Review: The First Date by Zara Stoneley

The First Date

by Zara Stoneley

Publisher: One More Chapter

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Right place.
Right time.
Wrong guy …

After breaking up with her childhood sweetheart, clueless dater Rosie has found herself in a boyfriend-drought. So when she finally swipes right on a guy who seems interested, she can’t wait to meet up IRL.

Until she’s left standing alone. In a bar. Ghosted.

Enter Noah. Confident, funny … and a serial first dater. Offering to give Rosie a crash course in seduction, this could be just what she needs. Until her matchmaker turns out to be the best date she’s ever had – and Rosie wonders if she wants the fake dates to be the real ones after all …

Kritters Thoughts:  Rosie, the main character, ends up at a bar hoping to meet up with an online date and dip her toes into the online dating world for the first time.  She doesn't end up meeting up with her intended date, but instead a man named Noah who has had a checkered dating past himself and dubs himself a serial first dater and will teach her the ropes of casual dating.  As this is a romance book, the reader knows that this story will only end with a happy ending, but there will be some bumps and bruises along the way.  

I liked this book, but didn't love it.  There were a few moments in the book where I felt as though the story was going in circles and getting a little repetitive, but the characters more than made up for it.  Rosie was just great.  I could believe that she had really not been deep in the dating world ever and was tentative about all things dating.  Noah was a great antithesis.  Although it took awhile to get to the heart of Noah and find out why he was the way he was, I still enjoyed learning about him and the journey.

This is my second Zara Stoneley read and I liked the other one better, but I would still continue to read her stories as they are great, easy reads to pepper between the heavy ones or the mind boggling mystery/thrillers that I read.  



Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2020 Challenge: 31 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Rachel's Random Resources.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.