Beautifully written with the heart in hand, this is a collection of essays regarding friendship within women.

I can relate to this so much it had me crying and laughing at times. It really shows the importance of having friends by your side through hardships and joyful moments to share them with.

First Love is a remarkably earnest book of essays centering around female friendships. The essays span throughout Dancyger's life, yet they all feel deeply intertwined. Dancyger captures humanity, heartbreak, and the importance of platonic love and found family with this collection. The writing is phenomenal and deeply sincere, encapsulating big feelings of grief and love. I learned, I squirmed, I laughed, I cried.

Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review! First Love comes out May 7th, 2024.

in a series of 15 love letters to girl hood and friendships, a montage of memories consolidated with an analysis of media and social trends, Lilly has weaved together a beautiful collection of essays encompassing what it feels like to grow up and into each other, to love, and to cherish, and to grieve all the friendships that pass through our lives, and how drifting apart has a beginning but never an end.

thank you for the arc! i adored it. (4.5 stars)

Having grown up in the 90s and 2000s like Lilly, I related to this outlook on female friendships and how those relationships can shape the rest of your life. Although I haven’t lost someone close to me in a way that Lilly lost Sabina, I could empathize with her just how greatly that loss affected her into adulthood and still now. It’s true that your first true love is usually a friend, usually platonic, and usually is unforgettable. With each friend “season” Lilly brought us through, I could relate and remember my own friendships through those times. I’ve had many close female friendships in my lifetime and it’s absolutely true that you can go from being inseparable to being strangers in a matter of time and without even noticing it until it’s happened. People change and lifestyles change and people go in different directions, friendships fade into memories. With each friendship there’s a lesson to be learned or memories to carry with you into future friendships. And if you’re really lucky, some of those friendships will last forever.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an ARC of this collection of essays by an author I've enjoyed for a number of years.

Lilly Dancyger is an exceptional creative nonfiction writer and this book of essays celebrating female friendships -- spanning years -- is truly a love story -- a tribute to many of the greatest relationships in her life: her girlfriends. Across miles, years, and a variety of life events, the women in Dancyger's life have lifted her up -- they have sustained one another through the most difficult and exhilarating moments. The love inherent within these friendships is lasting and deep. One of my favorite essays centers on the too-brief life of Dancyger's cousin -- so different from her in many ways -- how the girls became women together, who traded interests, aspirations, and maintained their shared history.

The feelings and deep, lasting emotions within this essay are palpable.

Having read her first collection - Negative Space - I had the pleasure of already knowing (and enjoying!!) accounts of Dancyger's childhood and life as she grew up and pieced together the mystery and magic of her artist father, who died unexpectedly, and left his young daughter with unanswered questions and a desire for understand his life.

Lilly Dancyger is just an outstanding writer - her braided essays are exceptional and she transmits the love of these friendships within the included essays with vivid poignancy. A wonderful collection and a tribute to the women she loves.

I really enjoy memoirs about female friendships and have read many. This one was well written and had some memorable essays - about the murder of the author's cousin and a standout chapter about an intense friendship and how it compared to the friendship in the movie "Heavenly Creatures". Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy.

I'm not sure what to say about this book. It was good, but not really my style; if I weren't reading an ARC to review I probably would have DNF'd it. I am glad in the end that I finished it, as some of the later essays were the ones I liked the most. But it just feels like such a personal preference thing. The ones I related to were my favorite (especially the ones about fears of having children). In general I wouldn't recommend it broadly, but if you're interested in the description then go for it! The writing is good.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Lilly Dancyger shares her experiences with friendships in such a raw and profound way. In this essay collection, the reader is pulled through the author’s life which is filled with loss from a young age. However, her friendships allow her to lean on the people she loves in her most vulnerable moments. As a child who has forced herself into perceived adulthood, she makes friends in parks and house parties, sharing drinks and cigarettes. The ‘sad girl’ aesthetic is often associated with teenagers as they learn to cope with the their feelings. Yet through her journey, Lilly learns how it’s not drugs or alcohol that can help you with your grief, it is the relationships around you. Facing grief head on with support from your closest friends. These essays are filled with years of introspection and reflection as Lilly comes to terms with her own grief. Life does not wait for you to catch up, it continues even if you are not ready to move on. Adulthood, which every teenager desperately wants as it represents freedom, often comes too fast. Friends drift away and form their own family units. Hanging out is no longer spontaneous but planned according to everyone’s schedule. Nights out are replaced with cozy pyjamas and hot tea. Motherhood, which was once a dream, becomes an expectation. And yet, friends can be found in every part of your life. There are times when you wish to reinvent yourself, and new friends allow you to feel free from your past mistakes. And yet, there are times, when your oldest friends, the ones that have seen you at your lowest, are the ones who can see past the mask you put up. There are some friends that are in your life only briefly but have a tremendous impact and there are others remain constant, despite any mistakes you make. This book allows the readers to reflect on their own friendships and journey with grief.

bold and gorgeous tale of friendship with a wonderful setting style. tyssm for the arc and i would def recommend.

