"Always Something There to Remind Me" by Beth Harbison

Whether they are fond memories or not, everyone remembers their first love. Erin Edwards certainly does. Back in high school she thought she would be with her boyfriend Nate Lawson forever. But after two years of dating their relationship came crashing to an end.


Erin thought she had moved on. She grew up, had a baby who blossomed into a beautiful teenager, and found a demanding but satisfying job as an event planner. Things were sailing along smoothly until her perfect boyfriend Rick proposed. It wasn't the proposal that worried her, it was the fact that the first thing she thought of was Nate. After all these years, what was he doing back in her mind?


Always Something There To Remind Me by Beth Harbison is a tale of teenage love and heartbreak, and what happens when you can't quite get over that first true love. As Erin navigates her adult life, her teenage memories come flooding back to her and she wonders if that intense, head over heels love she felt for Nate was real or just because it was her first. Things become even more complicated when she runs into Nate and he has a few surprises of her own.


The book alternates between the past and present. I found it a little strange that the time periods also alternated between first person and third person. I'm not sure what the point of it was and while it distracted me a bit at the beginning of the book, as it went on it wasn't such a big deal. The alternating of the time periods certainly added to the suspense and need to keep turning the page.


If you're a regular reader of my reviews you know that while I'm not a prude when it comes to sex in novels, I'm not fond of graphic sexual scenes. And this is where this book really turned me off. It wasn't so much the fact that the passages were "well-explained" it was that the passages involved Nate and Erin as teenagers. I get it, teenagers have sex, that's not what I'm complaining about. I just don't think the detail was needed as to what they were doing.


Overall this book is your standard chick lit with depth. It will tug at memories of your teenage years, your first love, and the spots that people hold in your heart and mind even when they're long gone from your life. If you've ever found yourself wondering what happened to your first love or can't get them out of your mind you will really enjoy this book.

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