A summer coming of age/first love story. I loved all the characters and didn’t want this story to end. It’s YA but well done. The audio was spectacular.

I received an arc from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of YA lit, but something about K.L. Walther's stories hit just right.

A First Time for Everything follows Madeline ('Mads') in her quest to find common ground with her older brother's fiancee while also searching for a love of her own. Mads has a super close bond with her brother, Austin and is determined to become more accepting of Katie before she officially enters into the family. As Mads works to navigate her conflicting feelings about Austin's upcoming nuptials, she finds herself also conflicted about the other important guys in her life, Connor and Marco.

What I appreciate about Walther's young characters is that she never writes them as trying to be older than their actual ages - everything they say/do is realistic. Her concentration on family dynamic was incredible ... and, the Taylor Swift references really took me back to The Summer of Broken Rules. That cover?? Let's all take a moment to appreciate how cute and fun it is, shall we??

All in all, A First Time for Everything did not disappoint and was everything that I was looking for in the moment - I recommend giving this one a-go!!

Thank you NetGalley, Tantor Audio and K.L. Walther for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Before I talk about this story, let me point out I’m oblivious and didn’t realize that the Meredith I loved in this book is the one from The Summer of Broken Rules. I only realized it afterwards and wish I would have known that as I was reading.

Ok, back to this book! I listened to the audio and enjoyed the narrator. The story itself has romance in it but it covered so many other relationships other than just romance. Family and friendships were heavily focused- and I liked that.

Our FMC, Mad, is 17 in this book. With YA, I often find the main female character someone I understand but want to shake a little bit and Mad was no different. She has not had an interest in romantic relationships in the past but now does and instead of focusing on how she likes she seems more set on making it work with who likes her.

She’s very close with her brother, his bff/ex girlfriend and her father’s. She has teammates and her neighbor/ male best friend who she hangs out with frequently but doesn’t seem to have a super close female best friend. Maybe this contributes to her not recognizing her feelings and just going with the direction others are encouraging her to go.

Her brothers’ finance, Kate, felt off during the entire book and the ending didn’t quite fill in the dots for me on her behavior but I’ll accept it, happy to see that that relationship will grow stronger.

All the characters in this little love triangle were boneheads and did some selfish things - yet, they are still love able and you wanted them to be happy.

I loved who Mad ended up with but the ending felt forced and out of place. The jump from never being kissed to that felt like it could have been a different book.

Sooooo good. I.L. Walther hits every time. The plot, the setting, the characters, all of it was amazing.

This was a sweet and easy read with a strong focus on family and personal growth. The family dynamics were one of the highlights—realistic, heartfelt, and sometimes funny. I especially enjoyed the unexpected friendship with the Bachelorette party; it added a light, charming touch and showed the main character stepping outside her comfort zone in a fun way.

That said, the romance just didn’t work for me. None of the love interests felt like strong options, and there wasn’t much chemistry to root for. It made the romantic subplot feel more like a distraction than a compelling part of the story. Also, there was a surprising amount of underage drinking throughout, which stood out and felt a bit out of place given the overall tone.

Overall, it’s a cute, character-driven story with some great moments of connection and self-discovery—but if you’re looking for a swoon-worthy romance, this might miss the mark.

Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the audio ARC!

5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

🎧 AUDIOBOOK REVIEW 🎧

I loved this book!!!! The audio was so good. The narrator was super good. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to her but gonna find more books by her ASAP! It flowed nicely and she did such a good job playing each character in the book.

The book so much love. It made me feel to happy. I loved the family dynamics and how they were all so close. I loved Madeline’s character and enjoyed watching her character grow. Overall super good and I never give five stars 😉

What a cozy, lighthearted romance!

I thoroughly enjoyed how well the the story played out, and definitely loved the family dynamics at play. Madeline's bachelorette style dating as a hoot to follow along with, as well as watching her relationships with every other character flourishing.

However, one thing to note is how much underage drinking there is. Nearly every time Madeline is with the bridesmaids, she's drinking, and her parents are totally okay with it. While I did like the viewpoint of her parents having stipulations to drink responsibly, the fact there were so many scenes featuring drinking felt odd for a young adult novel.

4.5 🌟
I loved this almost as much as The Summer of Broken Rules. This was really fun and entertaining. If you like YA and enjoy the nostalgic high school/college feelings then you'll really enjoy this. Add the slight nod to The Bachelorette and a really cool girl gang and this would be a fast read vacation book.

I fell in love with K.L. Walther's writing when I read her first book "The Summer of Broken Rules". She knows how to write YA and have it be fun for adult readers.

Jennifer Jill Araya did a great job with the narration. She is really good at portraying emotions, especially frustration. I would definitely listen to more audiobooks narrated by her.

Overview of story: Mads brother Austin has gotten engaged to his long time girlfriend, Katie, who Mads is pretty sure hates her guts. So it's a big surprise when Mads receives a package in the mail from Katie asking her to be a bridesmaid. Mads gets thrown into the bridesmaids group, and being the youngest by many years, she feels a bit uncomfortable. At a bridesmaid slumber party they play "truth or dare" and everyone finds out that Mads has never been kissed or been on a date. The bridesmaids make Mads their very own Bachelorette, setting her up on dates and giving her dating advice. All the while Mads is trying to balance field hockey, her friendships with Connor and Marco, and the wedding planning.

Get ready for a whirlwind of frustrating emotions as Mads navigates dating, kissing, and trying to make friends with the bridesmaids and her unfriendly future sister-in-law.

There was a way I wanted the story to end from pretty early on and I'm happy to say that some of it did happen. I found the whole story to be fun, endearing, and at some points downright annoying, mainly because Katie was unlikeable and came across as a huge brat. I know that Katie was written this way to cause contention in the book and make interactions uncomfortable, but at some points it was so obnoxious that if I'd had the physical copy I'd probably have chucked it or slammed it on my bed, lol.