Introducing: Wednesday Book Reviews!

I’ve never been much of a book reviewer. In fact, I created a whole book journal for myself that didn’t have any space for writing reviews because I didn’t enjoy writing them. Coming from the book publishing world, I know how important reviews are—-the good and the bad—and I figured a star rating on Goodreads was enough. I especially didn’t want to write out a review for a book I gave a bad rating to.

However, once I opened The Reading Chamber I decided to be more intentional about my book reviews. I’ve been able to convince nine people to read the ACOTAR series just by word of mouth so I thought…hey why not start reviewing books again? Starting with Goodreads, I set up some ground rules:

  • I will always do a star rating, even if I don’t like it

  • I will write reviews for any books I gave three stars or higher

  • Books that receive less than three stars don’t receive reviews unless I think it’s very important to highlight some things I did/didn’t like

I also started a YouTube channel for highlighting titles we sell at The Reading Chamber and doing reviews for YA books I recently read. Most recently, I started doing a Thursday Book Review (TBR) on TikTok for my current reads. To bring more awareness to this blog, I decided to introduce Wednesday Book Reviews where I’ll be reviewing a young adult book I most recently read.

Before we get into the first review, here’s how I rank my star ratings:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: I LOVED this book. This was so good I could not put it down. I would absolutely read this again and highly, highly recommend this title.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: I really enjoyed this book. I loved a lot of it, but I wasn’t obsessed with it. I’d recommend this to specific people based on their tastes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️: I liked this book. I enjoyed reading it, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t put down. There were parts I really liked and parts I didn’t like. May or may not recommend.

⭐️⭐️: I didn’t really like this book. It was either just not for me or it was not crafted well. I may have liked a few pieces of the text, but it’s not something I would recommend.

⭐️: I hated this book. There wasn’t anything I really liked about it and couldn’t wait to finish it. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

This week’s title is A First Time for Everything by K.L. Walther, which I happen to sell at The Reading Chamber!

Madeline (Mads) is stunned when her close-knit brother gets engaged without telling the family, especially since she’s never been fond of his fiancée, Katie—but she agrees to join the wedding party in hopes of keeping the peace. During a bridesmaids’ game of truth or dare, Mads admits she’s never been kissed, launching a chaotic quest to find her the perfect wedding date. As she juggles disastrous dates, unexpected sparks, and growing doubts about her brother’s relationship, Mads must decide who she really wants by her side—and what it means to fight for the people you love.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We’re starting off strong with a five-star read! I’m very unsurprised I rated this five stars since I adore K.L. Walther’s books. The only one I haven’t rated five stars so far is While We’re Young. As with all of K.L. Walther’s books, she has incredibly strong characters that you wish were real so you could befriend them in real life. I’d love to spend the afternoon at the Fisher-Michaels residence. As someone who grew up in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, which is right next to Bucks County, Pennsylvania where K.L. Walther is from and where this book takes place, I so loved how reading this book felt like going home. The imagery describing Mads house is top-notch and seeing it throughout the seasons reminded me so much of the New Hope area, which makes sense based on how close Mads’ family lives to Princeton, NJ. The Stone Harbor cameo was perfection and desperately made me crave some Springer’s ice cream and salt water taffy!

Spoiler-free Review

One of the main things this novel does well is showing such a supportive family unit. In a lot of YA novels, the parents are absent, they don’t support the kids, or they act first and ask questions later. K.L. Walther’s books are rooted in family and this one is no different. Mads’ fathers are incredibly supportive of her and her brother, Austin. They root for her in her field hockey dreams and never try to discourage her from doing something she’s passionate about. I loved how they encouraged Mads to be a bridesmaid in Austin’s wedding in a way that didn’t put pressure on her or guilt her into it. They’re open and honest with her and when she messes up, they’re there to help her understand her mistakes and help right them instead of punish her. They’re confidants, friends, but most importantly parents who are there for her when the dates inevitably go wrong (or right?).

I loved that one of the core plots of this book is the bridesmaids setting Mads up with different dates to help her gain experience in the dating world. Mads gained some big sisters and while she hoped this would be a bonding experience with her and her brother’s fiancee, Katie, I liked that they weren’t instantly friends and that they go through a lot of the same growing pains sisters do. This book was way more about sisterhood than it is about dating boys.

As Mads goes on her quest for a date to her brother’s wedding, the slight love triangle she finds herself in between her next-door neighbor, Connor, and a former classmate, Marco, was delicious. To me, it was pretty obvious who would be the ultimate wedding date, but I flip-flopped back and forth a few times, which made the book that much more interesting.

If you’re looking for a book that introduces you to unforgettable characters, a gorgeous setting, and highlights the joy of female friendship and first love, then you NEED to read this book. Make sure you read The Summer of Broken Rules before this title as there are some characters that make a reappearance (eek!). For a spoiler review, keep on reading!

Spoilers! Be warned!

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Okay, I warned you!

Even though I knew Mere was going to make an appearance as one of Katie’s bridesmaids, I still squealed when they said that she and Wit were married. It makes me so happy to hear when previous characters are doing well (like Sarah Dessen and Morgan Matson’s worlds). I didn’t think Mere would have as big of a presence as she did, but I’m so glad she became a voice-of-reason for Mads. I was incredibly skeptical about Katie, but knowing that Mere is vouching for her made me wonder if I misjudged Katie. I also loved the tiny cameo from Grace at Stone Harbor and the mention of Everett, Isa, and Isa and James’ music.

Speaking of Katie, I really disliked her at the beginning and thought for sure that the wedding wouldn’t go on. Katie’s comments after Mads calls Austin in the middle of the night had my blood boiling. I thought either Austin would come to his senses or Katie would do something on the bachelorette trip that would cause the breakup. Then when I found out about Samira, that seemed like all the puzzle pieces were coming into play until Austin’s speech. I do wish we saw the nicer side of Katie earlier on or she hashed out her thoughts of Mads’ family with them well before Thanksgiving. Having her be the one to design the wedding invitations was a nice way to make up for her overall attitude during the book and as someone who went through wedding planning (and luckily didn’t have an overbearing mother like Katie does) then I can give her some slack.

This is unexpected, but I really liked the relationship Mads developed with Natalie! After Mads’ disastrous prom with Davis I thought that was it so it was a pleasant surprise to have Natalie pop up again and for them to become fast friends. I think it truly showed Mads’ open and genuine character to give Natalie another chance and shows the reader that you can’t always judge a person by their first impression.

Now, my favorite part of the book: the love triangle between Mads, Connor, and Marco. Honestly, I don’t know if you can really call it a love triangle because Connor is barely in the book! He’s there, he’s the best friend, but they hardly spend one-on-one time with each other like Mads and Marco do, which is how I knew that Marco would be the one Mads ends up with. The fact that he kept popping up in different scenarios, asked her to come to the beach where they stayed up for hours just talking, and found an excuse to be around her at her house more, made it super clear what his intentions were. Their romance felt like a very natural progression of their friendship and the build up was absolutely worth it. Out of all of K.L. Walther’s love interests, Marco is definitely in my top three! (Right behind Wit and Taggert.) I also really respect how K.L. Walther portrays sex and relationships in all her books to where it feels authentic and not like this huge deal that some young adult books make it out to be.

The Summer of Broken Rules is still my favorite K.L. Walther book, but A First Time for Everything may be a very close second!

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