This was a very fast read and a very relevant and fun story. We all have skeletons in our closets, but when you have been in the military and you have seen so much more then the rest of us you generally develop PTSD which can be devastating and debilitating. Greg's story line is not new and you have read and heard about it in the news over and over again.

This story will showcase two main characters that come together as friends and develop into a long lasting relationship. It showcases that Yes, Men and Women can develop a friendship and remain friends.

One of the other main characters, Maddy is overweight like so many in the world today. In her case, it's a sticking point in her relationship and causes a lot of stress and anxiety.

Maddy and Greg meet in a bootcamp type of program and from there the story really unfolds.

I liked the way that the author told this story and had a great time previewing this book. Enjoy!

I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for my honest review. I originally picked this based on the premise of the book. Maddie and Greg were work out partners at a 6 week boot camp. They become friends throughout the boot camp. My problem with the book was everyone but Maddie. Her family and fiancé called her horrible names, didn’t encourage her, and were just awful people. It made me sick that a size large female was a horrible thing. I should have stopped reading the book after I learned that she was being put-down for being a size large. The book addressed many heavy topics, but didn’t resolve many of them. The ending was horrible!

I was drawn to this novel by the description, which led me to believe that it was about a plus-size woman who goes to fitness boot camp and forms a friendship and then a romantic relationship with her boot camp partner who is a fit, military vet. What this novel really is about is a regular sized woman named Maddy with terrible self esteem who is bullied into going to boot camp by her fiance (who nicknames her Porky) and her siblings, because she is overweight.. Her partner is a 52 year old veteran with PTSD named Greg, who is cheating on his fiance and calls overweight women "fatties". Maddy and Greg do form a friendship that seems to be headed toward romance, but I couldn't finish the book to find out. At about 60% into the book, Greg and Maddy go shopping and she has to buy the size large jacket and that's when I realized that Maddy wasn't actually a plus-size woman at all! The way Maddy treats herself and is treated by others in the book would lead one to believe that she is morbidly obese, but if she could fit into a large size jacket after loosing a little bit of weight, that clearly isn't the case. I tried to read a bit further after that, but I couldn't make myself finish the book. I feel like this book reinforces unrealistic societal norms regarding weight by holding up a straight-sized woman as someone who needs to lose weight in order to win the love of her fiance and the respect of her siblings. The writing itself is decent, though the plotting could use some work. As a plus-size woman, I found the book to be very triggering for the reasons described above and I could not force myself to finish it.

“Friends First”, by Angela Lam (Wild Rose Press), features a 52-year-old wounded hero affected by PTSD and night terrors, and a heroine with self-esteem issues.
In the beginning, I liked the older wounded hero with real mental issues affecting his daily routines, but afterwards I felt that things were thrown into the plot just to see whether they would fit. His frequent breakdowns and tears seemed unbelievable, exaggerated and sometimes pathetic, and the dialogue felt often farfetched. Some things were absurd.
Greg is full of contradictions, but I wasn’t moved by his internal turmoil. The sleeping around and delaying the marriage aren’t developed enough to make sense, and the psychological reasons for it are thin.
Greg’s physical issues seemed well handled.
Maddy is a relatable character, her struggles believable. The way her boyfriend and her siblings treat her is disgusting.
I was curious to see how the story would end but didn’t feel convinced by the resolution. As a story with a lot of characters who act like jerks (even the hero), people who you wouldn’t want to be friends with in real life, where unkindness is often the rule, it was an entertaining read, even if in a twisted sort of way.