SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Women's Fiction

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (June 28, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034554692X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345546920

Synopsis: In this dazzling new novel, Emily Giffin, the #1 New York Timesbestselling author of Something Borrowed, Where We Belong, andThe One & Only introduces a pair of sisters who find themselves at a crossroads.
 
Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing; Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes their family, their different responses to the event splinter their delicate bond.
 
Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first grade teacher, is single—and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother—a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter ends up in her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands.
 
On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately, Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired. 
 
As the anniversary of their tragedy looms and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them, but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover they need each other more than they knew . . . and that in the recipe for true happiness, love always comes first.
 
Emotionally honest and utterly enthralling, First Comes Love is a story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.

Review: This book is a fabulous portrayal of the sisterly relationship. Josie and Meredith are like polar opposites, which means that even though they always love one another, their relationship is often stormy and seems in danger of exploding.

The author does a wonderful job of making all the characters realistic and sympathetic. In the course of the novel, we find family, friendship, forgiveness and lots of love. I felt for each of the sisters at different points in the story, rather than being able to choose one side over the other--another sign of a great author!

I would love to read another story about these folks, perhaps another fifteen years into their futures.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.**

Rating: Four stars

About the author

Emily Giffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. After practicing litigation at a Manhattan firm for several years, she moved to London to write full time. The author of seven New York Times bestselling novels, The One & Only, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love The One You're With, Heart of the Matter, and Where We Belong, she lives in Atlanta with her husband and three children. 

Her eighth novel, FIRST COMES LOVE, will be released on June 28th, 2016.

Website: www.emilygiffin.com 

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