Reviewed by Angie Fisher for TeensReadToo.com
No one can forget their first love, and Leigh Hunter isn't any different.
Leigh is as close to the perfect boy as a girl could ever hope for: attractive, athletic, smart, and selfless. His life is rolling along nicely, as he is looking forward to his senior year and what the future might hold for him beyond high school. Leigh's biggest worry is finding a summer job that would look good on his college applications, until something horrible happens and his sister, Millie, needs him.
Not willing to let her down, Leigh packs up his things and moves a state away to be with Millie and help her begin to recover from her loss.
While taking care of Millie is in his plan, falling for the sweet-if-not-a-bit-odd Maia Morland is not, especially since he still claims the hottest girl in his school back home as his girlfriend. But even the best laid plans have a way of changing, and the best intentions a way of crumbling.
AFTER THE MOMENT is a story of first love, but it's so much more. It's a story of perseverance, strength and loyalty, but also of betrayal, pain, and disappointment. It's a story every reader who has loved and lost can relate to, which is the very reason it's not one to be missed.
No one can forget their first love, and Leigh Hunter isn't any different.
Leigh is as close to the perfect boy as a girl could ever hope for: attractive, athletic, smart, and selfless. His life is rolling along nicely, as he is looking forward to his senior year and what the future might hold for him beyond high school. Leigh's biggest worry is finding a summer job that would look good on his college applications, until something horrible happens and his sister, Millie, needs him.
Not willing to let her down, Leigh packs up his things and moves a state away to be with Millie and help her begin to recover from her loss.
While taking care of Millie is in his plan, falling for the sweet-if-not-a-bit-odd Maia Morland is not, especially since he still claims the hottest girl in his school back home as his girlfriend. But even the best laid plans have a way of changing, and the best intentions a way of crumbling.
AFTER THE MOMENT is a story of first love, but it's so much more. It's a story of perseverance, strength and loyalty, but also of betrayal, pain, and disappointment. It's a story every reader who has loved and lost can relate to, which is the very reason it's not one to be missed.
AFTER THE MOMENT is a subtle exploration of the power of different kinds of relationships in one young man's adolescence, a dramatically poignant love story that will perhaps appeal best to adult fans of doomed romance novelists like Nicholas Sparks. Personally, however, I had trouble connecting with the characters as well as believing the story arc.
The story is told from the point of view of an older Leigh, which I think contributes to the distance I felt from the characters. They were living out their tragedies and dramas in a snowglobe, to which I was only a polite audience. The supporting characters, while well-meaning, never felt quite fully developed for me: the adults were either dispensers of inexplicable wisdom or else emotionally unavailable, and the preteens and teens often did not act their age.
Perhaps all of this would have been fine for me had the main storylineâLeigh and Maia's romanceâbeen believable and likable. As it is, however, it's hard to see why Maia is the source of so many guys' interests. I felt like there was a disconnect between her tragic sideâa truly heartwrenching and relatable mix of maternal neglect, self-destruction, anxiety, and self-blameâand the part of her that attracts nearly everyone around her to her.
It is obvious to me, though, that Freymann-Weyr cares very much about the psychological workings of adolescents, and I think that AFTER THE MOMENT is not a flop of a story, but rather a poignant tale that was marketed to the wrong audience. Certainly Nicholas Sparks and Nora Roberts fans will appreciate the gentle and affecting romance between Leigh and Maia. If you're an adult reader looking for a slow but sweet read, or a teen with lots of patience and a penchant for intense romances and enigmatic heroines, consider AFTER THE MOMENT for a stirring and relaxing weekend read.
The story is told from the point of view of an older Leigh, which I think contributes to the distance I felt from the characters. They were living out their tragedies and dramas in a snowglobe, to which I was only a polite audience. The supporting characters, while well-meaning, never felt quite fully developed for me: the adults were either dispensers of inexplicable wisdom or else emotionally unavailable, and the preteens and teens often did not act their age.
Perhaps all of this would have been fine for me had the main storylineâLeigh and Maia's romanceâbeen believable and likable. As it is, however, it's hard to see why Maia is the source of so many guys' interests. I felt like there was a disconnect between her tragic sideâa truly heartwrenching and relatable mix of maternal neglect, self-destruction, anxiety, and self-blameâand the part of her that attracts nearly everyone around her to her.
It is obvious to me, though, that Freymann-Weyr cares very much about the psychological workings of adolescents, and I think that AFTER THE MOMENT is not a flop of a story, but rather a poignant tale that was marketed to the wrong audience. Certainly Nicholas Sparks and Nora Roberts fans will appreciate the gentle and affecting romance between Leigh and Maia. If you're an adult reader looking for a slow but sweet read, or a teen with lots of patience and a penchant for intense romances and enigmatic heroines, consider AFTER THE MOMENT for a stirring and relaxing weekend read.
