First Crush, Last Love Blog Tour Plus Review

First Crush, Last Love
by Elizabeth McKenna
Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 314 pages
August 1st 2017

Back in high school, Lee Archer made Jessie Baxter’s cheeks flush and her heart race. But the popular athlete never wanted to be more than just friends. Ten years later, after a failed marriage and with her journalism career on shaky ground, Jessie’s come home for her high school reunion—and Lee still has the power to make her knees weak and her pulse pound.

Lee’s teenage years were filled with more trauma and drama than anyone guessed. Though his damaged past has helped make him a successful police detective, it’s hurt every relationship he’s tried. But seeing the grown-up, stunning Jessie might just change his commitment-phobic mind.

Jessie’s psycho ex-husband had her convinced no one would ever love her, but Lee is ready to step out of the friend zone and into her heart. Can she learn to trust again before she loses her chance to turn her first crush into her last love?

Elizabeth McKenna’s novel will have you remembering the angst of high school, the grief of a failed relationship, and the joy of finding true love at last.

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My Review:

I flew through reading this book. The first section of the book is dedicated to Jessie’s high school years, where she had a one-sided crush on Lee. After Lee seems to reject her for his on and off girlfriend Tina, she gives up on him and decides to go out with Billy. Fast forward 5 years, she is getting married to Billy and Lee has left town after high school. She is having regrets about her marriage, but she decides to go through with it. Her regrets only intensify when Billy ruins the wedding for her, but by that point, she feels that it is too late to back out. She thinks that she is going to make it work. Meanwhile, Lee is working as a policeman in Chicago, and trying to get his own love life together.

Even though the book focuses on the romance at the end, by the time I stopped with my own little summary, the book is about half over. My favorite part of the story wasn’t actually seeing Lee and Jessie grow closer, which definitely wasn’t disappointing. My favorite part of this story was definitely seeing Jessie grow. In high school, no one but Billy had ever shown her interest, and she only hung out with/had a crush on Lee. She grew from that girl who had never had anyone interested in her, to a scared woman stuck in a horrible marriage. She had to build up the strength to stand up to Billy, and she had to learn that the horrible things that he had said to her weren’t true. She had to re-learn how to love herself before she could let herself love another person

This book could definitely be a lesson to people who get married, even though they have cold feet/a bad feeling. There’s a difference between nerves and realizing that something may not be completely right with the relationship. If she had gone with her gut feeling about the bar proposal and never married Billy, she would have saved herself therapy, emotional abuse, and years of suffering. She also would have never had the horrible memories of their wedding, which could have been another sign. It is sad when people get married just to get married, even though they know that something is not right. Even though this book is fictional, it could serve as a real-life warning.

I also love how the book was paced. The high school years were a little slow, but it did allow the readers to truly appreciate the growth of the characters after seeing them in their immature 17-year-old stages.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new romance novel, or to anyone who loves second chance romances. I’m not sure if this counts as second chance, because they were never together in the first place. However, I still consider it to be one, and this is definitely one of the best if not THE best second-chance romance novels that I have ever read.

Overall Rating: 6/5

About the Author

Though Elizabeth McKenna’s love of books reaches back to her childhood, she had never read a romance novel until 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). With the urging of her children, she decided to write her own Happily Ever Afters.

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.

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Tour Schedule

April 23rd:
Launch
Hearts & Scribbles
underneath the covers
April 24th:
E-Romance News
Two Points of Interest
Stacking My Book Shelves!
April 25th:
Colorimetry
Deal Sharing Aunt
Wishful Endings
April 26th:
Bri’s Book Nook
Locks, Hooks and Books
Inside the Mind of an Avid Reader
April 27th:
Teatime and Books
SilverWoodSketches
April 28th: Grand Finale