Book Review: First Impressions by Debra White Smith

                Hello, so I’m not totally back from my break, but as I said in my last post there was the possibility of me reviewing a book on here this month, and I did get a free book in exchange for a review this month, so here I am! 

                First off, a big thanks to Bethany House and the Baker Publishing Group for giving me this opportunity! Although, this book was free in exchange for my thoughts, my opinions are entirely unbiased.

           I was super excited when I got the email that I was one of the bloggers accepted to receive a copy of this book, I love Jane Austen, I love Pride and Prejudice, and I adore contemporary, so the three together sounded AMAZING. I mean, a contemporary re-telling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice? I AM ON BOARD.

            The book took a while for me to get into. I didn't like the writing style, it had a lot of purple prose and was very flowery, for example here's a gem I found in the first chapter that honestly made me dread continuing for a hot second:

           The curtain of rain in the peach orchard oscillated as a snakelike tail, white as cotton, dipped from the sky, stirred up a cloud of debris, and hurled peach trees into the air. Eddi dropped her plate and water bottle. A gurgle exclamation parted her lips as the funnel zipped back into the clouds. (pg. 21)

           But it either got better or I got use to it, because it didn't bother me as much as I went on, although I remember thinking, "IF IT DESCRIBES HER SKIRT AS "ELEGANT" AND TELLS ME HOW IT REACHES HER "STRAPPY SANDLES"ONE LAST TIME, I WILL SCREAM. TEST ME, DAVE, TEST ME". 

           It did get better though, and I found the read really pleasant and enjoyable, which I am super glad of because I really wanted to like this book. 

                Despite the rougher beginning I had with this book, I really liked it. The first chapter was kind of hard to get through, but after that I was kind of sucked in. The book was a fast, easy read, and it had a lot of twists and turns to keep me engaged. 

                Anyways, let's nitpick this book Gray Marie Style™, shall we?

-The pacing. The pacing was really good (not so much in the first chapter, but the rest of the book), it wasn't too fast or too slow, and I found myself easily caught in the story. 

-The story line. Despite being a re-telling, this book was pretty original and kept me guessing, I like how Debra took a step out of the usual re-telling box and took the liberty to add a few more themes and side plots. 

-The show of how sin equals consequences. I like how the character's downfalls weren't glorified, and how the book showed them having to deal with the aftermath of their bad choices. 

-The theater aspect. A PLAY ABOUT P&P IN A RE-TELLING OF P&P??? GIMME. 

-How Eddi and Dave quoted lines from P&P, when arguing. It was priceless, I loved it. 

-They didn't butcher southern accents! They did the twang really well, except for the fact that they excluded "y'all", but I did see 'em, pale, and bless your little heart a few times, so I was pleased. 

-The writing style/the purple prose. I know some people like this, but it's just not my thing. It's one of the reasons I read contemporary so much because I like the writing short and sweet and not flowery. So reading it in a contemporary threw me off at first.

-The inner dialogue the characters had at times. Half of the time it was okay, but the other half of the time I couldn't help but wonder, "who thinks like this?" 

-Since we're talking about inner dialogue let's talk about Dave's. Now, I liked Dave, he was most definitely my favorite character, he was one of those more complex characters and I loved that about him, but his inner dialogue would sometimes ruin that. He's a really sweet guy at heart but then he starts randomly thinking about how plain or unflattering girls' hair and clothing choices are?? I'm not a guy, but it just seemed strange, who really gives a care about how a girl puts her hair up, Dave? And don't describe a girl you barely know as "colorless in personality", it makes you look hypocritical. 

-Also on Dave, he kept talking about how amazing and elegant Eddi looked, and I get it, he's attracted to her, but it just got tedious because every other paragraph would be about her simple, "elegant" beauty. 

-I found out that Eddi and Dave were Christians halfway through the book. And I'm not mad that they're Christians, but I found it disturbing that I didn't know this. The only thing they did in the beginning was go to church one Sunday, but most people go to church in the south, that alone doesn't tell me anything. 

           There wasn't a conviction. A prayer. A bible verse in a character's mind. Nothing. And then halfway through the book Eddi says something like, "I'm glad God means something to you, because he means a lot to me." 

             Are you sureeeee about that, honey? Dang, you must be the most lukewarm Christian ever. Anyways, I just don't think a characters religion should be a plot twist like that. 

              And then it went from zero to a hundred way too fast, the characters went from normal joes to devout Pro Life Christians, and there's nothing wrong with that on it's own, but the story had already developed without that, so it all felt randomly thrown in.

         This is either a new adult book or just an adult book, so it's definitely more grownupish in its themes:

-Drug abuse. A few of the side characters struggle with bondage to drugs. 

-Alcohol abuse (another side character). 

-Premarital sex and pregnancy. A side character basically chooses to kind of sleep around and then she forgets to take birth control and finds herself pregnant. It doesn't show any of the scenes, but the lust and unhealthiness of her current relationship is shown, since the guy is clearly only using her. 

 Three and a half out of five stars. 

          I did enjoy this book, and I am glad to welcome it to my bookshelf, I think I might re-read it in the far future, because I did like it when I got into it. 

           I would recommend this to people who love more flowery writing or just people who are fans of Jane Austen's works and love re-tellings.

         The book is pretty unique in its idea, I haven't read a lot of Jane Austen re-tellings, so that was cool. 

Have you read this book?

Will you?

Also, thanks for all of the sweet comments on my last post, I am feeling much better, so I might be back a little early. I'm not fully sure yet, but thank y'all for sticking it out with me, I appreciate the support. <3 

Happy Writing,