I’m a big fan of Emily Giffin and I’ve really loved pretty much all of her other books. She has a great way of writing families and women in particular that is incredibly realistic, funny, and moving. So when I got a chance to meet her at BEA back in May I was really excited! I got a chance to get a signed copy of First Comes Love, which was great, and the author was genuine with her fans (also she was beautiful in person!).

This book has something that I’m a big fan of – flawed characters. I really dislike perfect characters with perfect lives. And these have lives that are far from perfect. Josie and Meredith are sisters whose brother died when they were younger and that single event changed their whole life. The whole narrative explores the chain of events that flows from that.

I’m also a fan of stories about families and the relationships that are so complicated in each of them. Tragedy and the grief that follows can really screw up a family and those relationships. I found it really interesting to see how Giffin explored that in this particular family. Lets just say that they didn’t come out so well.

While I love flawed characters I can see how some people might have a problem liking these characters. Josie is obsessed with becoming pregnant. Obsessed. But what I liked about this character is that I’ve known at least 10 women like her. Meredith is married, has a family, but seems to really not value her husband or children at all. I’ve also known quite a few women who reminded me of Meredith too. Both characters screamed selfish. But I love the realistic portrayal in the book. There may be bad qualities to each of the sisters but there were also good qualities that also reminded me of people I know as well.

As I’ve mentioned before I like alternation POVs when done well and it’s done well here. Alternating between each sister it really helps to see different scenes from each of their viewpoint.  I found this to be a pretty honest story of grief countless years after loss also, talking about trying to move past death.

Rating: 4 stars

Reviewer: Melinda

Title: First Comes Love

Author: Emily Giffin

Release Date: June 28, 2016

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