First Comes Love

Then comes… a really sweet book that I just have to talk about.

FIRST COMES LOVE by Katie Kacvinsky (author of AWAKEN, which I haven’t read yet), is a little less than 200 pages of quirky characters that pop off the page, fun adventures, beautiful and bright words of realization and wisdom, and tear-jerking moments of clarity and healing.

Summary (Author’s words)

Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan is the exact opposite – full of light and life. It’s definitely not love at first sight for these two. But slowly, fascination turns to admiration, which turns to caring, until finally these lone souls find love. But staying in love is not as easy as falling in love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they’re going to have to learn that sometimes love means having to say you’re sorry.

I picked this little book up from the library in a heated moment of wishy-washiness. While three little munchkins used me as their Maypole to bounce around, they chanted a “LET’S LEAVE” mantra, and I swiped this up. “OKAY!” I responded, in the appropriate library hushed tone (of course), and headed out. I thought the cover looked sweet, passionate and lovely, and the summary, while vague, sounded mysterious enough that I thought, what the hey, and gave it a try.

 What I didn’t expect was to fall in love and finish it in a matter of hours. Dylan, the female protagonist, is bursting with life. Literally. She’s kooky, fun, adventurous, and exactly what Gray needs. Gray is suffering. From what, we don’t really know until the story is well under way. When he opens up to Dylan, a blossom begins to unfurl, he remembers how to smile. Dylan is the much-needed voice of reason to his anti-social armor. And before he knows it, he’s in love. But Dylan is a free spirit. She can’t be tied down. What comes next will only be unearthed by the reader.

 While this book received mostly praise in the reviews, there were some readers that disliked this author's methods. And by that, I mean the “telling”. We’re all taught – if we’re taught – that “telling” is bad. Meaning: she told me this, then he did this, the she said this, and so on. As writers, we’re supposed to create a scene so lifelike, the reader can step inside of it, and experience it. But I have to say, in this instance, the “telling” worked. I really liked how the scenes swept by in real time, then he said this, and she told him this, and they did this. It worked for this book. Maybe it wouldn't have if the author's word painting wasn’t so freaking brilliant!

One of my favorite lines:

But pain’s like water. It finds a way to push through any seal. There’s no way to stop it. Sometimes you have to let yourself sink inside of it before you can learn how to swim to the surface.

Beautiful, right?

Level of enjoyment: Loved it.

Recommend it to friends? Yes.

Read it again? Sure. Gotta get through the other million kajillion books I need to read first.