When I was in high school, I read the books Something Borrowed and Something Blue by Emily Griffin. I was probably not the target audience at ~16 years old, but I was a weird kid. I remember these books pretty well for having read them more than 10 years ago, but I never read anything else by Emily Griffin, until this past week when I picked up First Comes Love.
First Comes Love is the story of a family dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy, mostly focusing on our two narrators, sisters Josie and Meredith.
[minor spoilers ahead]
The novel begins with the story of how 25-year-old Daniel, medical student and all-around good guy, tragically dies in a car accident, leaving his parents, younger sisters, and best friend completely bereft. It then cuts to 15 years later, to a family still struggling to deal with life after Daniel died.
The story alternates between Josie and Meredith’s perspectives, as they deal with relationships with men, their friends, and mostly each other. They never got along as kids, but since Daniel’s death, their relationship has been contentious at best. They have trouble understanding each others’ approach to life and style of grieving. As both are dealing with major, life-changing decisions, more secrets about the night of Daniel’s death come to light, further challenging the relationships of these two sisters.
This book was sad, but still hopeful. I found the relationship between the sisters realistic but incredibly frustrating. I guess that’s the point, as Josie and Meredith were frustrated with their relationship too. Sometimes it was hard to find either of them likable, and I thought their reactions to certain events was a little ridiculous, but overall I thought it was an interesting look into the lives of a family after the unthinkable occurs.
If you’ve read other Emily Griffin books, you should definitely check this one out. If you haven’t, this isn’t a bad place to start.
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