I found this book too slow for my liking.
I also couldn’t get on board with the insta love in this story. I found it hard to believe that you could be that infatuated with someone with spending such a small amount of time together.
I couldn’t connect with the characters either and I’m not sure if it’s because of the huge time jumps or just the characters in general.

While others might love this book I just couldn’t get into it sadly.

I loved it. Perfect love story to devour over valentines weekend. I loved every single character and I couldn't help but be truly invested in Sam and Izzy. I wanted the whole fairytale ending and thankfully, that's what I got. I'm usually a crime and thriller reader but this feel-good story certainly put a smile on my face and gave me a warm feeling inside.

A lovely light hearted story of Izzy and Sam who met by chance one day and felt an instant connection, when Izzy asks Sam out for a date she discovers it is infact Sam's wedding day!

Years later, having never forgotten each other, Izzy and Sam bump into each other but this time things are different in both of their life's .

A lovely book filled with love, compassion and hope

This book is heartwarming! Cute! Truly love story! And most importantly a story of second chances. It was just heavy enough to pull on the ol heartstrings a bit but not so heavy that you felt weighted by it. This author was truly able to find that perfect balance.

The First Time We Met was a sweet romance. When Izzy met Sam she knew he was The One. The one small issue was that Sam was getting married that very same day. Years later, they get in touch again. Sam and Izzy were well developed, likeable characters who we get to know by reading their email correspondence. A good read for fans of slow burn romance and cute characters.

This is was a joy to read, I pretty much finished the book within a day. This is a perfect work of chick lit. I just loved it. I loved how it was written from both Sam and Izzy's point of view. It would be the most perfect Rom com. It was very well written, Jo Lovett is a very good storyteller. I enjoyed the reference to You've Got Mail, I did think that it kind of reminded me of the film because of the email exchange between Izzy and Sam. I'll look forward to reading more from the author.

The first time we met is a beautifully written romantic comedy that reels you in and captures your heart.
Izzy doesn't believe in love at first sight, that is until she meets Sam. When he walks in to the cafe where she works, she instantly feels the connection to him. Unfortunately for Izzy though, it's Sam's wedding day.
From this point onwards, Sam and Izzy continue to cross one another's paths, but their timing is never quite right.
Several years later, they once again find themselves in each other's company, but is it too late?.
This story certainly took me on an emotional journey as the book progresses. The lead characters were so likeable you couldn't help but root for them and their happy endings!
This is a gorgeous story that had me hooked.

It’s sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along..... I remember that song by England Dan and John Ford Coley and it describes this story perfectly. Love at first sight and second chances are what this book is about. It was a very good story and hooked me at the beginning.
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The First Time we Met by Jo Lovett is an adorable, romantic comedy that will leave you believing in destiny. Izzy doesn’t believe in love at first sight, but when she meets handsome Sam in a café where she works, she knows that he’s the one. But, too bad for Izzy because it’s Sam’s wedding day. Sam and Izzy cross paths on numerous occasions, but the timing is always off. Fast forward a few more years, and fate puts Sam and Izzy in each other’s paths again, but do either still feel that spark that intrigued them on that fateful day in the café?

This story leads you on an emotional journey as you root for the protagonists in the story. Told in alternating chapters of Izzy and Sam, you will be cheering the two on until the very last pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC of this sweet nebut novel.

Quite possibly one of my favourite books of 2020! For a debut novel i was so pleasantly surprised at how well the book was written and how engrossed i got in the story and the characters! Will 100% be recommending this book and i can't wait for the next book from this author!

This is a solid romance and I enjoyed it for the most part. I did feel the ending to be very rushed.

Thus is a fantastic story, I really cared about the charactgoing through their emotional rollercoasterers. I laughed and cried many times through the book.
I look forward to reading more by Jo

I really enjoyed this book, great characters and secondary characters. It was somewhat predictable but I was quite caught up in the story so was really enjoying it. I'd definitely recommend this as a lighter contemporary romance!

Book Description:

What if you met The One on his wedding day?

Izzy doesn’t believe in love at first sight, but when Sam walks into the cafe where she works one winter’s morning, she knows without a doubt that he’s The One. Too bad Sam’s getting married. Today.

Nearly a year later, Izzy still can’t stop thinking about Sam, the one that got away, but she knows it’s time to move on: he’s a married man and probably wouldn’t recognise her if he passed her on the street.

But Sam has never forgotten Izzy, the funny, gorgeous woman who asked him out on his wedding day. If the timing had only been better, he knows they could have had something wonderful.

When Izzy and Sam’s paths finally cross again, everything has changed. But with the Atlantic Ocean and decades of baggage between them, they are about to find out whether some obstacles are too big for even true love to overcome.

An unforgettable love story about what happens when the stars finally align. Fans of One Day in December, The Day We Met and Jojo Moyes will fall head over heels for The First Time We Met.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The First Time We Met' by Jo Lovett.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 10th November 2020

This is the first book that I have read by this author.

I was originally drawn to this book by its intriguing synopsis and the fact that I wanted something different to read from my usual crime and this looked perfect. The synopsis also stated that fans of JoJo Moyes will fall head over heels for this book. I am a massive fan of JoJo Moyes so it will be intriguing to see if the book lives up to that statement. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a 37 chapters and an epilogue set over 4 parts. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in both London, UK 🇬🇧 and New York, USA 🇺🇸. The bonus for me of books that are partly or fully based in the UK is that I live in the UK and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book which makes it easier to picture.

