First Crush, Last Love Book Review

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​Elizabeth McKenna’s latest novel, First Crush, Last Love, will have you remembering the angst of high school, the grief of a failed relationship, and the happiness of true love.

First Crush, Last Love Book Review

About First Crush, Last Love

Remember your first crush? How your heart raced and your cheeks flushed whenever you saw him? Jessie Baxter does, and it’s happening again. Ten years ago, despite her best efforts, Lee Archer wanted to be just friends. Now, he wants more, but Jessie’s still recovering from a psycho ex-husband. Can she learn to trust again and make her first crush into her last love?

Elizabeth McKenna’s latest novel will have you remembering the angst of high school, the grief of a failed relationship, and the happiness of true love.

My Thoughts

Do you remember your first crush? The way you felt and how you blushed and stammered? The way you felt that this person was going to be your forever love and that you couldn’t imagine your life without them. It truly is a magical and special feeling. Sometimes though that person can be your forever love and even when time separates you, when you meet them again – those feelings come rushing back.

This book touches on the crush and growing love that Jessie has for Lee. She loves and admires him but he is stuck in an unhealthy relationship with the most popular girl at school. He doesn’t allow himself to have a healthy relationship and I honestly feel this stems from his upbringing and childhood. Life was not easy for him growing up and I truly feel this is what causes him to make the decisions he does, to not have healthy relationships and to be afraid of one who would be healthy and positive for him. Instead he keeps Jessie as a best friend, close enough that he can count on her and have her in his life but never altering their dynamics.

Jessie on the other hand tries to move on from Lee but instead allows herself to enter into a hateful marriage. She wants so much to be love and doesn’t feel like she deserves it and doesn’t know what love feels like, that she accepts being treated awfully, physically, mentally and emotionally abused. Your heart breaks for her throughout the novel.

When the two have the chance to make things right between them, you can see them struggle with their own feelings of inadequacy, distrust and self-confidence. You want to make them give their heads a shake but also understand this is years of damage done to their esteem and self-love, that they need to move slowly and re-learn how to trust and have faith in another person. This is a truly beautiful story of hope, love and a second chance at first love again.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Elizabeth McKenna works as a full-time technical writer/editor for a large software company. Though her love of books reaches back to her childhood, she had never read romance novels until one Christmas when her sister gave her the latest bestseller by Nora Roberts. She was hooked from page one (actually, she admits it was the first love scene).

She had always wanted to write fiction, so she combined her love of history, romance and a happy ending to write Cera’s Place and Venice in the Moonlight. Her short story, The Gypsy Casts a Spell, is available for free on her site http://elizabethmckenna.com/. She hopes you will enjoy her first contemporary romance novel, First Crush Last Love, as much as others have enjoyed her historical romances.

Elizabeth lives in Wisconsin with her understanding husband, two beautiful daughters, and a sassy Labrador. When she isn’t writing, working, or being a mom, she’s sleeping.

The Giveaway!

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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