Story Behind The Book
You never forget your first... In THE FIRST TIME, 25 young adult authors contribute 25 stories all about firsts: first loves, first kisses, first zombie slayings, and more. Featuring New York Times bestselling authors Carrie Ryan and Jessica Verday, plus a host of others. From humor to horror, and everything in between, these stories will make you laugh, cry, cheer, (and maybe even scream) as you experience something brand new from the authors that you love.
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Reviews
<span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:normal;font-size:small;">The First Time, edited by Jessica Verday with Rhonda Stapleton is a collection of amazing shorts stories by twenty-six amazing authors.<br /><br />I was so surprised how much I loved these stories about various "first" times from first loves to first arrests to first murders.<br /><br />My two favorites were Premeditated Cat by C. Lee McKenzie and Looking Through One Eye by Jon Skovron.<br /><br />Without giving it away, let me say that the title is a brilliant piece of advertising. Fans who have read McKenzie's YA novels, Sliding on the Edge and The Princess of Las Pulgas know her lyrical style and surprising plot twists. Premeditated Cat will not disappoint them. To say Nikki is a clever and resource heroine is an understatement.<br /><br />In Looking Through One Eye by Jon Skovron, we are treated to a rarity in YA fiction: male protagonists; twin brothers, in fact, with certain "abilities" that land them in trouble. The relationship between Eric and Galveston tugged at my heart strings.<br /><br />Buy this collection - you won't regret it! </span><span style="line-height:normal;font-size:small;"><span>Darby Karchut</span></span><div><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height:normal;font-size:small;">*****</span></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:normal;font-size:small;">"The First Time" came up in my Amazon recommendations likely because I have enjoyed Jessica Verday's "Hollows" novels. Then I saw that Saundra Mitchell had a short story in the collection. I just had my first experience reading her work with "The Vespertine" and "The Springsweet" which were phenomenal so I went ahead and bought this collection. I have to say I was very pleased overall. All of the stories deal with `firsts' of some kind...first loves, first time doing something or another, etc. I will mention a little about a few that made an impression on me one way or another.<br /><br />My favorite of the batch was "Against The World" by Jennifer Brown. It was a tremendously well written contemporary story about a teenage girl who just gave birth to her daughter. She is poor and her boyfriend has abandoned her. Her mom has never been a very good example of what a mother should be and the story focuses on the teenager trying to bond with her daughter and become a worthy mother. It was emotional and made a solid impact in a short amount of pages.<br /><br />My second favorite story had to be "Premeditated Cat" by C. Lee McKenzie. I wondered about it at first but the twist at the end was positively amazing. The characterization and background in the story was fleshed out extremely well for a short story. S. McCullough<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:normal;font-size:small;"><br /></span></div></div>