First Love

Tombstone Treasures #2

by Michelle Sutton

Josiah and Tara had enjoyed acting in their high school plays. They had also been each other's first lover... in fact; most of the time they'd spent together had been in Tara's bed. When Josiah became a Christian, he left Tara to go to college and didn't look back.

Four years later, Josiah is back in town when his father has a near-fatal heart attack. When they meet up again they realize how much their separation had hurt each of them. But now Tara is a Christian and is trying to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Josiah wants Tara back, but neither knows how to relate to each other without the physical intimacy they once shared. They are determined to do things right this time, but find it more challenging than they'd anticipated.

Genres: Christian

141 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

Michelle has written over two dozen edgy, inspirational novels. She is a book reviewer and a retired supervisor for the State of Arizona. She currently lives in North Carolina. but will soon be moving to Florida.

Reviews

[Shawna Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michelle's books just keep getting better and better! While Never Without Hope and In Plain Sight are still my favorites (5+ stars) First Love gives them a good run. I give it a 4.75. I appreciate that Michelle writes about topics we often don't find in Christian Fiction, and I REALLY appreciate that while her characters are Christians, they don't always do the right thing. It's pleasant to read about what's ideal, but it's inspiring and hopeful to read about God's Grace. Without mistakes, there's no opportunity to write about it. Since I don't know anyone who hasn't made a mistake, Michelle's stories should have a very wide appeal.

First Love is an entertaining and honest story about the difficulties of abstaining from premarital sex when there has been a previous relationship. Michelle explores the issue far beyond just the physical aspect. She gives a heavy dose of emotional side-effects, including confusion, heartache and guilt. As a soon-to-be 40 year old, I enjoyed this book very much, but I strongly recommend it for teens and young adults. One should never underestimate the impact of passing on wisdom through words. Thanks, Michelle!

[Deborah Piccurelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Love is a fantastic story depicting the rocky journey that two Christians embark upon when they have been intimate before, and determine to do what’s right and honor God. The road is extremely bumpy.

Anyone who has read other works by Michelle Sutton knows they will get a down-to-the-nitty-gritty story, with raw-truth characters. Michelle pulls no punches in describing those steamy scenes that are essential to its authenticity, but are in no way gratuitous.

This book is not only entertaining, but is useful as a tool for older teens to learn why they need to keep themselves pure before God; it also shows the consequences of giving in to the body’s desires before marriage, and how God can turn them into blessings when we begin to be obedient to his commands. I highly recommend First Love.

[Carman · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Since my review copy was an ARC, some of the things mentioned in my review might not be the same as in the final version.*
First, I’m just going to say that I loved the subject that Michelle dealt with in this book. It is about two teens who had sex outside of marriage, then broke up. Later, they meet and are both Christians who want to renew their relationship, except this time do everything God’s way. I thought Michelle did a great job of portraying their struggle to stay pure and honor God with their relationship. To me, reading the book was kind of like hearing about some friends of mine who kept messing up, and I felt like I wanted to help them understand it and stay strong but couldn’t.
Some of the dialogue could be changed to follow more logical patterns. (Such as characters saying seemingly random things to make the dialogue go in a new direction.) But, that was pretty minor and could easily be fixed. For the most part, the character’s emotions were realistically done and there were only a few places where I felt like an emotion would come up that wasn’t warranted by the situation. However, that was pretty minor as well.
All in all, I really liked this book and its message about purity in relationships. It gave me some stuff to think about in terms of relationships and boundaries when dating. (Just a warning though, due to the subject matter and writing style of the author, there are some steamy scenes between the characters. I would not recommend this to younger teens.)

