First Crush, Last Love

McKenna uses alternating perspectives to chart the winding roads that bring two soulmates to discover true love in this sweet, if superficial, novel. Jessie Baxter knew her high school crush on Lee Archer was real love—even if he didn’t. No matter what she did, Lee saw her as a trusted friend but not a romantic prospect. When Lee fled his violent stepfather, Jessie was bereft, and she married the first man to show her any attention. While her marriage crumbles under the weight of her husband’s drinking, emotional immaturity, and abuse, Lee forges a career in the Chicago PD. Fate, in the form of a 10-year high school reunion, brings them back together, forcing both Jessie and Lee to reconsider all that might have been between them. The choice of 1989 as a setting is never explored or justified, coming across primarily as a justification for an uncomfortably stereotypical storyline about Jessie’s gay brother contracting HIV. Though the reunion of these long-lost sweethearts is earnest and rewarding, the lack of nuanced emotional development robs this story of real impact. (BookLife)