REVIEW: The First Crush is the Deepest by Nina Harrington

Another in the KISS line, The First Crush is the Deepest by Nina Harrington has a compelling and emotional story.

Amber and Sam were each other’s first loves, but Amber’s family had loftier goals for her than being tied down to a chauffeur’s son. Seemingly bought off on the night of her 18th birthday, Amber finds him in the arms of one of her so-called friends. After being so devastatingly heartbroken, she goes on autopilot and allows her mother and step-brother to make all her life decisions from there on out.

She becomes a famous and critically lauded concert pianist, following in the footsteps of her mother – but her life is empty and devoid of joy. Her music, which she once loved and took refuge in, becomes the weight dragging her down. She jumps at the chance to join a friend entertain children in India when something happens that causes her to reassess her decisions.

Returning to London with a broken wrist and a lot of emotional baggage, her two best friends are waiting there to comfort her and help her heal. Unfortunately, Sam is also back in town – having finally taken his dream job as a feature reporter for a large newspaper. In order to secure his position reporting on the bigger stories, his editor gives him one final puff piece – trying to find out why Amber “Bambi” DuBois announced her retirement and vanished from the public eye.

Amber has her own agenda, and decides she’ll ask him to jump and take delight when he asks ‘how high’.

Sounds good, right? Well, it is. It’s an intriguing story with themes that want me to read more. Unfortunately, the writing was a tad stilted (the author uses very few contractions, stiff language, etc.), and it took me out of the book a few times. I still enjoyed the read, and I’ll probably pick up the other books in the series when they come out. Not terribly steamy, but some emotional moments that really save the day.

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