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papalbina's review
4.0
mientras toda mi TL de Twitter estaba viendo y comentando El Ministerio del Tiempo, yo he empezado y terminado este libro. todo un mérito para mí.
le he puesto 4 estrellas porque me ha parecido muy entretenido, pero la calidad literaria igual no llega pa tanto.
su principal problema es que intenta luchar contra los estereotipos para acabar cayendo en ellos de nuevo. tienes toda una paleta de personajes secundarios que rompen con ellos, para que luego vaya la protagonista y caiga en el peor de todos, el de pensar que las chicas monas y maquilladas que se interesan por la moda no tienen dos dedos de frente, y encima cuando se da cuenta de que las ha juzgado mal, se para medio segundo a reflexionar sobre su error.
por otro lado, me han ENCANTADO los personajes principales, sobre todo Foster y Ezra, especialmente Ezra porque es la cosa más cuqui del mundo (y me recuerda a otro personaje pero no sé a cuál).
Devon me ha gustado como protagonista y narradora. al principio entendí su indecisión y su "no sé qué hacer con mi vida pero de momento estoy bien así", y me ha gustado ver cómo va pasando de "no sé lo que quiero" y "me da igual todo" a "eso es lo que quiero y voy a luchar por ello". también me han parecido geniales sus reflexiones y paralelismos con las historias de Jane Austen, eso merecería una relecturas para pillarlas mejor. pero a veces me costaba ver su personalidad. por momentos parecía más un títere transmitiendo ideas que no eran suyas (de la autora, imagino), que la persona que ella decía ser.
me ha ENCANTADO sin embargo cómo evoluciona su relación con Foster y cómo aprende a apreciarlo y a quererlo. y su relación con Ezra me ha gustado mucho mucho. aunque el tema del enfado entre ellos dos me pareció un poco mal llevado y mal explicado, pero se sobrevive bien.
en fin, le falta quizá un poco de profundidad para hacerlo más memorable, pero es un gran libro para leer en una tarde, me ha dejado con buen sabor de boca, a pesar de que se me ha hecho corto, y yo esas cosas las valoro mucho.
muchas gracias a Alhana por regalármelo para mi cumpleaños.
edit: tercera relectura años más tarde... el tema de jane austen me ha escamado y molestado muchísimo mientras lo leía. devon está demasiado obsesionada con las historias de jane austen para que parezca medio normal. y sobre todo, hay demasiadas referencias al romance en las novelas de jane austen cuando sabemos que no es el tema principal de esos libros, aunque la gente suele liarse bastante con ese aspecto... no recordaba apenas nada de la trama y me ha vuelto a gustar, pero no tanto como hace seis años. de hecho, le quitaría una estrella a mi rating
le he puesto 4 estrellas porque me ha parecido muy entretenido, pero la calidad literaria igual no llega pa tanto.
su principal problema es que intenta luchar contra los estereotipos para acabar cayendo en ellos de nuevo. tienes toda una paleta de personajes secundarios que rompen con ellos, para que luego vaya la protagonista y caiga en el peor de todos, el de pensar que las chicas monas y maquilladas que se interesan por la moda no tienen dos dedos de frente, y encima cuando se da cuenta de que las ha juzgado mal, se para medio segundo a reflexionar sobre su error.
por otro lado, me han ENCANTADO los personajes principales, sobre todo Foster y Ezra, especialmente Ezra porque es la cosa más cuqui del mundo (y me recuerda a otro personaje pero no sé a cuál).
