First & Then by Emma Mills Blog Tour & Giveaway

First & Then on October 13, 2015
Pages: 272
Format: ARC

Devon Tennyson wouldn't change a thing. She's happy watching Friday night games from the bleachers, silently crushing on best friend Cas, and blissfully ignoring the future after high school. But the universe has other plans. It delivers Devon's cousin Foster, an unrepentant social outlier with a surprising talent for football, and the obnoxiously superior and maddeningly attractive star running back, Ezra, right where she doesn't want them first into her P.E. class and then into every other aspect of her life.

Pride and Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights in this contemporary novel about falling in love with the unexpected boy, with a new brother, and with yourself.

We’re so excited to be on the First & Then Blog Tour! This is seriously going to be one of my favorite books this year and you can read all about how much I loved it below…BUT FIRST!

Macmillan decided for this blog tour that they would give each blog a different superlative! Ours is

“Character You Most Love To Hate.”

We were a little worried because this is a tough one! How can we hate anyone? But honestly after we thought about it a little bit, we realized that it wasn’t as hard as we were making it. We actually got to ask Emma a question too –

What qualities make a character one that you love to hate?

Having recently re-read Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins), the first hateable character that popped into my mind was the odious Amanda Spitterton-Watts. She is completely irredeemable! You never get a sense that she will waver in her dislike of Anna, or that there is some semblance of decency or regret or humanity below the surface. To me, the most love-to-hate characters are just that—irredeemable, unchanging, and unrelenting. There’s nothing salvageable about them!

We couldn’t agree with Emma more to be honest!

Some examples of the characters we love to hate:

Nan – My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick – SHE WAS HORRIBLE and the worst friend in the history of friends.

Jules – The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West – I just recently listened to the audio of this book and to be honest, I think I hated her more the second time around. That Girl.. UGH I want to do mean and petty and horrible things to her.

Maura – The Cahill Witch Trilogy by Jessica Spotswood – My hate for this girl is epic you guys. She’s
THE WORST. Like so much that I seriously almost threw my books a couple times. It’s ridiculous.

BUT like Emma said, what makes these character ones that we love to hate is the fact that nothing they did made up for their actions and ultimately they were never able to redeem themselves!

What characters do you love to hate? Let us know in the comments! NOW – check out my review of this amazing book!

I simply can’t measure the love I have for this book… well I guess I can, with these 5 stars I’m giving it, but I just don’t feel like it accurately represents just HOW much I actually loved this story. I couldn’t stop reading and ended up staying up way too late just to finish.

Can I tell you all a secret? I have never read a single Jane Austen book. Ever.

Okay, stop with the astonished looks. I will tell you this. I am not much for the classics. I told myself I was going to read more of them… I just haven’t.

I promise I will read them… or one… or something.

BUT the reason I’m saying that is because this book summary sells it as Pride & Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights.

Did you guys know I’m a bit of a sucker for sports related stories? First & Then kind of revolves around football… I mean it’s definitely a part of the story but it’s not the whole story.

Devon Tennyson is kind of drifting through her senior year of high school, she’s spent ages crushing over her best friend Cas, and once an only child, her house and life is now being overrun by her younger long-lost cousin’s presence.

I think what I loved most in this story were the relationships and the way they were explored. Devon and Foster are kind of forced into a type of brother/sister relationship which you can tell from the beginning that she kind of resents. Foster, for his part, seems nice and even a bit sweet, even though he’s a bit closed off about his emotions and feelings, but his life has been anything but nice and sweet. Despite his history I loved his protectiveness towards Devon and I really enjoyed their dynamic together.

Devon herself is totally my kind of girl. She’s funny and snarky and there were times that I found myself literally laughing out loud while reading parts of this book.

“Linds?”
“Yeah. Lindsay. You know.”
Oh I knew. A cute nickname was the first mile marker on Gag Highway…

Or

High school parties are breeding grounds for idiotic people with too much drama and not enough sense.

Of course there is a boy… or two. I mentioned Cas, Devon’s best friend earlier, and I honestly really loved their ease together and their friendship. I thought I really liked him… but then something happens at the end that really just crushed me. I’m not telling you what it is, you’ll figure it out when you read it, but let’s just say his swoon factor dropped exponentially.

The second boy is Ezra… Devon has Ezra pegged as a huge asshole when she realizes that they are the only seniors in a freshman gym class together and he treats her like crap. Oh… Ezra is an all American football player… best on the team and going to the college of his choosing. But he’s not the guy everyone has him pegged as and I really, really enjoyed the evolution of their relationship. My only complaint… more kissing please! LOL

Overall a wonderfully told story of love and friendship, family and loss, and finding the things that drive you. And yes… it’s my understanding that fans of Austen will recognize the references while reading… even if I didn’t.

Put this one on your TBR list now… pre-order it and then wait patiently by your mailbox because you NEED to read this one as soon as you possibly can!