I Loved You First

By Reena Jacobs

Alexandria (Alex) Carmichael guards two secrets close to her heart. One—she’s in love with her best friend, Seth. Two—he’s gay.

As a freshman in college, Alex looks forward to fun times with her best friend. When Seth decides cycling through girlfriends is the way to fit in with the straight crowd, Alex must make a choice: watch Seth give his affections to another while her heart breaks or come clean with her feelings and risk losing his friendship forever.

I Loved You First is a new adult love story told through the eyes of an African-American/Caucasian student who takes a journey of self-discovery while watching her best friend come to terms with his sexuality. Turn the pages and find a message of hope, new beginnings, and positive change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Reena Jacobs
• Release date: Jul 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465826169

Reena Jacobs

Reena Jacobs is just your typical writer who loves to see her words in print. As an avid reader, she’s known to hoard books and begs her husband regularly for “just one more purchase.” Her home life is filled with days chasing her preschooler and nights harassing her husband. Between it all, she squeezes in time for writing and growling at the dog.

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Reviews for I Loved You First

[sarikap8_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I Loved You First by Reena Jacobs is a very sweet read. By that, I mean the story is very different, something that I had not read before and I thouroughly enjoyed every page of it! The book is a stroy of two best friends, Seth and Alexandria, who have been BFFs since first grade. Alex is deeply in love with her best friend, however, the tiny problem here is that seth is gay. Both of them keep their secrets to themselves. Alex is the only one who knows Seth's secret and Seth realises hers eventually. The whole concept of Seth being a 'closet gay' according to Alex, really makes one consider the problems faced by LGBTs. Yes, the book has a message to convey. Seth isn't open about his orientation and pretends to be like any other guy. He gets himself involved in sports and girls even, and Alex has been over shadowed by his popularity since childhood. A ton of interesting events make the book so interesting! Without revealing much, I would just like to say that the book has a wonderful ending and the other characters add so much of shine and stand out in the presense of both Seth and Alex. This book won't take up much time, so give it a go! The book is a joyful and completely interesting read about practical, daily and genuine stuff. Cheers Reena Jacobs and thanks again for the giveaway! :)

[l_manning · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Alex is used to being in the shadow of her best friend Seth. He's out-going and popular. Seth is the kind of guy all the girls fall for, including Alex. There's just one huge problem. Seth is gay. Alex knows this, but no one else does. She is about to learn how hard it is to keep someone's secret, and how hard it is when you fall for the wrong person. Can Alex learn to be her own person and step out of Seth's shadow? Also, can she learn to deal with her feeling about Seth?This book is a very modern and different take on your typical love story. Alex falls for someone completely right for her in some ways, but it's incredibly hard because she knows Seth will never be able to return her feelings. On top of that, Alex never feels like her own person. She has a hard time separating herself from her identity as Seth's side-kick. As Alex begins to branch out and try to figure out who she is, she realizes that things between her and Seth cannot stay the same.I found Alex to be a very interesting and complex character. I was very happy for her as she began to discover that she could in fact be a good friend and find out what she wanted in life. I was sad for her as she struggled with her feelings for Seth. The end gave me great hope for her and her future. If you are looking for a quick read that's a change from your usual love story, then look no further. This book is entertaining to read while still managing to give you some things to think about.Book provided by author for review.

[bookdivasreads · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Puppy love, first love, and unrequited love, all seem to be the central theme in I Loved You First by Reena Jacobs.Alexandra (Alex) and Seth have been best friends since elementary school. They are now both freshmen in college. Alex's entire social life revolves around Seth and his needs. Although Seth has recently revealed to her that he is gay. She vacillates between understanding and accepting that her love will never be returned in a romantic fashion and thinking that she knows what is best for him . . . a relationship with her. She openly facilitates his "cover" as a straight guy by playing the third-wheel on dates. Alex is blind to all that is around her except Seth. It isn't until Seth's "straight" cover is blown and he openly flirts with a guy at a frat party that Alex even realizes that one of the frat brothers is interested in her. Alex is not a likable character. Even accepting that I Loved You First is possibly a YA read, she comes across as extremely selfish and juvenile while trying to appear selfless in her devotion to Seth. When Seth becomes depressed about being unintentionally outed, Alex is more focused on her needs and thoughts than her BFF and so-called love interest. The level of immaturity of both Seth and Alex was hard to swallow at times. I Loved You First held great promise in that it discusses the difficulty some people feel and deal with while being different, whether that difference is based on ethnicity, religion or sexual preference. I wanted to like Seth because he knows he'll have to deal with the prejudices people have when confronted with homosexuality, especially in athletics. Perhaps I expected a little too much OR I'm simply out of touch with the variety of teenage personalities and behaviors, but I Loved You First didn't quite do it for me. Ms. Jacobs has provided a well-written story with fully developed characters but the level of immaturity was difficult for me to handle. Fortunately Alex and Seth do redeem themselves toward the end of the story, providing the reader with a promise of maturity and happier days ahead.