Devon me ha gustado como protagonista y narradora. al principio entendí su indecisión y su "no sé qué hacer con mi vida pero de momento estoy bien así", y me ha gustado ver cómo va pasando de "no sé lo que quiero" y "me da igual todo" a "eso es lo que quiero y voy a luchar por ello". también me han parecido geniales sus reflexiones y paralelismos con las historias de Jane Austen, eso merecería una relecturas para pillarlas mejor. pero a veces me costaba ver su personalidad. por momentos parecía más un títere transmitiendo ideas que no eran suyas (de la autora, imagino), que la persona que ella decía ser.
me ha ENCANTADO sin embargo cómo evoluciona su relación con Foster y cómo aprende a apreciarlo y a quererlo. y su relación con Ezra me ha gustado mucho mucho. aunque el tema del enfado entre ellos dos me pareció un poco mal llevado y mal explicado, pero se sobrevive bien.
en fin, le falta quizá un poco de profundidad para hacerlo más memorable, pero es un gran libro para leer en una tarde, me ha dejado con buen sabor de boca, a pesar de que se me ha hecho corto, y yo esas cosas las valoro mucho.
muchas gracias a Alhana por regalármelo para mi cumpleaños.
edit: tercera relectura años más tarde... el tema de jane austen me ha escamado y molestado muchísimo mientras lo leía. devon está demasiado obsesionada con las historias de jane austen para que parezca medio normal. y sobre todo, hay demasiadas referencias al romance en las novelas de jane austen cuando sabemos que no es el tema principal de esos libros, aunque la gente suele liarse bastante con ese aspecto... no recordaba apenas nada de la trama y me ha vuelto a gustar, pero no tanto como hace seis años. de hecho, le quitaría una estrella a mi rating
iphios's review
4.0
Not exactly 4 stars, maybe a 3.5.
This was a slow start for me, but two chapters in I was engaged. I like the thought that this was pride & prejudice meets friday night lights, except maybe that description was quite a stretch.
I liked the characters even some of the side characters. I could imagine them. Ezra did have the darcy like qualities. Foster was just loveable and devon was awesome. And the story had potential. There was so much going for it, except i expected more. I felt that while it dove, it did so with safety nets.
This was a slow start for me, but two chapters in I was engaged. I like the thought that this was pride & prejudice meets friday night lights, except maybe that description was quite a stretch.
I liked the characters even some of the side characters. I could imagine them. Ezra did have the darcy like qualities. Foster was just loveable and devon was awesome. And the story had potential. There was so much going for it, except i expected more. I felt that while it dove, it did so with safety nets.
lilyevangeline's review
3.0
Not quite as enjoyable as some of the other Emma Mills books I’ve read—notably lacking well-rounded female characters (our MC the exception), which is a bummer as she did that very well in her other books. BUUT it made tribute to Jane Austen so.... ❤️❤️
giulay's review against another edition
2.0
"What must it be like to have a path so clearly delineated for you? To have talent and a passion that guide your future like that?"
Unpopular Opinion Time
Unpopular Opinion Time
embermichele's review
5.0
I enjoyed this so much. Emma Mills is quickly becoming a new favorite contemporary author for me.
shewasmadeofdreams's review
5.0
“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?”
cmzukowski's review
4.0
Okay I am just going to come right out and say it, I really liked this book. The entire time I was reading it I could not understand the affection I was feeling towards it. I am Colleen, Queen of All Things Horror, sci-fi extraordinaire and fantasy fanatic. So how could I be so into a YA, contemporary “romance” book? But I was. (I put romance in quotes because I didn’t look at the book as straight-up romance.)
First & Then follows high school student, Devon Tennyson, through the first few months of her senior year. Devon is not the popular girl nor is she the outcast, she is a normal girl stuck in the middle trying to navigate family, friendships, the prospect of college, and growing up. The story is a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice but with high school students. Oh and football. It is described as Pride & Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights and I found that to be pretty damn accurate. Devon also has a slight obsession with Jane Austen and often contemplates how she would have handled modern high school life, which was cute for the most part but I will say it got slightly overbearing at times.
First & Then is very relatable. As I was reading it I would have flashbacks to my high school years and how so many of the things Devon was going through were things I experienced. Only with the exception that she was way cooler than me. That is actually one part of the book I had a few issues with. Well, not that she was cooler than me (I accept that), but that this regular girl was able to get along with every person she went to school with, whether they were the football captain, the hot guy, the cool girl, etc. Most people who were unpopular in high school would have to admit that this is slightly unrealistic. Or, maybe I was just way more unpopular than I thought. Who knows? What I loved about First & Then was how, in the end, the message was to take the time to see people as they really are and not listen to the things we are told about them or hear about them.
