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sterling_sapphic_reads 's review for:
Like First Love, Again
by J.J. Arias
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Like First Love, Again by JJ Arias is everything I want in a sapphic romance — tender, sensual, aching, joyful — and then somehow more. This isn’t just a love story; it’s a luminous, layered journey through grief, healing, reconnection, and the timeless pull of a first love that never truly let go.
Tori Cruz, who has perfected the art of control, is an amazing character — someone who’s wrapped her vulnerability in steel but never lost the warmth at her core. Enter Mia Falcon, her childhood best friend and the girl she once loved in silence, now back in her life after years of separation and personal loss. What follows isn’t a simple rekindling — it’s a slow-burn, deeply felt reunion that feels like falling in love for the very first time, again. What starts as a simple request to help sell a house becomes a tender, steamy, gut-punchingly emotional journey back to one another. The chemistry between them is explosive, but it’s the emotional intimacy — the quiet, aching moments of recognition, the slow unraveling of old wounds — that truly makes JJ Arias work a shining example of the beauty of sapphic love.
One thing I adore about JJ Arias is her care and attention to her characters. She writes with such emotional intelligence and grace, never once using trauma as a plot device, but instead letting it shape her characters into the women they’re becoming. She treats grief — please note there is (off-page) loss in this book — with nuance and compassion, weaving it into the story in a way that never feels heavy-handed. It just is, like life. Like healing. Like love. Mia Falcon is an incredible character. Her healing journey was so incredibly heartfelt and raw. She puts the work into herself and is a glowing example of the resilience of women.
And of course, the family dynamics shine in that signature JJ Arias way — full of Cuban warmth, humor, culture, and so much heart. The Cuban culture woven through these pages is vibrant and grounding, another signature element of Arias’ work that makes her stories feel like home. It’s a world you don’t just read — you feel it in your bones.
This book also skips some of my least favorite tropes: no third-act breakup, no cliche miscommunication. Just two women doing the work — and finding the joy — of coming back to one another with open eyes and full hearts. The queer awakening arc is beautifully handled, and the intimacy scenes, in true Arias fashion, are sexy and emotionally rich, honoring the complexity and heat of long-held desire. Her characters are grown women navigating real feelings, deep loss, queer awakening, and the kind of love that doesn’t just survive time — it waits.
As a self-proclaimed Super Arias Fan™, I will never NOT recommend a JJ Arias book to a reader. Her writing is consistently stellar — rich with insight, humor, and heart. She doesn’t miss. SHE DOESN'T MISS!!!!!! She writes women as resilient, messy, radiant, and real. And this book? It’s going straight to the top of my sapphic recs shelf. I laughed, I cried, I swooned. Like First Love, Again is the kind of romance that gets under your skin and settles into your heart. Soulful, sexy, and stunningly written, this second-chance sapphic love story delivers everything I crave in a book — and everything I’ve come to expect from JJ Arias, who is, without question, a drop-everything-and-read, auto-buy author for me.
Tori Cruz, who has perfected the art of control, is an amazing character — someone who’s wrapped her vulnerability in steel but never lost the warmth at her core. Enter Mia Falcon, her childhood best friend and the girl she once loved in silence, now back in her life after years of separation and personal loss. What follows isn’t a simple rekindling — it’s a slow-burn, deeply felt reunion that feels like falling in love for the very first time, again. What starts as a simple request to help sell a house becomes a tender, steamy, gut-punchingly emotional journey back to one another. The chemistry between them is explosive, but it’s the emotional intimacy — the quiet, aching moments of recognition, the slow unraveling of old wounds — that truly makes JJ Arias work a shining example of the beauty of sapphic love.
One thing I adore about JJ Arias is her care and attention to her characters. She writes with such emotional intelligence and grace, never once using trauma as a plot device, but instead letting it shape her characters into the women they’re becoming. She treats grief — please note there is (off-page) loss in this book — with nuance and compassion, weaving it into the story in a way that never feels heavy-handed. It just is, like life. Like healing. Like love. Mia Falcon is an incredible character. Her healing journey was so incredibly heartfelt and raw. She puts the work into herself and is a glowing example of the resilience of women.
And of course, the family dynamics shine in that signature JJ Arias way — full of Cuban warmth, humor, culture, and so much heart. The Cuban culture woven through these pages is vibrant and grounding, another signature element of Arias’ work that makes her stories feel like home. It’s a world you don’t just read — you feel it in your bones.
This book also skips some of my least favorite tropes: no third-act breakup, no cliche miscommunication. Just two women doing the work — and finding the joy — of coming back to one another with open eyes and full hearts. The queer awakening arc is beautifully handled, and the intimacy scenes, in true Arias fashion, are sexy and emotionally rich, honoring the complexity and heat of long-held desire. Her characters are grown women navigating real feelings, deep loss, queer awakening, and the kind of love that doesn’t just survive time — it waits.
As a self-proclaimed Super Arias Fan™, I will never NOT recommend a JJ Arias book to a reader. Her writing is consistently stellar — rich with insight, humor, and heart. She doesn’t miss. SHE DOESN'T MISS!!!!!! She writes women as resilient, messy, radiant, and real. And this book? It’s going straight to the top of my sapphic recs shelf. I laughed, I cried, I swooned. Like First Love, Again is the kind of romance that gets under your skin and settles into your heart. Soulful, sexy, and stunningly written, this second-chance sapphic love story delivers everything I crave in a book — and everything I’ve come to expect from JJ Arias, who is, without question, a drop-everything-and-read, auto-buy author for me.