A special thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Do you believe in love at first sight? Jo Lovett explores this loved trope in The First Time We Met. The premise and the beginning of the story showed so much promise. But the large time jumps are problematic and not realistic or believable. Fourteen years is far too long to harbour any sort of interest in someone that you've only had a few encounters with. (The timeline needs tightening up, where is an editor when you need one?) There was also an unnecessary subplot that ate up pages and made the story drag on.

Sometimes you read a book that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. This is one of those!

The love story of Izzy and Same is so sweet and full of good feelings. After meeting at the wrong time, Sam never forgets the woman he saw. When they meet again, everything in their lives has changed - except the feelings that they felt all those years ago.

Will fate let them be together now?

A cute and fun romance. Fans of Love, Rosie or One Day in December would love this book! Its definitely a missed communication book. The girl meets the man of her dreams on the morning of his wedding and then spans years of their friendship. A great read indeed!

What a roller coaster. I laughed, I cried, and everything in between. This is a quintessential romance novel and I would definitely recommend to a friend!

The First Time We Met was just a charming and lovely read. I have been on a major thriller, dark mystery kick lately and I needed something happy, lighter and brighter and loved this book.
The serendipitous story line reminded me a bit of that movie with John Cusack from the early 2000s and I WAS HERE FOR IT!!

I really enjoyed this book. From the very beginning it had me hooked. The characters are great and I loved the will they - wont they vibe that kept you reading to find out. Even though the ending was a little predictable, it was exactly the outcome you would want as a reader following their story. I was definitely recommend!

I started this yesterday and I have struggled so much... With putting it down! Oh my days!
Here is my review. I gave it 5 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ and would definitely give it more if I could!

This story has everything you want from a book. Romance, love, heartbreak, sadness, emotional roller-coaster ride. Have you ever thought you met the right one at the wrong time? This story of Sam and Izzy is just that. Their paths cross one a few occasions but it's never right for them. It was a perfect book to read. The characters were gorgeous and I definitely fell for Sam although I felt like I was betraying Izzy!
I very rarely eat chocolate but today... I needed chocolate! If you haven't read this book you absolutely MUST!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers and the author for the privilege to read this book for my honest opinion

They met that day and fell in love at first sight. There was a connection between them. But there was a slight problem. It was his wedding day and what was she to do? A time jump of 14 years and they met again.
The story started off well, I loved knowing both my main characters, but then it let off steam after 14 years. I liked how the author had portrayed the story with its characters anchored to it. But the emotions felt to be missing in the second half.
Overall, a sweet read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. This was an incredibly heartfelt and moving story. Lovett perfectly shows that no matter how much we might want something or love someone, it doesn't always work out the way that we want. However, my only qualm was that there was a lot of time jumping (well over a decade) and it was slightly repetitive. Still, it is a wonderful piece of fiction!

The First Time We Met was fine, but I couldn't really connect with it. This is probably my fault more so than the book itself though, as I've been struggling with reading lately.

This book has some really great romantic tropes if that’s what you’re looking for. You get your soulmates torn apart and love at first sight, but with a satisfying plot. This was a great rom com, full of some great moments of heart. Definitely a fun Christmas break read.

This story has all the feels! From the very first time they met I was invested in Sam and Izzy's story. As they have chance encounters, but never quite connect I couldn't help but hold hope for Izzy and Sam. I couldn't put the story down for want of finding out what happened next. There was a short point where I felt the story dragged out a little longer than necessary, but then things rolled forward again to a satisfying conclusion.

Do you believe in love at first sight? Following as Izzy experiences love at first sight after meeting Sam-- on his wedding day! A lovely romance over 15 years that is heartfelt and will have you rooting for this love story's happy ending. 5 well-deserved stars!

I love a good rom-com and "The First Time We Met" was perfection in my eyes. I fully admit this novel is a bit predictable, maybe even too tidy and sappy, but y'all those are often some of my favorite reads.

What if you met The One, your soul mate on the day of his wedding? Izzy meets Sam and it's love at first sight. Izzy pushed herself to ask Sam out only to find out he's getting married THAT VERY DAY. Over the next 13 years -- which seems like a lot for one book but it's written and handled so well IMO -- Izzy and Sam run into each other a few times to finally find their lives intertwined.

This is the story of meeting your soul mate at the wrong time and the sacrifices you make for the one true love.

