This is the second book I’ve read by Sue Watson, although I do have some of her other interesting-looking titles on my TBR shelves. The first book I read was The Empty Nest which had a very surprising ending (starting to think this might be her thing!)
First Date is an October 2020 release by Bookouture, available in Paperback and Digital formats.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book as a part of Bookouture’s Books-on-Tour. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. See disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
She’s been waiting her whole life to meet a man like Alex. But he’s been waiting too. And once he has her, he’ll never let her go…
Hannah has done everything to make sure her life is safe and secure. A long way from her unstable childhood growing up in foster care, she’s content with her sweet, little, messy apartment and her satisfying job as a social worker. She quietly worries that, aged 36, she might never fall in love. But otherwise her life is where she wants it to be.
Until, encouraged by her best friend to join a dating app, she meets Alex. He’s irresistibly handsome. He loves the same music as her. The same food as well. They both dream of travelling the world but agree they’d be equally happy escaping to a cottage by the beach in Devon. Both of them would love to own a Labrador one day. It’s like he’s made for her. It’s like he’s too good to be true.
Hannah’s friends aren’t so sure about him. But Hannah thinks he’s perfect.
Which is good. Because Alex knows she’s perfect for him too. In fact, she’s exactly the girl he’s been looking for…
And nothing Hannah’s done to make her life safe will ever be enough.
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 3/5 stars (Liked it!)
Oh Hannah. For such an intelligent woman with such a caring heart, how could you fall for Alex’s manipulation? Wasn’t there any part of you that, after catching him in multiple lies, wanted to do a bit of investigating into whether or not he was actually telling the truth?
I have to be honest, through most of this book I was just irritated with Hannah. It seemed like a straightforward 2-star book about a woman getting manipulated by her smarmy boyfriend and being way too naive to see what he was doing to her and ignoring the waving arms of her friends alerting her to the behavior.
And then…almost a little too late, but just in the nick of time…the book has some fantastic twists that make the entire experience completely worthwhile. I love everything about how the book wrapped up and the juicy revelations presented. This is a fairly quick read and if you can stick with it through Hannah’s eye-rolling behavior, the payoff is so very worth it.
Follow the Author:
Sue Watson was a TV Producer at the BBC until she wrote her first book and was hooked.
Now a USA Today bestselling author, Sue has written sixteen novels, and many have been translated into several languages. Sue is now exploring the darker side of life with her latest thrillers OUR LITTLE LIES, THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR, THE EMPTY NEST, THE SISTER-IN-LAW and FIRST DATE out on October 16th.
Originally from Manchester, Sue now lives with her family in Worcestershire where much of her day is spent writing – okay, procrastinating, eating too much confectionery, and watching ‘My 600lb Life,’ on the sofa.
more info visit Sue’s website; http://www.suewatsonbooks.com/
Sue would love to meet you on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/suewatsonbooks
Follow Sue on Twitter @suewatsonwriter
