Review: First and Then by Emma Mills

Title: Frist and Then
Author: Emma Mills
Year Published: 2015

Genre: YA fiction

Pages: 267

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Location (my 2016 Google Reading map): USA (FL)

FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my school library

Summary (from the back of the book): Devon Tennyson wouldn't change a thing. She's happy silently crushing on best friend Cas and blissfully ignoring the future after high school. But the universe has other plans. It delvers Devon's cousin Foster, an unrepentant social outlier with a surprising talent, and the obnoxiously superior and maddeningly attractive jock Ezra right where she doesn't want them--first into her gym class and then into every other aspect of her life.

Review: Oh, this book was just what I needed this week! It's a quick read with good characters and a storyline that went places I didn't expect.

Devon has a "normal" life: she is pretty smart, has a best friend, has parents who are there and good, but not perfect, and she does okay in school. She isn't sure what she wants to do after this, her senior year, but doesn't seem too worried about all that. She also isn't very good at really seeing people; what they are going through. Because her life is mostly good, she doesn't relate to others who have crap going on or who have pasts that aren't easy. It doesn't mean she isn't sympathetic or empathetic, she just doesn't notice or seem to realize that others don't have the life she has.

The author did a great job of bringing people into Devon's life that show her other experiences and situations that are different from her own, but I didn't feel like I was being hit over the head with it. It was gradual, gentle, and effective. The book is touching, funny, cute, and surprising. No wonder it has done well at my school's library!