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A review by theamyleblanc
First & Then by Emma Mills
3.0
I'm left feeling a bit conflicted by this book. I thought it was going to be about high school football, jane austen-inspired story lines, and the transition into young adulthood (all things I love).
Instead, this is a book that tries to tackle too many things. It comes across incredibly muddied. A lot of the character development is not great or takes too long. Devon isn't the most likeable characters; I didn't really understand why everyone kept telling her she's easy to talk to and that people like her as a person. She never really seems to get interested in anything, never seems to find a path.
I can appreciate what the author tried to do with both Foster's and Ezra's storylines but there were too many loose ends. I don't need everything to be tied up in a nice bow by the end but it can't just be swept aside and ignored, either. The ending was rather anticlimactic, which was disappointing but not all that surprising.
Ezra is far and away the best character in this book. The story would have been way more interesting had it been told from his point of view. I liked that his backstory isn't all sunshine and roses because sometimes life is like that, even for high schoolers. He's the only one who seemed to be real and alive. Everyone else was just a bit flat.
The Austen angle was incredibly confusing! It seemed to be trying to do multiple Austen adaptations in one, which could be cool if executed well. This was not. It was weird and a little off-putting.
I probably wouldn't recommend this book.
Instead, this is a book that tries to tackle too many things. It comes across incredibly muddied. A lot of the character development is not great or takes too long. Devon isn't the most likeable characters; I didn't really understand why everyone kept telling her she's easy to talk to and that people like her as a person. She never really seems to get interested in anything, never seems to find a path.
I can appreciate what the author tried to do with both Foster's and Ezra's storylines but there were too many loose ends. I don't need everything to be tied up in a nice bow by the end but it can't just be swept aside and ignored, either. The ending was rather anticlimactic, which was disappointing but not all that surprising.
Ezra is far and away the best character in this book. The story would have been way more interesting had it been told from his point of view. I liked that his backstory isn't all sunshine and roses because sometimes life is like that, even for high schoolers. He's the only one who seemed to be real and alive. Everyone else was just a bit flat.
The Austen angle was incredibly confusing! It seemed to be trying to do multiple Austen adaptations in one, which could be cool if executed well. This was not. It was weird and a little off-putting.
I probably wouldn't recommend this book.