Review: First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky

First Comes Love

By: Katie Kacvinsky

Pub. Date: May 8, 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Pages: 228

Source: Borrowed from the awesome Mesa @ The Sagacity Quest

Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan, a girl always searching for what’s next, seemingly unable to settle down, is the exact opposite: full of light and life. On the outside, they seem like an unlikely couple. But looks can be deceiving and besides, opposites attract.

What starts as friendship, turns into admiration, respect and caring, until finally these two lone souls find they are truly in love with each other.

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 work at it. And learn that sometimes love means having to say you’re sorry.

Books like First Comes Love makes me remember how much I love contempories. First Comes Love is an honest portrayal about first love, friendship, grief, forgiveness and family. It is beautifully written and I had half the pages marked with post-it tabs reminding me of what quotes I wanted to write down in my "quote book".

Gray is a serious, withdrawn loner. Once the popular baseball player, he pushed everyone away when his twin sister suddenly died in a car crash. He's built impenetrable walls around himself that he never wants to take down. After Amanda died, he gave up his scholarship to go to local community college to stay with his parents, who are also falling apart. 

Dylan is unique, crazy and original! When she first meets Gray she sees the beauty within, and makes it her mission to not only be his friend and break through his walls, but to help him deal with whatever is plaguing him.

The two of them are like the odd couple-and it completely worked! The connection they had was perfect. The way they knew each other-even after such a short amount of time was wonderful. No matter how much Dylan annoyed Gray at first, there was something about her that drew her to him. I really liked Gray. He was a broken guy and since his sister would never experience anything, he felt that he owed it to her to grieve for her, and give up his hopes and dreams. I absolutely loved Dylan. I have never met a character like her before. She was so eccentric and I loved that about her. She was also selfless and saw the beauty in everything. I wish I could be more like that.

There are great messages within First Comes Love. Dylan not only changed Gray, but she made me see things differently, which is amazing. First Comes Love is a very realistic, character driven novel, and I thought everything worked perfectly together. The synopsis does not do this book justice. I am so glad that I read it, and I didn't pass it up as just another "summer romance book", because trust me when I say it is so much more than that.

First Comes Love is a short, quick read with a big message. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a beautifully written contemporary.