First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky

First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky
 
Release Date: May 8th 2012
Pages: 198
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Buy It: Book Depository

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.

I really loved Gray's perspective and half of this book, it was really interesting and unique reading from a male point of view and I think Kacvinsky nailed it. I also found the writing in First Comes Love to be really lovely, sharp and lyrical at the same time. The story is raw and honest, and real, I could really believe these were two people falling in love for the first time.

The only problem with this story was, Dylan herself didn't have that same authenticity to her that Gray did. She was just too perfect, her only flaw was that she was scared of commitment, but other than that she was just the right mix of quirky and beautiful and confident. When two people are in love, they can bring out the best in each other, so I could sorta justify that Dylan was able to help Gray in a way the nobody else could, but I didn't really see what Gray could do for Dylan– because she was already pretty great the way she was. She's just one of those character I didn't really believe was real, which is a big problem when half of First Comes Love is about her. Then, near the ending of the book, Dylan does a complete turn around as a character and I just didn't quite buy it.

Still, I really loved reading how Dylan and Gray interacted and how they fell in love. I also found it interesting that they were both a bit older than the usual Young Adult characters, Gray was actually in college, which means that First Comes Love could definitely qualify as New Adult, a genre that is just emerging and that I'm excited to read more of in the future. Possibly because the characters are a tiny bit older, Kacvinsky wasn't afraid to tackle important relationship issues, like sex, and it was especially intriguing to read that from a male perspective.

First Comes Love wasn't a perfect book, but in it's short length– about 200 pages– it manages to tell a unique and universal story of falling in love and what comes next. Kacvinsky's writing is really amazing, and I certainly plan to pick up her dystopian series beginning with Awaken in the near future. Even though I didn't fall in love with Dylan, mostly because she didn't feel real to me, Gray is a complex and authentic male narrator who definitely made First Comes Love a worthwhile read.