I didn’t know that I needed some self time to reflect upon, grieve, and celebrate the great friendships of my past 35 years until I read this unique collection of essays. Impactful literature has the power to move you to action, and First Love has done just that for me. It literally prompted me to reach out to a couple of great loves to reconnect while also allowing me to feel some peace in those relationships that have passed on physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Lilly Dancyger brings humility, honesty, & some hilarity to her history, inviting readers to do the same when staring in the mirror.

Grateful to NetGalley & Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First Love reminded me so much of Jane Fonda's statement she made in 2016 that her female friends were what made her who she was. She said "I exist because I have my women friends," and that she didn't know what she'd do without them. Dancyger dedicates the entire collection to that bone deep, platonic love that forms the foundation of her life, and while romance is featured, it never takes centre stage, which made for a beautiful and refreshing read!
New York City, as it tends to do, feels like its own person throughout the book. I may be biased as I'm a fellow city kid, but Lilly manages to capture the ups and downs, the structure and the freedom, the love and the heartbreak that comes from growing up and living in a dynamic city of millions. Although I don't think all the entries stood entirely on their own as essays per se, I found it entirely fitting that the collection begins and ends with discussing the same person. Her love for her cousin tore through me, even managing to bring me to tears - a rare feat! I'm looking forward to checking out Dancyger's memoir, both to read more of her work and to flesh out parts of her life that were mentioned in First Love!

This book is special. The care that went into it, the way Lilly explores her past, the friendships that she had along the way and ultimately the loss of her first love in Sabina. I was deeply moved by Rose tattoo, how the pain however slight of getting a memorial tattoo is no where near the pain of losing a love one especially suddenly. I will be recommending this book to all of my female friends as it is just so extraordinary and deserves any and all accolades coming it's way.

Thank you so much for the ARC of this book! This book took me a very long time to get through. While non-fiction isn't my favorite genre, every now and then I like to read someone's personal story. Overall, this was a great book. Personally, I never felt emotionally connected with the author. The only reason I finished the book is because I wanted to give a honest and thorough review. I think that if my emotions were invested I would have enjoyed it more. While I don't think the book was for me, I will recommend it to the readers in my life. I think some of them will actually enjoy it more and appreciate the recommendation.

This is so Barbie-coded. It was bold, static, and raw all at once. I just know everyone needs to read this book to understand their loved ones down to their very core. Truly beautiful

First Love by Lilly Dancyger is an intimate collection of heartwarming and heartbreaking essays. These windows into Dancyger’s life are vibrant with life and palpable emotion. They document the beauty of first love in sisterhood and friendship, the heartbreak of both sudden and gradual loss, and the hope that comes in continuing to love despite the grief it can create. Focusing mostly on her formative years as a high school dropout in New York City in the early 2000s, the nostalgic longing winds its way beautifully through each essay.

It’s difficult to rate someone’s memoir because part of the rating will always be a reflection on their lived experiences. But I have no difficulty in saying Lilly Dancyger’s First Love is an exemplar of the memoir genre. I felt I was walking alongside her and her friends in New York City as teenagers of a bygone era. I felt the pain from the losses documented on these pages. I felt the love from her found sisters seeping out of every word. It was a truly phenomenal reading experience.

For anyone looking for a beautifully crafted woman-centered memoir full of detail, emotion, hope, and love, Dancyger’s First Love is a must-read in 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the free e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc!

it feels very strange to dissect someone's work of memoir pieces, so i won't be saying much, but: although this had a few good lines that i highlighted, i ultimately didn't feel very blown away by the content. and that's okay! the author wrote it for themselves, at the end of the day, and you can tell a lot of pride and love went into it. so who cares what i think!

What a fantastic essay collection centered around female friendships and found/chosen family. I applaud the author for really delving into the intricacies and little details of friendship and how it changes over time. Friendship is often viewed as the little brother to romantic relationships when it comes to writing, so I'm really glad friendship is explored so beautifully through this collection.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

I cried throughout reading this entire book. It was completely, utterly, beautiful. I am in shock, awe, and just… so happy to have read this. It felt like a hug.

I’ve always seen my female friendships as equally, if not more at times, valuable than my traditional romantic relationships. And this novel beautifully encapsulates those ideals.

I have so many other books to read and yet I want to reread this one already.

A superb collection of essays about the important women in the author’s life. The stories were tender and moving and deftly illustrate the power of women’s friendships and found family. The writing is lovely - sharp yet full of emotion. The cultural critiques are seamlessly woven into the narrative. I had an amazing reading experience and of the 15 essays, I especially loved The Rose Tattoo, Mutual Mothering, and The Fire Escape.

I have not read other works by the author and immediately added Negative Space (and Burn it All Down) to my bookshelf upon finishing First Love.

Thank you very much to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

A lovely look at friendship and the power of friends in our lives. i admired the emotional power of these essays and how grounded they are in place. esp the landscape of New York City.