftovers in my refrigerator, and closed the door reverently. I walked away, and went on with my day, fantasizing about the moment when I got to eat my heavenly meal. After a few classes and an afternoon of daydreaming, I went home, opened the fridge and took out my leftovers. I set the microwave, and watched it like a child watching a clock on Christmas morning.

When I heard that much anticipated “Ding” I opened the door, and took my food to the couch. I took a bite closing my eyes, and began to moan. Only I stopped myself, because what was in my mouth was not what I had eaten this afternoon. There is no way that it was the same, this was awful. “No, the flavors must have changed in the fridge.” I said aloud. I took another bite, but it wasn’t any better, in fact, it was worse.  Third times the charm, right? WRONG! It was gross, worse than gross! “WTF?” I close the lid on my food, and threw it away angrily, wondering what had happened somewhere between this afternoon and now.

Somehow, I had built it up in my brain. That had to be it. Seriously. Nothing else makes sense. It was amazing, and then it was the scum you find in between peoples toes. Worse. It was worse.

Now, let me explain why I told you this long story (it has a point, pink swear). I read a book and I thought it was amazing the first time around. The main characters of The Edge of Never, Andrew & Camryn made me fall in love with them from page 1 (ok, ok page 15) but still it was true love, I swear. While reading I laughed, cried, and cried some more, but in the end, I was so happy with the way the book ended that I went onto my Goodreads account and gave my book a 4. Wait, don’t stop reading, I’m not a complete bitch I swear! A 4 to me is like an A, it’s not as bad as it sounds. A 5 on the other hand, well that’s like finding a unicorn, a rare and beautiful unicorn. So, like I was saying I gave the book a 4 and moved on with my life. That was until I found out that there was a book 2 coming out, at the end of the following year. Yippee!

Excitement does not begin to explain the joy I felt, I put it in my calendar, and even cleared my reading schedule a week prior to re-read book 1. Book 2 came out this week, and having preordered the book, I found myself giddy when I opened my Kindle App and saw it there, waiting for me to pick up right where I left off, in love and excited.  The book had a slow start, but I knew I would fall back in love, and would feel their joy, and their sadness, and all that mushiness. But I didn’t. I mean, I tried, really hard. But, I had to literally push myself to keep reading, page after page, chapter after chapter. But it sucked. I’m almost sorry to be so blunt, because I loved book 1.  I kept pushing myself to keep reading, to try to feel what I did the first time around, just like I did with my food. But nothing ever compared to that first bite, or that first chapter. I pushed myself, bite after bite, page after page, it didn’t get any better. It did the complete opposite, it got worse.

Truth be told, I think I did it to myself. I put book 1 on a pedestal. I put the restaurant on the same pedestal. I think I sent myself up both times, first with the food and then with this book. Only this time, I still have the leftover still starring at me every time I open my Kindle.

So moral of the story is, if something was amazing the first time, don’t ruin it by eating the leftovers. Make up your own ending, or tell yourself the place got closed down due to a low grade, or the author got arrested for not paying her taxes and doesn’t have access to a computer in prison. Tell yourself anything you need to in order to erase the hours spent reading book 2 , do whatever you need to forget about it all, but whatever you do, don’t eat the leftovers!