One thing about the book that some people might take issue with is a lot of moments brought up do not get clarification or closure. For example, a character who has a complicated, underlying story to their life is not focused on and is only seen once or twice and we never find out more about them. Things like that pop up a lot in the book. If you think about it though, this is the story of a few months of a high school girl’s life and people had momentary impacts on her but their time is fleeting. And in reality that is kind of how it goes sometimes, especially in high school. So it did not concern me much but I could see how it might be bothersome.
When I finished the book I was stuck between giving it 3 ½ or 4 stars, but I decided to go with 4 after some mental debate with myself. I guess what it all came down to is I really had a good time reading First & Then. It is not ground-breaking literature but it is very readable and very relatable. It is a cute modern rendition of Pride and Prejudice, a quick read and has its “awe” moments and instances of emotion and frustration. And in the end what did I learn from all this? I can be a tattooed chick that is super into horror and sci-fi and still get sucked in by a YA contemporary “romance book”. And you know what? I am okay with that.
"Close your eyes, real tight, and then count to three hundred. That's all you have to do. You just count to three hundred, and when you open your eyes, five minutes will have passed. And even if it hurts or things are shitty or you don't know what to do, you just made it through five whole minutes. And when it feels like you can't go on, you just close your eyes and do it again. That's all you need. Just five minutes at a time."
Check out this review and others on Double Letters Book Club
First & Then follows high school student, Devon Tennyson, through the first few months of her senior year. Devon is not the popular girl nor is she the outcast, she is a normal girl stuck in the middle trying to navigate family, friendships, the prospect of college, and growing up. The story is a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice but with high school students. Oh and football. It is described as Pride & Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights and I found that to be pretty damn accurate. Devon also has a slight obsession with Jane Austen and often contemplates how she would have handled modern high school life, which was cute for the most part but I will say it got slightly overbearing at times.
First & Then is very relatable. As I was reading it I would have flashbacks to my high school years and how so many of the things Devon was going through were things I experienced. Only with the exception that she was way cooler than me. That is actually one part of the book I had a few issues with. Well, not that she was cooler than me (I accept that), but that this regular girl was able to get along with every person she went to school with, whether they were the football captain, the hot guy, the cool girl, etc. Most people who were unpopular in high school would have to admit that this is slightly unrealistic. Or, maybe I was just way more unpopular than I thought. Who knows? What I loved about First & Then was how, in the end, the message was to take the time to see people as they really are and not listen to the things we are told about them or hear about them.
One thing about the book that some people might take issue with is a lot of moments brought up do not get clarification or closure. For example, a character who has a complicated, underlying story to their life is not focused on and is only seen once or twice and we never find out more about them. Things like that pop up a lot in the book. If you think about it though, this is the story of a few months of a high school girl’s life and people had momentary impacts on her but their time is fleeting. And in reality that is kind of how it goes sometimes, especially in high school. So it did not concern me much but I could see how it might be bothersome.
When I finished the book I was stuck between giving it 3 ½ or 4 stars, but I decided to go with 4 after some mental debate with myself. I guess what it all came down to is I really had a good time reading First & Then. It is not ground-breaking literature but it is very readable and very relatable. It is a cute modern rendition of Pride and Prejudice, a quick read and has its “awe” moments and instances of emotion and frustration. And in the end what did I learn from all this? I can be a tattooed chick that is super into horror and sci-fi and still get sucked in by a YA contemporary “romance book”. And you know what? I am okay with that.
"Close your eyes, real tight, and then count to three hundred. That's all you have to do. You just count to three hundred, and when you open your eyes, five minutes will have passed. And even if it hurts or things are shitty or you don't know what to do, you just made it through five whole minutes. And when it feels like you can't go on, you just close your eyes and do it again. That's all you need. Just five minutes at a time."
Check out this review and others on Double Letters Book Club