mama_in_the_rye 's review for:

A First Time for Everything by K.L. Walther

4.25

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This Reviewer Received an ARC of this book courtesy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

I am so grateful that I was able to get an early copy of this book. At the beginning of last summer I read The Summer of Broken Rules and fell in love with the deeply emotional and cool vibe to K.L. Walther’s books.  Although a completely new and unique story I loved getting to revisit Meredith and Wit’s love story and seeing them happily ever after. 

In this novel with meet Madeline and her family on the night her brother proposes to his longtime girlfriend Katie. Conflicted about her feelings for her soon to be sister in law, “Mads” reluctantly agrees to become a bridesmaid. However as the wedding progresses over the next year it creates such a huge learning opportunity that will change Madeline’s life. Katie has never been one of Mads favorite people; quiet and a bit standoffish Madeline has never really been able to connect with her brothers now fiancé. After a bridesmaids truth or dare game our protagonist is thrown into the dating ponds that she has never had the chance or confidence to join before. There is her longtime best friend, a former classmate and so many new people to teach her how to date. Date after disastrous date Madeline begins to realize what she is actually looking for in love and in the people she wants in her life. Growing not only more comfortable in her own romantic relationships, but learning that she might not know the real Katie until she gives her future sister in law a fair chance. 

All together this was very much like the other novel I read by the author. Fun, fluffy, and full of great pop culture references that very much fit the type of niche I love. A bit rushed and slightly disjointed at times, but something you can’t help but enjoy reading and thinking about long after you are done. An incredibly sweet novel about love, life, growing up and growing wiser.