*2.75/5 stars*

“I smiled. That was Foster. Zip Lip Foster. Early-morning smoothies and the like, the great big giant pain in my ass, the brother I never knew I wanted. A page in the story of my life that I never could’ve anticipated.”

This was fun little contemporary book. I did really enjoy some aspects of it - mainly the MC's and Devon's (her cousin) growing relationship and the romance was also pretty great, it was also really fast book to read, but most of it felt quite flet to me.

It was really centered on sports (American football) which I don't care about at all (maybe one of the reaosons why I didn't like this one more), I felt like the heroine was ok, but uninteresting - though maybe intentionally written this way, but if it was intentional I wanted more character development from her.

The friendship aspect, which was one of the best things about her newer novel, was not as good here. I didn't like Devon's relationship with her childhood friend (unrequited love on her part), and didn't care for any of the side friendships much.

The romance was pretty great - I did really like the love interest - though I felt like the book ended too abruptly.

The parents of the heroine didn't play here as big a part as they did in This Adventure Ends either (where I adored the father of the MC).

The best relationship was definitely the one between Devon and her cousin Foster, the most promising character in this book. I really loved them together, I loved how Devon slowly got to know him and how she felt protective of him at times. And how, in the end, he felt almost like a younger brother to her.

“Are you drunk?” a voice said.
So it was only temporary peace.
I whipped around and ripped the shower curtain back. There sat Foster, fully clothed, in the empty bathtub.
“What the hell are you doing in here?”
There was a rubber duck balanced delicately on his head. It didn’t move as he spoke. “Just sitting.”
This was one of those moments. Those Foster moments. Early-morning smoothies and the like. I squeezed my eyes shut hard.”

This one had a bunch of characters appearing a few times that I was suppoesd to be interested in but wasn't (Emir, Lindsay), teen mom character issue that coul've been explored more, heroine who didn't know who she was and I guess was supposed to be finding herself in the book, sports, grief and Foster who was dealing with loss and abandonment

Spoiler

and his not present drug addicted mother (Who was I guess not dealing with her issues and instead sent him off. Like shouldn't his uncle or aunt - the heroine's parents - helped her somehow, to rehab center for example? Did they just ignore it?? If it was dealt with and she was in rehab, it was never even mentioned..)

I felt like maybe it felt on too much and didn't explore some of the things it cold have more to give them more depth.

“What is it about football?” Rachel regarded me through narrowed eyes. “I mean, what is it that’s so great about it anyway?”
“It’s … tradition?”
Rachel looked put off. “It’s a popularity contest disguised as violence disguised as recreational sport.” She began to type again. “You know, someone needs to do a story about high school football—not the team or the scores or anything, but the facts. It’s gotten so political.”
“Political?”
“The sport itself—tradition—is hardly the issue anymore. Kids play football in high school to get money to go to college. It’s just a numbers game.”

All in all, This book was definitely more romance centered than her newest book, I also really liked Foster. If you at all care abot American football you might like this one more.
This was definitely the weakest novel from the author for me. First and Then kind of missed the mark for me. Just an okay book for me.

“When you love something, you can’t be happy all the time, can you? Like, that’s why you love it. It makes you feel all kinds of things, not just happy. It can hurt, it can make you fucking mad, but…it makes you feel something, you know?”

First of all, a forewarning... this book is heavy on American football. I don't think you need to know a LOT about football to understand what is going on, but when it gets into plays and such, and you don't know anything... you will probably start skimming. If, on the other hand, you are like me and grew up watching football and love it, but you also have a love of Jane Austen -- welcome, you are in the right place!

This book is billed as Friday Night Lights meets Pride & Prejudice. It's not a direct re-telling, but the main character (Devon) definitely references Austen moments several times to keep you in tune and also to show her love of Austen.

For some reason, I loved Devon's character. Okay, I know why... because she had a lot of moments that to a small extent echoed my own high school days and what I witnessed of others as well. She was a little awkward, but not too awkward. She is well-liked and smart, but also has no idea what she wants to do with her life. College isn't really in her vision until she physically goes to a university and suddenly everything clicks into place. And she has also wasted away years in love with her best friend, blissfully unaware that he and everyone else knows it. She also has a tendency to misjudge people, but simultaneously knows when she is being mean and wants to be a better person.

But really the best of the characters is Ezra, who is (spoiler alert) akin to Mr. Darcy. So he is broody and handsome and inaccessible. He's also an All-American football player and on the team with her best friend, Cas, who she's had a crush on forever. I really liked the way that the author wrote Ezra and built his back story.

Much like Jane's inspirational novel, First & Then has a really slow-burn romance. And while there is a happy ending, it is quite abrupt, and the last chapter made me think "Really? That's how you're ending this?" Which bumps it down to about a 3 or 3.5 out of 5 for me. If I have one other criticism it is that it tied in a lot of important issues without saying much about them, but I think I actually preferred it that way... it made it seem more true to life.

In the end, it is a really light and breezy read with an innocent first love type romance (nothing steamy). Great for a rainy (or snowy) afternoon read.

Very witty protagonists- I enjoyed her banter, but was hoping the ending wasn’t as blah.

Devin has always been the strong silent type and it's always been her and her best friend Cas. But when her family takes in her cousin Foster and he starts to play football her circle expands. Star football player Ezra takes Foster under his wing and before she knows it Devin starts to develop some sort of feelings. But she's just not sure if she's ready for her circle to expand.

I liked this, not as much as her other works. But it's a solid choice for realistic fiction.

Emma Mills really said I am going to make this love interest Mr Darcy, with her entire chest

This was such a strange book. It seemed that all the characters had drama, but as the reader you felt disconnected from it all and didn't really care. The romance was also developed somewhat quickly and I didn't really understand why the characters felt so much for each other in such a short amount of time.

I am a recent convert to Austenanity, which at 25 is akin to a mid-life crisis. While my limited exposure to Pride and Prejudice definitely does not make me an expert, I really don't see the connection here. Well, I mean there's the obvious first impressions, asshole introvert vs. extrovert thing going on, it lacked a lot of the smaller details that would have made it interesting. If you're going to rip off Austen at least make it fun. Oh, and you at least need a likable protagonist, Lizzie would never be so annoying (except in the Lizzie Bennett Diaries).

This was a terrible book. There was so much slut shaming, trauma poorly handled, and characters that fell flat. I did not like this Sam-I-am.

Cute but underwhelming.

I actually quite enjoyed this one, more than I thought I might. I do think that it's less a retelling of Pride and Prejudice than very loosely inspired by the story, as well as other Austen books. (I mean, for one thing, Devon doesn't have any sisters!) Nevertheless, I liked Devon's voice and I felt like her character and perspective were very relatable. It took me quite a while to warm up to Ezra -- his dynamic with Devon starts out as less open hostility than Darcy and Elizabeth's, and more just sort of lukewarm apathy, so there wasn't a whole lot of unresolved sexual tension between them initially -- but eventually I came around to him. I also liked seeing Devon become closer to her cousin Foster and really develop a sense of protectiveness for him.

Overall, an easy, "warm fuzzy" sort of read that portrays high school in a rosier light than a lot of YA contemps do, and yet manages to still feel authentic.