Review: First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

Expected Publication: June 28, 2016

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Format: via NetGalley

Rating: 3.5/5

Synopsis

Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing; Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes their family, their different responses to the event splinter their delicate bond.

Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first-grade teacher, is single—and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother—a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter ends up in her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands.

On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately, Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired.

As the anniversary of their tragedy looms and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover they need each other more than they knew . . . and that in the recipe for true happiness, love always comes first.

Emotionally honest and utterly enthralling, First Comes Love is a story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.

My Thoughts

First Comes Love is the story of two sisters who are as different as night and day. Meredith is the responsible sister who has the family and career anyone would wish for. Josie, on the other hand, is the carefree sister who is a teacher but recently has decided she wants a child…right now! The story focuses on their relationship as sisters and as individuals but also is dealing with the aftermath of the death of their brother Daniel decades ago.

Meredith is dealing with being a mother and also a lawyer though she questions if this is what she wants to do with her life. She is also at a crossroads when it comes to her marriage. Though she's married to the perfect man any woman would wish for she isn’t sure if she still loves him, or even if she ever did. She also wonders if she would’ve ever married Nolan if her brother never died, Nolan and Daniel were best friends and they wonder if they truly wanted to be together or if they were just brought together because of the tragedy.

Josie is the sister that is fun and carefree who always did what she wanted damn anyone else. So when she decides at almost 40 that she wants a child by god that’s what she’s going to do. She sets her mind on looking for a sperm donor but is sidetracked when she meets a funny guy on a random online dating site. So when he offers to help her out she figures why not but her best friend/roommate doesn’t feel that a random guy is the right one but that maybe he is. Josie is also dealing with the fact that she can’t shake the feeling that maybe she had something to do with her brother’s death all those years ago.

I’m so on the fence when it comes to this read! I went into this thinking it was about one thing but it ends up being about something different. I liked the whole sister’s relationship thing but what I didn’t like was the whole Daniel topic. I see where it comes into play but I feel like they’ve based their own lives around him even though he isn’t here. In the end, I gave it a solid 3.5 because I loved the dynamics between Josie and Meredith.