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A review by imme_van_gorp
The Perfect First by Maya Hughes
3.5
This was a nice read, but definitely not spectacular. The two MCs, Seph and Reece, kind of had an insta-love thing going on, which I absolutely hate, and therefore I had some difficulties really connecting with their romance at first. I eventually did end up liking them together, but I still think something was missing in the build-up.
I have to say, the first half of this novel definitely had me experiencing way too much second hand embarrassment, which is always slightly uncomfortable.
Another thing that I didn’t really like was the fact that this story was written in the past tense. I really saw no use for this choice and all it really did was make it harder to dive into the story and really feel it. It made everything appear more stand-offish, which is surely the opposite of what you want with a novel like this. It took me some time to get used to, but after a while I just read over the past tense as if it was written in present tense and that oddly enough did really help with my enjoyment of the book. And it’s not like I have a problem with books written in the past tense in general, but for this one it just really didn’t work. It was distracting.
Anyway, these negatives aside, I generally did like the book. Maybe it was not very emotionally captivating or really swoon-worthy, but it was definitely cute enough to still enjoy reading about Seph and Reece’s love story. I was also kind of intrigued by Seph’s backstory with her dad.
I liked Reece’s friends a lot (Berk being my favourite), so seeing how the three other novels in this series are about each of them, I think I will be continuing with the next book. Even if I might just not be the biggest fan of this author’s writing style, I am still interested enough to find out what she has to say about these other three boys and their stories.
I have to say, the first half of this novel definitely had me experiencing way too much second hand embarrassment, which is always slightly uncomfortable.
Another thing that I didn’t really like was the fact that this story was written in the past tense. I really saw no use for this choice and all it really did was make it harder to dive into the story and really feel it. It made everything appear more stand-offish, which is surely the opposite of what you want with a novel like this. It took me some time to get used to, but after a while I just read over the past tense as if it was written in present tense and that oddly enough did really help with my enjoyment of the book. And it’s not like I have a problem with books written in the past tense in general, but for this one it just really didn’t work. It was distracting.
Anyway, these negatives aside, I generally did like the book. Maybe it was not very emotionally captivating or really swoon-worthy, but it was definitely cute enough to still enjoy reading about Seph and Reece’s love story. I was also kind of intrigued by Seph’s backstory with her dad.
I liked Reece’s friends a lot (Berk being my favourite), so seeing how the three other novels in this series are about each of them, I think I will be continuing with the next book. Even if I might just not be the biggest fan of this author’s writing style, I am still interested enough to find out what she has to say about these other three boys and their stories.