First, Last, and Always

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled a little with this book at the start, I could not work out where it was going and it felt a little bland to me. But as I got into it I fell in love. I fell in love the characters, especially Miles, he was so sweet and obviously cared deeply for his friends.

I am not really that big on romance but I enjoyed this one. It helped that there was other stuff to keep me interested. I loved that the story was told from both Charlotte and Miles’ point of view.

I was worried about what was going on with Charlotte’s sister, I guessed completely wrong.

I found the story fun, believable and exciting. I would read more from this author and recommend this to anyone who likes YA books.

A lovely story about friendship, finding yourself, confidence and first love, this title from Kim Lehman manages to present a story that feels real, possible and hopeful.

Charlotte is a freshman in high school, a bit of a romantic dreamer, with an annoying and not so likable sister. A bit on the chunky side, Charlotte deals with schoolmates unkind remarks daily: not quite in the popular crowd, she’s a bit reserved. What hit me harder, for Charlotte, was her family’s dismissive and often demeaning attitude toward her, calling her fat and being “embarrassed” to be seen with her. I couldn’t quite find Charlote’s rather casual attitude to the hurtful words as real, she almost seems to ignore them, but little clues are dropped that she does have some issues with the namecalling. What does shine through, however, is her solid sense of self, even for one so young.

Told in dual naratives, we meet Miles: he and Charlotte have been frends for ages, and he really is a wonderful kid. But, he has more of a crush on Charlotte, and is just too scared to tell her. These two are adorable together, as they navigate their own issues and learn to decipher real friendship and feeling from their dreams and the ‘friends’ with bad intentions.

I enjoy Lehman’s ability to keep her characters real and honest, and add in a bit of mystery to solve: her stories have romance, but are not solely about those romances but more about navigating relationships and choices that teens and tweens encounter regularly. This particular story is perfect for middle through high school students, as it navigates social and romantic situations with a sense of hopeful optimism, never going overly dark or too laden with content that would be inappropriate.

I received an eBook copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

This story was so cute. Kim Lehman’s writing and the plot line reminds me of something Sarah Dessen would write. It was a typical angsty teen girl story with a cute romance tossed in. It is just one of those books you can’t help loving. Charlotte was a great lead character and her internal voice reminded me so much of myself in high school. I really enjoyed reading this book and got through it pretty quickly.

I also liked that this book is written in two voices. One of Charlotte and the other of her best guy friend Miles. While Charlotte is a socially awkward funny girl, Miles is much more quiet and reserved. Their two personalities blended nicely and gave me a look into more storyline. I really liked their other friend Lani too. I would totally read a spinoff of Lani and here life as a sister of quadruplets.

All in all, this was a pretty cute high school story that I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of the genre. I subtracted half a squee since I feel like there could have been a little more depth in the story, but it was still a decent read.

Beautiful and sweet story of first love. Great characters and story line. Will be enjoyed by my freshman girls!

- Any book that writes from two different points of view already get bonus points. This book was amazing.
- From the beginning to the end, you were rooting for the happy ever after.