[jamesterck · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review: I couldn't wait to read this book! It sounded like a fun, interesting, and probably emotional read; plus, I felt like I could relate to Alex on some level. It happened in high school; instead of the guy being just my best friend though, he was also my boyfriend. I was delighted of course, but I always felt like something was really off about the relationship. We broke up after about a year and I was crushed. Fast forward to a couple of years later, after we had graduated high school, and he finally got the courage to admit that he was gay and live the life he was meant to. We remain friends to this day and I am so truly happy for him. I just wish he had felt comfortable enough to come out in high school so he didn't have to hide who he was, but I also know how cruel and uncaring people can be. Enough about my personal story, on to the review! 1) Character Development: I definitely liked Alex and felt for her situation. She was the only one who knew that Seth was gay and was madly in love with him. I know it would be hard to see the guy you adore dating other girls, even if you knew it was just for show. I don't think in the beginning she really grasped that he was 100% gay. She seemed to grasp at the few bits of hope she could that she would be able to change his mind and he would fall in love with her. She also seemed pretty bitter in the beginning as well, constantly referring to Seth as her "buddy", knowing deep down that's all he would ever be to her and not liking the reality. Everything in this book is kind of a double edged sword; on one hand, I wished that Alex would support Seth's sexuality more (outwardly she did, but inside she wanted him for herself), but on the other hand I wanted to shake Seth and tell him how much he was hurting his best friend and that coming out to the world would be the best thing for him in the end. So I guess I got mad at both Seth and Alex at times for the way they acted. I certainly felt for Seth though; being openly gay would be a freeing experience (I'm just assuming here since I, myself, am not gay), but you also have to deal with some ignorant and cruel people along the way. I found myself wishing he would see how much Alex was suffering; in order to stay by his side and be his "wing-woman", she sacrificed having any friends besides him. He shouldn't have made her feel like she had to accompany him to all of the parties and such, but I understand that he was worried his secret would get out. There were a few lesser characters that were very important to this story. First we have Bruce, who is the object of Seth's affection. He seems like an alright guy in the beginning, but my opinion of him changed early on. Dink is Bruce's friend and he has his eye on Alex; personally, I really liked Dink. He was a lot more open-minded than his friend and genuinely wanted to get to know Alex. Finally, there's Trinity. She's essential to the story, because she immediately is drawn to Alex and befriends her right away, showing her that she can and should have other friends. Overall I really enjoyed these characters and it was great to see them grow and change as the story progressed. Especially Alex, since at the beginning she seemed more like a doormat, only living her life for someone else. 2) The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: First, The Good - I loved the characters in this book, they really came to life and I was able to easily connect with them. The writing flowed really well and I was able to finish this book in one day. The plot was a bit different than I was expecting; I assumed it would just be Alex trying to get Seth to fall for her, but it was more than that. It was about Alex finding out who she was without Seth, because up to that point she hadn't taken the time to find out. The Bad - I found Alex annoying at times. She wasn't happy with her situation, following Seth around to parties and watching him hit on girls, and tended to complain about it a lot. Also, I wish Trinity had been present more in the book. She is the one who starts to draw Alex out of her shell and I felt like she should have been in the story more. Plus, she was a really fun, quirky character that I just would have liked to read more about. The Ugly - Can't think of anything to say here, really enjoyed the book! 3) Romance Sizzle Or Fizzle?: Well, this obviously isn't appropriate here. Seth is gay and Alex is definitely barking up the wrong tree. In pining after her friend, she misses opportunities for a chance at actual love (or at least a fun fling). I wanted to shake her sometimes, tell her she can't change who Seth is and if she really loved him she would just want him to be happy, no matter what that meant. She supported his sexuality, but inside I think she really resented him for the fact that he would never return her affections. I desperately wanted them both to find happiness, but I knew with their respective issues (Seth with his closeted sexuality and Alex being practically obsessed with her best friend) that it would take time for that to happen. 4) Uniqueness Of Plot: The plot isn't unique; there's been plenty of stories of unrequited love (and if you've ever seen The Object Of My Affection with Jennifer Aniston, you know it's in the same ballpark as this story). I still enjoyed reading this book a lot! 5) Final Thoughts: This book was a fun, light read at times. At other times it was darker, tackling more serious issues. Overall it was a great read about friends, adversity, individuality, and acceptance. I am so glad I got the opportunity to read this book; I definitely recommend that you read it!

[sedelia_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Parts of this novel were entertaining, but I was expecting more. I think what affected my enjoyment of I Loved You First was that I didn't like the main character at all. I thought Alex was incredibly selfish and not a very good friend. In the end, she takes a step in the right direction, but considering all that went on throughout the novel, I don't think it was enough. Also, she is supposed to be in love with her best friend, but she never really says what she likes about him except for the fact that she thinks he's hot, which I thought to be superficial. It also bothered me that some rather serious issues were glossed over (college students being drugged, assault, suicide, etc.) and appropriate action wasn't taken.However, despite this, there were good parts. I was able to relate to Alex a bit on her troubles adjusting to college life and trying to find new friends. I wish we could have seen more of Trinity, because she was hilarious and really interesting.Overall, this book by Reena Jacobs is a fast read and it does have its good parts. There were times that I laughed out loud because of the characters' banter.*I was provided a free copy by the author in exchange for an honest review. This review is entirely my own opinion.*