Annie Adams is almost thirty-two and quite happy with her life. She writes a successful travel column that takes her all over the world, has enough money to enjoy life, and lives with her boyfriend, movie director Nick, in Los Angeles. But Annie’s seemingly happy life is put on hold when Nick announces one night that he needs a break from Annie- to pursue another woman. Annie is rightly shaken, and stumbles through her haze into a neighborhood bar- where everything changes. She meets Griffin, a chef who is visiting town and immediately charms Annie. He is everything she was looking for in a man- and she promptly marries him and within three months is packing her bags to restart life in rural Massachusetts. But when she doesn’t take immediately to the cold weather and Griffin starts to become obsessed with opening his new restaurant and she meets Griffin’s former girlfriend who Griffin’s mother still clearly adores, Annie wonders if she made a mistake with her first husband.
The third novel by Laura Dave, The First Husband, was a very real and down to earth read. The struggles Annie goes through with both Nick, Griffin, and her new life had no blinders on them. Readers can feel Annie’s pain and confusion throughout the pages, and it really sucked me into the story. I thought Dave’s writing was fantastic, with wonderful pictures of life in rural Massachusetts, and the fabulous sprinklings of Annie’s travels. I am a major travel junkie, so this aspect of the story was quite thrilling for me. There is just enough talk about Annie’s travel column and experiences to entice readers but not overload them on her work. I really enjoyed this novel, but sometimes I felt it was almost too fast-paced. There was more than one instance where I became confused because the story line wasn’t adding up, and one where I thought the name Nick was used where Griffin should have been, which threw me off. But overall, the lesson about love and acceptance is very clear, and I thought the story was very sweet yet real at the same time. I would definitely recommend Laura Dave’s latest novel.
**Please join me and the SheKnows Book Club on Thursday, July 14th from 5-8p PST for a live chat with Laura Dave!
[Rating: 4]
This sounds like a fish out of water story and I tend to like those a lot. The fact that she marries a man after three months is interesting. Sounds like a nice quick read. Great review!
Author
Thanks so much Jade!
I loved THE FIRST HUSBAND. I kept picturing the hotel in Santa Monica that Annie meets Griffin at is Shutters… am I correct? I LOVE Shutters, and even if I’m wrong I had that beautiful visual in my mind, so I was hooked from the beginning. There were times that I felt the story line was too rushed and needed to slow down and breath, but overall, I enjoyed it. Laura Dave packed alot into her novel and she kept me guessing to the end, but the outcome was ultimately the ONLY way to go; romantically and professionally. Thank you for an enjoyable read and I look forward to Laura Dave’s next novel.
Author
That’s a great visual Cindy! I too had no idea what the outcome would be, which I absolutely love while reading 🙂