First There Was Forever by Juliana Romano

First There Was Forever by Juliana Romano

Release Date: April 14, 2015

Publisher:  Dial Books

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 400

Summary: Perfect for fans of Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty and Huntley Fitzpatrick’s My Life Next Door, Juliana Romano's expressive debut is an absorbing and bittersweet story about first love, first loss, and the friends that carry us through it all.

Lima and Hailey have always been best friends: Lima shy and sensitive, Hailey funny and free-spirited. But Hailey abandons Lima to party with the popular kids and pursue Nate, her disinterested crush. As their friendship falters, Lima and Nate begin spending more time together. And before Lima knows what she’s feeling, she and Nate do something irreversible. Something that would hurt Hailey....if she knew it happened.

Lima thinks she’s saving her friendship by lying, but she’s only buying time. As the secrets stack up, Lima is forced to make a choice: between her best friend forever, and the boy who wasn’t meant to be hers.

My Thoughts: I was extremely excited for this one and looking forward to it for months. It was compared to Jenny Han and Huntley Fitzpatrick. Those are two of my favorite authors. I liked First There Was Forever to an extent.

We are introduced to Lima and Hailey. They have been best friends forever. Hailey was the loud outspoken one while Lima was usually quiet and reserved. Hailey has had a crush on Nate forever. She dreams about him and imagines what it will be like when he finally likes her back. But, Lima ends up liking him too eventually. It just happens. She doesn’t plan on it or even want to really like him. But it happens. And he likes Lima back.

Usually I like love triangle books. I’m drawn to them. I know I shouldn’t but I usually do. And, while I did like this one, I just never really felt the connection between Lima and Nate. Usually I would be rooting for them, but I felt like I didn’t care either way which girl ended up with him. Maybe I just didn’t like him very much either.

While, I enjoyed seeing how much Lima and Hailey changed I just didn’t find myself loving this as much as I wanted. I finished it within two days but I never really felt connected I guess.

Overall:  I just felt like I had mixed emotions with this one. I liked it enough to finish it, and some parts were even really great but I was never truly sucked in I guess. I think this one is more of a 3.5 for me I guess.  I liked the writing style but never really connected with either girl.

Cover:  I adore the cover! It’s super cute! Love it!

What I’d Give It: