Monday, July 9, 2012

First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky

I am SUPER excited to share the news Katie Kacvinsky posted on her blog last week.  There will be a sequel to First Comes Love!!!  Katie originally planned for this to be a standalone book but, as she explains on her blog, Dylan and Gray's story was far from over.  She could not get them out of her head, so she wrote Second Chance.  She is still trying to sell the book to her publisher, so SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP.

While Katie promotes the concept of becoming "Unplugged" in her Awaken series, this is NOT the time to follow that piece of advice.  Please help spread the word in any way you can.  Facebook, Twitter, Blog, etc.  The more people talk about the book, the greater her chances of getting it published.

Below is a copy of my review of First Comes Love, which was posted on Book Nerds Across America last April.

At first, this book reminded me of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares because the narration constantly switches between the two main characters.  I loved this style of writing in both of these books because we get to experience the story from both of the main character's perspectives.  With so many trends constantly evolving in literature, this is one that I would LOVE to see more often. 

When we first meet Dylan and Gray they are attending summer school at a local community college in Phoenix.  Gray is barely holding on after losing his twin sister in a car accident several months prior.  He and his family have emotionally shut down, he turned down a full ride baseball scholarship, and he has no direction in his life.  Dylan is there for the summer visiting her aunt.  She is a free spirit looking to experience everything life has to offer.

Dylan first approaches Gray because she witnessed him sulking around campus looking empty and lifeless.  She asks him to give her tours around the area.  Gray thinks she is ridiculous, but he can't think of a good excuse not to.  Slowly Dylan starts to breath life back into Gray and their friendship slowly develops. The two of them could not be more different from each other, but they are a perfect match.  They are constantly striving to surprise each other, which I found to be very cute and romantic.  The surprises are not your typical flowers, candy, cards types of things.  They are very genuine and heartfelt...appealing to the other person on the most personal of levels.

The ending was left open, so I can only hope that some day Katie will let us continue to experience Dylan and Gray's journey.  While I began reading with the thought that it was refreshing to have a standalone book...I now understand why most of the books on my TBR list are part of a series.  I get attached to characters and just can't let them go.  These are two characters that I certainly don't want to let go of.  Even though I am passing the book onto the next lucky recipient in the tour,  this book will not leave me any time soon.  There are a lot of very good messages that I have taken from it and can only hope to implement into my own life.  I felt much the same way after reading Awaken.  Katie has such a powerful way of sharing life lessons without coming across like she is trying to do so. 

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