I Loved You First (Coming of Age Love Story) [Kindle Edition]

Description

My best friend was more than just a best friend to me. Three words summed it up: I heart him. I'd never tell him though. I wasn't stupid. Besides, what he'd told no one, but me, was a little something I wished I could forget... or ignore. He was gay. I guess gay wouldn't be bad if I wasn't so in love with him. Now it was just cruel.

Stereotypes run amok in this college love story: Parties, alcohol, hookups, and breakups. Alexandria Carmichael may find it a bit much as she deals with the unreturned love from the boy who completes her. When all is revealed, not only does she risk losing her best friend forever, but also herself. Without her childhood companion for support, Alexandria takes a journey of self-discovery but fears what she'll find at the end.

My Thoughts
As again with most of my books this is my sisters and I got to read it first.. have I ever said thank you to my sister for letting me read most of her books, well I am thank you Leanne aka Magic Of Reading :). The description seems something I don't normally read but yet I wanted to, the cover is really good and simple and sometimes simple is best. So yes I was very excited to read this.

This book got me reading from the first few chapters, I wanted to know how the main character gets on in the book , as if I was hooked to her and wanted to know her every move. The storyline is about friendship and to me holding on to that friendship. Another kind of topic was learning to cope on your own, get your own life and love it without having to do and act on other people. The writing style is simple and it was a very easy read, the font was normal in which I was thankful for because I hate reading small font books but I guess I will have to look forward to that in the future. The POV is with the main girl Alex.

I want to talk about two of characters thw two i feel were the main characters. The main.. main charachter Alexandria Carmichael aka.. Alex, is such a great female character, she is in love.. in love with her best friend, in which she knows.. she knows deep down she willl never have so how to deal with it.. she just stays with him throughout everything. She is caring, understanding and well very lonely to me, other than her best friend she doesnt have other friends. Seth Richards is the other main character, he's gay and he plays baseball in which come with loads of parties. The thing is he's gay and he doesn't want anyone to know.. the only other person who knows is his best friend Alex. I feel he's not a good character to me.. yes he sound yummy and cute but other than that the way he treats Alex and the way he deals with being gay is not good to me. Both characters have flaws which is very realistic in real-life, which makes the story an even better read.

In this book many things are involved which may be in real life. Many people may be gay and doesn't want anyone to know. But you shouldn't be afraid of who you are and you shouldn't be scared of anyone's reactions. Everyone is different in many ways.. it's the you deal with it, which is what counts.

My overall opinion of this book was it wads a great read and I loved the truth.. the storyline and most of the characters. The setting's were enjoyable and the way it ended was even better.. though it had me in tears.
I recommend this book to people who read YA and loves a great friendship book.

Tara
Rating: 5/5

I admit that I was a bit reticent at first to try this book because the topic isn't my cup of tea, I was unsure. Now I can say that I don't regret reading this story. Reena Jacobs wrote moving picture of the troubles adolescent can go through. It's remarkably well done. I could sympathise with Alex and I loved how she is mentally growing at the end of the book. She has learned that she must first and foremost love herself and that you must always be true to your feeling if you don't want to hurt someone else or/and end hurting too.

It a story about acceptance, friendship and true-shelf that could be really helpful to some young ones that are feeling alone or too different one that reminded me something I've read a long time ago and that says that loving someone if to offer him/her the best gift: us but if we really love him/her and want the gift to be real we must first love ourselves because giving something we don't like isn't a real present.

Alex didn't know at first what she was really doing to his friend and what their relation was making her loose; She knew what he was doing wrong but she didn't see she wasn't helping either. I think that in the end the book they are better friend to each other than ever because they finally learn what that means.

Really a good novel

First of all I'd like to say a big thanks to Reena for asking me to review her book and also for asking me to take part in her up-coming blog tour, it's always amazing to be asked to take part in these events.
I have to say, I loved this book and although it's a novella and quite short it tackles a very important issue and with sensitivity, care and has just as much impact as a full length novel would have.

Alex has just started college along with her best friend Seth who she has known since they were at school together. Things are pretty much going OK apart from two things. Number one, Alex is in love with Seth and number two, Seth is gay and only Alex knows about it. As all is revealed Alex faces some tough times and choices as she risks losing both her best friend and the person she loves.

To an outsider reading this review it may appear a bit odd that a straight girl is in love with a guy she knows is gay. But for anyone who's ever been in love you'll know how irrational love can actually be and regardless of the circumstances, you can't help who you fall in love with and in what circumstances.
I can't write an in-depth review without posting spoilers accidentally but what I can tell you is that this is a wonderful story of self-discovery, honesty and learning to love yourself.

I have to admit, I did not envy either Alex or Seth, especially towards the half-way point of the story when they both faced some truly difficult times. Alex is in every way the sidekick to Seth's stronger character and it was wonderful to see things change as the story progressed and as Seth also changed and adapted (I have to admit I was furious with both him and Alex on several occasions because of some of the things that happened). As someone who has and had both Gay and Bi friends, I found some of the characters attitudes to being gay absolutely horrifying, some people are so judgemental it's unbelievable and we see some extreme reactions in this novel with some extreme consequences.

Other characters play a major part in this novel, in both good and bad ways including Dink, who I still haven't made my mind up about, and Trinity, who is just simply awesome in every way. I think if I were to have any of these characters as a friend, it would be Trinity. Even Cheyenne who, to put it mildly, is not my favourite person plays a part in things being different towards the end and the scene with her and Trinity had me doubled up laughing.

As I've previously said, this is a short novella but it's impactful. I'd recommend this book for Straight, Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Curious and everyone else in the world really. Reena tackles some difficult issues in this novel and although this is not a heavy read, it will make you think.
In short, this is a stunning book with lessons to be learned in both loving yourself, loving others, being true to yourself and breaking free and with an ending I'm sure most readers will love.