Both Sam and Izzy struggle to balance doing the right thing for their children with their strong feelings of love. The characters were great and the story quite believable. This is such a sweet, funny and heartwarming read that makes even a non-believer in love at first sight, stop and think twice!

What an amazing story! I read it in one day! (I didn’t achieve anything else that day!) a truly heartwarming story about two people who meet and fall in love but keep crossing paths at the wrong time. I actually think I fell in love with Izzy and Sam too. Everybody needs an advocate in their life like Emma too! Just love, love, loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of The First Time We Met in exchange for an honest review. I do love a good fluffy romance every now and again. Especially these past few weeks, I’ve been reading some pretty intense books so it was nice to read something so easy and heartwarming.

My Review
What I Liked
I’m going to be honest, I didn’t think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. The story felt a bit fast-paced towards the beginning as there is quite a bit of time skipping. But I love how the characters rarely change, even though we miss 7+ years of their lives. I found myself giggling at a lot of parts and I admit I did shed a tear or two as well.

The Story
I love the wonder of meeting the right person at the wrong time. It’s very frustrating to wait and see if it all works out in the end. This book is the definition of that. I was pleasantly surprised when this book didn’t turn out to be the cliché romance I thought it would be.

We start with Izzy working her regular Saturday shift at a café, dressed in her wonderful elf costume. This is when handsome man Sam walks in. They instantly click and she knows he is the one. However, when she builds up the courage to ask him out, she finds out it’s actually his wedding day.

Izzy and Sam’s path intertwine on more than one occasion but there is always a barrier preventing them from being together. As well as the sweet romance throughout the book, tragedies such as loss and divorce are also tackled in a deep and meaningful way. This brings the characters down to earth and also makes them relatable.

The only thing that makes it difficult to read is the amount of time jumping. Some parts of the book are a little confusing. I didn’t know how old the characters were and how much time had passed in some of the chapters. It also felt like we missed out a lot of important things about the characters too. Despite this, I still really enjoyed it and managed to catch up with everything going.

The Characters
I absolutely love Izzy and Sam. As the book is mostly from Izzy’s point of view, we see a lot of how she thinks. By putting herself first and always trying to do the most logical thing, it makes her a great strong female character. She continuously shows she doesn’t need a man to keep her and her family happy, which I love.

I like how we get to know Izzy and Sam separately. Although this is a romance book, it is not always about their relationship. From Sam’s perspective, we get to see the struggles of his daily life. The unbalance of his work and home life make him suffer a great deal. It was really heartbreaking to read about and I felt sorry for him. However, I just wanted to go and tell him to sort it out, instead of ignoring it.

Overall Thoughts
The First Time We Met is the perfect book to snuggle up with after a long day and read until you finish it! I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good romance. Once you get past the time skipping, It is an easy and enjoyable read that I’m sure you will love!

4 stars - if you ask me, I'll tell you to read it

This a the story of what happens if you meet "the one" at the wrong time. Izzy and Sam meet on his wedding day and feel an instant connection, but of course it is not meant to be. They meet accidentally a few more times and every time that connection is still there. So years down the road, when both are single they reconnect and have a chance to see if they can make a relationship work or if there is too much baggage.

Overall, I thought this was a good read. It seemed very realistic and well done in covering the relationships. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it if you like cute, light-hearted romances.

I enjoyed this book overall but it was very drawn out. I found myself getting frustrated with Izzy and Sam becuase they wouldn't be honest about their feelings. If you enjoy a slow burn romance than definitely give this one a try.

I just adore these type of romance tropes. You meet the one, but something happens, then you meet again, something happens, repeat this cycle for several years until, it finally works out. /sigh It just makes me happy! Izzy and Sam were that couple. I love the beginning but then the long lag in between time jumps made things slow down greatly for me.

I thought this was a truly realistic look at what could happen, there was no great crazy thing that happened to them, life just took them in different directions. The different directions were even across oceans as Izzy was planted in England and Sam was firmly in the US. They married different people, had children, and basically lived completely separate lives until they slid back into each others life.

The frustrating part of the story for me was all the extra characters, even the kids. Ugh Sam's daughter was just down right mean. Don't get me started on Izzy's ex husband. I wasn't even very interested in her besties. I just wanted more Sam and Izzy, less other characters. Solid 3.5 stars for me. I will round up to 4 because I did really enjoy it and read it super fast!