[Tracy Krauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a dose of romance, plain and simple, First Love by author Michelle Sutton is just what the doctor ordered. This is the second in a trilogy called Tombstone Treasures, set in the modern day historic town of Tombstone, Arizona. Here, many of the locals do double duty as part time actors to help make the tourist attraction come to life. Aside from the acting, however, there is plenty of drama in their real lives to make things interesting. In First Love, former high school sweethearts, Josiah and Tara, are reunited after several years apart. Before their break up, they had been each others’ ‘first’ lover, but now things have changed. Both have come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Their physical attraction hasn’t altered, however, and they struggle to keep their passion at bay as memories from the past threaten to overwhelm their good intentions. I appreciated the way Sutton was able to treat the subject of sexual desire with such honesty and candor. These are real people with real struggles, and no, they are not perfect. There is definitely a healthy dose of ‘heat’ woven throughout to make this book ‘edgy’ from a Christian context, but nothing that would push it over the edge into the realm of ‘distasteful’. In the end it is a feel good romance with a strong Christian element. No matter what, make God your first love.

[Andi Tubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do two people who have already given themselves to each other, have become Christians, come back together, and not have the physical intimacy rule their relationship. That is the MILLION dollar question. For Josiah and Tara it is not an easy task. Knowing each other this way, it becomes nearly impossible to do, and they fall into the same patterns that they did before, what keeps them is the saving grace of Christ. It isn't until a tragedy that they find that the physical intimacy isn't the ALL gratifying! This is an absolutely beautiful book of grace, and healing for those who have stepped out and have experienced physical intimacy prior to marriage. God intended it for marriage, yet there is healing and He is the healer! I highly recommend this book!

[K. Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I think Michelle Sutton couldn't possibly come up with a better story than the last one, she does it again! I absolutley love this story. Ms.Sutton is a pro at building romantic tension and this story is a prime example of just how well she does this.

Her characters, Josiah and Tara, share an intimate past, but something has changed...they're both Christians when Josiah breezes back into town. Both vow that they'll live for God no matter what and as they strive to remain chaste, the sparks begin to fly!

If you enjoy romance with a lot of tension, you'll love this story. I give it five stars!

[Barbara Brink · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading "First Love" by Michelle Sutton. Unlike Christian romances I have read in the past, "First Love" deals with sexual passion in dating without skirting around the issue or pretending that because someone is a Christian that they will never fall.
A young couple once intimate during their high school years- now Christians- are once again living in the same small town and tempted to resume the relationship they once had even though they now know it was wrong. Dealing with temptation, sin, repentance, and renewal in Christ, "First Love" is a book young people can definitely connect with and find hope in the message.

[Jeannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another job well done for the Master of Edgy, Michelle Sutton! I thoroughly enjoyed, First Love. Great show of the internal struggle for the characters. Trying to do what was right. And the consequences of what happens when you give in to ones desires. The effects it can have on your relationships after you do. I like how she shows the importance of remembering who our First Love should be. Jesus. And that when our relationship is right with him, everything else falls into place. Our other relationships are stronger for it. Another wonderful read by, Michelle.

[Dawn Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This love story has some cool twists and turns that do an incredible job of portraying the long-term consequences of sin. Even when we commit sin in ignorance (including before accepting Christ), it often has long-term consequences. Josiah and Tara learn that the hard way. They also have some wonderful lessons along the way, as difficult as they may be in some ways.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this as an ARC on first reads.

If you are looking for a clean Christian romance, this is not the book for you. This is EDGY inspirational fiction. I was concerned about accepting this when I realized it was written by an author who writes "edgy inspirational fiction", but was assured there were no sex scenes, mostly implied mess ups and remembering what had happened in the past. That is not what I read.

I think this story line could have been done very tastefully and without crossing the line. Unfortunately, it was not. I stopped reading when it got too graphic for me to be comfortable. There was no character development that I saw, not even a real relationship between the main characters outside of their past sexual relationship and them remembering what they had done and realizing they still wanted to do it. Even that would have been fine if it hadn't been described in about every other paragraph.

I don't understand how an author who is trying to show that it is wrong to be intimate before marriage is willing to describe that intimacy in such detail. Yuck. I cannot recommend this book to anyone.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm the author and this is one of my favorites. :)