This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonists are Izzy and Sam. The benefits of third person perspectives with several protagonists are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.

This book is very smoothly written and very easy to read. The style kind of reminded me of Bridget Jones at times. Brilliant descriptions and captivating writing style which really had me hooked. The cover and blurb compliment Ted the storyline well.

I absolutely LOVED this book. It was a very realistic storyline which absolutely captured my interest and kept me sucked in until the end. It was an amazing and beautiful story of friendship, love, loss and a very true account of how complicated things become when you have children!!! I loved the setting which fitted the plot perfectly. It was in complete breath stopping suspense on several occasions and many times I felt like screaming at Sam and Izzy. I loved how it ended, absolutely perfect!

I absolutely loved Sam and Izzy's down to earth and realistic characters. I could have strangled them both on a few occasions mind but their personalities were excellent and they will stick with me for a while. I also loved Emma and Rohan who were both such fantastic characters who really worked well together. I could not stand Izzy's so called family but again, sadly, they are the realistic version of some 'parents'.

This would make an absolutely fantastic movie and I am looking forward to reading more of Jo's books. A very talented author who is definitely on par with the likes of JoJo Moyes. Congratulations on a very successful novel!!

Overall a very easy to read, heart warming, cosy romance which will captivate your heart.

Genres covered in this novel include Romance, Contemporary, Women's Fiction and Adult Fiction amongst others.

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as Jojo Moyes and Bridget Jones along with anyone looking for a heartworming cosy story.

356 pages.

This book is £1.99 to purchase on kindle via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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Author Bio:

Jo Lovett lives in London with her family.

She worked in Corporate Tax before taking a longer-than-expected career break to have more-than-expected children (five). She started writing romantic comedy when she realised that she was regularly begging her oldest son to let her do his English homework but she wasn't actually that interested in haunted houses or Macbeth.

Jo was runner-up in the Good Housekeeping/ Orion First Novel Competition 2018 and shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Award 2019.

When she can escape from her laundry mountain and childcare, she enjoys reading, tennis and wine.

https://twitter.com/JoLovettWrites

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://bit.ly/2HSL06J
Apple: https://apple.co/3akac09
Kobo: https://bit.ly/31Oiyt6
Google: https://bit.ly/30PqKdk

Fantastic! A heart warming, roller coaster rom com. I was enthralled from the start and devoured this book. Fabulous read! Prefect for curling up and losing yourself in. The characters are likeable and endearing (with a few exceptions!) and the storyline is captivating. Highly recommended!

Thank you Netgalley

Being someone that absolutely adored One Day in December by Josie Silver, I am always excited to read books that are recommended for people who liked that one. I was excited to read The First Time We Met for this same reason. While I do see the similarities, there is a lot that is not easily comparable between the two novels.

I did really enjoy the storyline of Sam’s son and his stammer, having personally known a few people with stammers and their self consciousness surrounding it, I thought that storyline was a nice change from other romance novels.

While I did enjoy this novel, I didn’t fall in love with it or the characters. In general, I wasn’t a huge fan of the main male protagonist, Sam - I can’t even pinpoint as to why but I just wasn’t a huge fan of him. I usually love soul mate type stories, but this one felt very different - I think it had to do with the added layer of each of the main characters’ children. Having divorced parents myself, I understand firsthand how difficult it can be when your parent gets a new partner. I was rooting more for a happy ending for each of the main characters’ children, rather than the main characters themselves.

Finally, for some reason I had the impression that this was a holiday novel. I’m not sure if it had to do with the time of year that this novel was released, or that it’s cover is similar to another holiday novel I read this year. While the final chapter of the book is set in December, I do not consider this to be a holiday novel.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the gifted e-book!

The First Time We Met by Jo Lovett is a contemporary romance novel set in London and New York and at different intervals of time. This December has been all about Christmas and Romance reads for me.

In this story we see Izzy and Sam, who met for the first time in a coffee shop and can't say that was the best first impression for both. It was Sam's wedding day and Izzy's bad day at work. Izzy is a speech therapist and Sam is a lawyer.

After couple of years, both of their paths cross again and they meet for a coffee. Sam's children has had a accident in the past and his boy has developed a habit of stammering. So Sam finds her contact and communication starts over mails and calls.

The story and plot is too good. The writing style is perfect. But the time frame of almost a decade is kinda problematic for me as a reader. The story kinda felt stretched out to me with unnecessary information (like Rohan and Emma's). The characters felt real but the story compilation could have been much better.
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Thank You to NetGalley and Publisher Bookouture for eARC in exchange for a honest opinion.

This is up there with one of the best books and favourite books of this year. This was a brilliant debut novel and am looking forward to reading more books by this author. The story grabbed my attention from the very first page and couldn’t put it down I was gripped and overcome with emotion all the way through and felt like I was going through Izzy and sams journey with them and is a heartwarming read of love and second chances and about never giving up hope. This was a cosy feel good read and perfect escapism for the current times.

I loved this book. I loved reading how they came back together after several years, and again several years later. My only complaint about this book is that it was quite a bit slower than I would have liked. However, the characters were well developed and I enjoyed reading about their encounters and particularly, the end.

Absolutely loved this book. Really good story, funny and nice characters. Lovely story and glad I picked it.