Esther's Ever After: Katie Kacvinsky

First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky
Release Date ~ May 8, 2012
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN13: 9780547599793
Review copy received from Thomas Allen & Son Ltd
Goodreads Synopsis:
Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan, a girl always searching for what’s next, seemingly unable to settle down, is the exact opposite: full of light and life. On the outside, they seem like an unlikely couple. But looks can be deceiving and besides, opposites attract.

What starts as friendship, turns into admiration, respect and caring, until finally these two lone souls find they are truly in love with each other.

But staying in love is not as easy as falling in love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they’re going to have to work at it. And learn that sometimes love means having to say you’re sorry.

Some days you just really need to read a good contemporary book about falling in love- and First Comes Love is exactly about that first love, and what falling in love feels like especially when two completely opposite people just seem to fall together.
First Comes Love is an honest and raw story that doesn't sugarcoat anything yet it still left me feeling unsatisfied at the end. It felt like too much build up for such a small result, and one that didn't feel altogether real either.

This isn't a Hollywood love story:
Dylan and Gray aren't perfect- they aren't model gorgeous, perfectly charming or constantly friendly and nice. They're real and they're flawed - and they both see the good and the bad in each other. It isn't exactly love at first sight either. It starts out slow, and they just gradually start to see each other in a different light. And by the time they realize they're in love with each other, life throws them another curveball and they realize that it isn't always guranteed to be easy. This isn't some glamorous love story, but it sounds like one that you or I or our friend could have experienced.
And these are REAL people:
Like I mentioned above, Dylan and Gray both have their flaws as does everyone else in their life. These people are far from perfect, and even the reader can see it. I'm not even too sure I'd get along that great with Dylan and Gray, because our personalities just wouldn't mesh- but that doesn't mean I didn't want to read about them! Dylan, especially, is a tad eccentric that just amkes her fascinating to read about even if I don't always understand her reasoning or point of view.

But my biggest disappointment with this book was how it progressed- I liked it at first, that it happened quickly but naturally but I had thought their problems (hinted at in the synopsis) would be more difficult and problematic for them- in fact, they turned out to be rather insignificant in relation to the rest of the story. And I wasn't particularly happy with how they dealt wiht it because it all felt entirely glazed over. I wasn't convinced that their decision would last and it seemed like Dylan made a complete turnaround from the character I was led to believe she was throughout the rest of the story. It just didn't seem true to herself. Ultimately, this just led th ebook to be a quick, somewhat interesting read but mostly unforgettable because there just wasn't anything that special about them or their love story.