Helpful Score: 3
This is not a story of two people falling in love, but two people learning to love one another. It is one of the most romantic and touching books I've ever read.
Helpful Score: 3
I have read over 3000 books in my lifetime: mysteries, love novels, history, horror. I have sampled some of the best, and some of the worst. This is one of the best love stories I have ever read.
Helpful Score: 2
I love this book. If you never read another book, read this one. Especially if your love life is in trouble and you are considering the seperation thing. It will help you to step back and think about what is really important in your life.
Helpful Score: 2
Not your usual light hearted romance novel, but an intensely moving story of a marriage at the breaking point.As with life there are joys and sorrows, so be prepared for both.
Helpful Score: 1
Another story where life will work the way it wants. Good story.
Helpful Score: 1
A wonderfully written story about love, heartache, betrayel, and the astonishing emotions of humans.
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent read, but sad in parts. I enjoyed every word and tear I shed. Love Joy Fielding and a winner with this one, as always.
Helpful Score: 1
easy, good read. great for an airplane ride!
Helpful Score: 1
Such a touching, but sad love story, makes you believe in love.
Helpful Score: 1
Bearing all the distinctive qualities of a contemporary classic, The First Time is a dazzling illumination of a marriage at the crossroads, where the ties that bind become frayed but refuse to sever, and where a long estranged husband and wife discover, for the first time, exactly what love really means. At once profoundly cathartic and inspiring, The First Time finds Joy Fielding at the height of her powers as she explores the amazing resilience of the human spirit.
Helpful Score: 1
Not the usual romance story...but about love and family, although you won't think that at the beginning of the book.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a great touching read.
But you start out despising the husband. A story about marriage at a crossroad after 16 years.
This book is very emotional and heartrendering.
But you start out despising the husband. A story about marriage at a crossroad after 16 years.
This book is very emotional and heartrendering.
Helpful Score: 1
In the beginning of the book, Mattie, the main character was getting ready to kill her husband for his betrayals. He was involved in yet another love affair, and Mattie was at her wits end.
Within the beginning of the story, Mattie was having odd symptoms, and until she caused a car accident that was very serious, didn't realize why. Once she finds out, the news is very devastating. Jake, feeling terribly guilty, needs to come back home.
Their daughter Kim, resents Jake for his betrayal toward her mother, and can hardly stand his presence in the house. As the story moves forward though, Mattie continues in a downward spiral, and Kim will have to come to grips with the circumstances that are hard to accept.
Joy Fielding's best book yet-very worthwhile reading!
Within the beginning of the story, Mattie was having odd symptoms, and until she caused a car accident that was very serious, didn't realize why. Once she finds out, the news is very devastating. Jake, feeling terribly guilty, needs to come back home.
Their daughter Kim, resents Jake for his betrayal toward her mother, and can hardly stand his presence in the house. As the story moves forward though, Mattie continues in a downward spiral, and Kim will have to come to grips with the circumstances that are hard to accept.
Joy Fielding's best book yet-very worthwhile reading!
Helpful Score: 1
five stars! i loved this book - it mad me laugh, it mad me cry, it mad me think. highly recommend.
Helpful Score: 1
Interesting story on how marriages can go so wrong and then so right. have a tissue at the end!
Helpful Score: 1
A wonderful story about the true meaning of love and discovering what is important.
Helpful Score: 1
Love story with lots of emotions.It is about a marriage at a crossroad, where an estranged husband and wife discover, for the first time, what love really means. Every line rings true.
Helpful Score: 1
Very good
Helpful Score: 1
Definitely a "chick" book. Wonderful book...friendship abounds!
I enjoy this author very much- book was good-
Such a great book. I couldn't put it down and ended up reading it one day. Rollercoster of emotions!
Touching story about a women's courage and strength as she deals with living with ALS disease. Not giving up on the love she has for her husband by letting him come back into her life makes him fall in love with her for the first time! Get the box of kleenex ready...
Family story where there is a fatal illness and the joy of family support. Very rewarding read.
What a surprise! This touching story will have you angry one minute and even angrier the next. Although it is a romance, one of the best things about it is the way the characters grow and change. The dynamic between the two main characters is very well done.
And the ending? The ending is a surprise, not what one would expect. A great read!
And the ending? The ending is a surprise, not what one would expect. A great read!
This was a quick read. It made me ask myself, "What would I do in this situation?" I recommend this book.
Wow, this is one of the saddest, most depressing books I have read. It wasn't bad, just be ready to feel really bummed out after reading it.
wonderful story, yet sad too. Enjoyed the character, wanted to know them. First pGE TO END....KEPT ME INTERESTED.
Great story! Loved it!!
I loved this book! A very easy read.
A dazzling illumination of a marriage at the crossroad, where a long estranged husband and wife discover, for the first time, what love really means.
so a stirring book
I nicely written, sometimes sad book.
great book!
five stars! i loved this book - it made me laugh, it mad me cry, it made me think. highly recommend.
Great book
A moving story that is very hard to put down. One of Joy Fielding's best!
I enjoyed this book.It had romance, sadness, illness, betrayal,heartbreak, travel, and in the end, love and family won out. First time I'd read this author, who I believe is Canadian, and her book must have been given to me by one of the snowbirds who are here from Canada!
This is a well-written novel chronicling the last year in a marriage that seems irretrievably broken. Mattie and Jake Hart were married when Mattie got pregnant 15 years before. He became a successful criminal defense attorney, and she excelled in purchasing artwork for clients. Jake's serial cheating and affairs had taken a toll on the marriage. Unexpectedly a severe health crisis forces this family to change its dynamic and change in many ways for the better. An unusual portrait of a marriage and 2 families in crisis.
I ended up sending this book to a friend from college whose wife passed away from ALS last October. I am awaiting his opinion.
I ended up sending this book to a friend from college whose wife passed away from ALS last October. I am awaiting his opinion.
Fantastic book! Tissues definitely needed!
I was disappointed by this book.
Definitely one of her best books! Really enjoyed this one!
After sixteen years of marriage, Mattie Hart discovers that her husband, Jake--a high-profile Chicago attorney--is involved in yet another love affair. But a far greater crisis descends upon the Hart family after Jake leaves home: Mattie receives devastating new that will alter their lives. Wracked by guilt, Jake returns to the wife he has naver really loved and the teenage daughter who wants nothing to do with him.
After 16 years of marriage, Matte discovers that her husband, Jake, is involved in yet another love affair. Jake leaves home---Mattie recieves devastating news that will alter their lives. Wracked by guilt, Jake returns home. A marraige at a crossroad, where a long estranged husband and wife discover, for the first time, what love really means.
Afer sixteen years of marriage, Mattie Hart discovers that her husband Jake, a high profile Chicago attorney is involved in yet another lvoe affair. But a far greate rcrisis descends upon the Hart family after Jake leaves home: Mattie receives devasting news that will alter their lives. Wracked by guild, Jake returns to the wife he never loved and the teenage daughter who wants nothing to do with him.
