The First Man
My Rating: 3.5
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC*
Publication Date: February 25, 2021
Author: A.S. Kelly
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The First Man Blurb
Shane
Do you want to know what it means to live like me?
It means being forced not to look at him, not to touch him, not to be left alone in the same room as him.
Not to seek him out. Not to want him.
Not to love him.
Do you know how it feels to spend your entire life pretending to be someone else? Do you know what it’s like to love someone who doesn’t want to be loved?
I’ll tell you how it feels.
It feels as if you’re living in constant torment: you know which path you should follow, but you also know that, if you follow that path, you can never turn back.
And I can’t do that to him.
Every day I come back, because I know that he’s waiting for me.
Every day I promise him that he will never have to live without me.
Andy
Do you know what it means to live like me?
It means being forced not to touch him, not to kiss him, not to be able to leave the room while he’s still in it.
Not to breathe him in, not to lust after him.
Not to love him.
Do you know how it feels to spend your entire life pretending to be someone else? Do you know what it’s like to love the only person you’re not allowed to love?
I’ll tell you how it works.
You can’t seem to feel anything other than him; when you walk away, you know that you’re turning your back on the only thing that’s good in your life.
Yet you still walk away.
Every day I leave, knowing that he will be standing there, watching.
Every day I ask him to promise me that I will never have to live without him.
The First Man Review
As a quick reminder, here is my rating structure:
- 1 star: Did not finish
- 2 Stars: Finished but I do not recommend
- 3 Stars: Liked but could use some improvements
- 4 Stars: Loved this book!
- 5 Stars: Rare. The unput-down-able, binge read obsession.
My star ratings are also based also genre based. I compare all books with books of the same genre. While I would love to believe that my love of books in general transcends all bias, there are genres I prefer over others.
I’m human.
Example: If I read a mystery novel and think it deserves a 5-star rating, then I have compared it to other mystery books, and determined it to be one of my absolute favorites. The unputdownable mystery.
This will hopefully keep me from comparing Outlander, a personal obsession of mine, with the experience of reading The Hate You Give. Both 5 star books for me, but completely and totally different. I couldn’t even try to rate them against each other, so I don’t. Makes my life easier. 🙂
My Thoughts
First of all, let’s talk about that cover. I saw it and I knew I wanted to read The First Man. It’s the perfect rom com cover with an adorable green background that just pops. It caught my eye, so I have to give credit to the designer here. Great job!
As for the substance of The First Man, can we have more gay couple centered romance novels please? I absolutely loved the idea of taking a subplot couple and giving them their own book to tell their story.
I do wish there weren’t as many mentions of the couple from book 1, but I may be the wrong person to ask. Every time the story shifted from Andy and Shane, I was reminded that I hadn’t read the first book in the series. Because of this, I always felt like I was missing something. So I would recommend starting with book one before reading this installment.
Being a joint POV novel, we get to really see the different aspects of a relationship. I loved, LOVED, that some of the scenes were played out from both sides. There’s two sides to every story, so why don’t we just read them both??? In this way, The First Man really became about Andy and Shane’s relationship and not about one character in particular.
While I found The First Man to be slightly overly dramatic at moments, I could really feel the beating heart in this story. Even through the humorous situations or precarious predicaments, Andy and Shane’s love story propelled me through every page.
~About the Author~
A. S. Kelly was born in Italy but lives in Ireland with her husband, two children and a cat named Oscar.
She’s passionate about English literature, she’s a music lover and addicted to coffee.
She spends her days in a small village North of Dublin, looking for inspiration for her next stories.
Rainy Days is her debut novel.
*Special thanks to A.S. Kelly and Rachel’s Random Resources providing a copy of The First Man in exchange for an honest review.
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