In The First Husband by Laura Dave, Annie Adams finds herself alone and adrift when her long time boyfriend dumps her for another woman. They were supposed to be moving to London so he could shoot a movie and she could continue her job as a travel writer. All that is gone. Plus he took her dog.
Following the advice of her best friend (and ex boyfriend’s sister), Annie steps out of her comfort zone. In doing so, she meets Griffin, a chef completely different than Nick (the scummy ex). Three months later, they’re married and moving to his hometown in rural Massachusetts to open Griffin’s restaurant. It does not go well.
Like anyone, Annie feels like a fish out of water. She’s dropped into this idyllic setting, but also into the world of a new brother-in-law’s broken marriage, Griffin’s perfect childhood sweetheart, and more cold weather than she’s ever seen. To top things off, her newspaper cuts her column.
But with the ex-boyfriend walking back into her life and the prospect of a new job in London on the horizon, Annie must decide how much she loves Griffin. Is he her first husband or her only husband?
This is one of my favorite BlogHer Book Club books I’ve reviewed so far (read the others here!). Even though Annie’s emotional state reminded me uncomfortably of myself, I found myself rooting for her. Plus, I love a good romance. It was a quick read and one that I would recommend for trips or beach/pool/lake reading. It’s light (but not fluffy) and enjoyable, but doesn’t require a whole lot of attention.
My only complaint is that The First Husband wasn’t very memorable. I had to go back and look up a lot of details before writing this, so clearly it wasn’t a story that really stuck with me. I liked the book just fine and would recommend it to friends, but it’s not one I’ll keep or reread. For that reason, The First Husband gets a B+.
I received a copy of the book and compensation from BlogHer, but all opinions in this post are mine.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I really liked this book. I just pulled it for a summer reading book display this morning.
I agree it wasn’t very memorable but I remember really liking Griffin.
Excellent pick for a summer reading display!
Although we had slightly differing opinions on this book, I love the title (and look) of your blog! Now if you’ll excuse me, I can’t wait to click around The Reading List and Recipe Index.