Books for Christian Girls: "First in My Heart" by Rachel Blanchard

About this book:

  “A thousand miles away from all she’s ever known, can Ava’s heart finally find a home?
   Ava Keller is a recent graduate who traveled from her small hometown in Eastern Iowa to sunny Florida in the hopes of starting a teaching career. She finds the members of the local community to be more than welcoming—all except Pete Harrison.
    Pete had been getting along just fine until Ava came along, creating another opportunity for his “well-meaning” family members to marry him off. He’s seen enough change in his life to know that nothing good can ever last. But Ava keeps showing up again and again, and in time, he finds himself wanting to help her succeed.
    Can Pete open up to the possibility of love? Or will the uncertainty of Ava’s future send her back to her family? Both must rely on God to show them the way, and to remind them what is truly important.”

Series: Book #1 in the “Summer Shores” series.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read in sermons, quoted (both in sermons and a conversation), & remembered; Prayers, Thanking God, Blessings over food; Church going, Wednesday night Bible study, sermons, & singing hymns; Talks about God; Some 'H's are capital when referring to God & some were not; Ava thinks that God wouldn’t have presented her with a life-changing opportunity only to fail upon starting it (she then wonders “would [H]e?”); Ava views arrogant and being self-assured as being liable to be a sin in her eyes which is “probably due to her own shyness”; A woman tells Ava to enjoy the special time she has with God now and that “the more you are grounded in His truth, the better wife you will be when you do meet ‘the one’”; Ava is concerned that she might mess up God’s plan for her (her best friend tells her that she won’t and that while Ava might make mistakes, “God will give you grace, and bless you with more wisdom and clarity in time.”); *Spoilers* Towards the end, Ava isn’t sure if a relationship with Pete was part of God’s better plan for her, but knows that she “could rest in God and the constant that He provided as she walked ahead”; At the end, Ava truly believes that “God could see what was ahead [for her] and was working in her favor. No matter what happened.” *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of God, Jesus, His will, & not needing anyone else but Him; Mentions of Bibles; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, church events, pastors, services, sermons, worship, hymns, & Bible studies; A few mentions of Being blessed & blessings; A couple mentions of books of the Bible; A couple mentions of being a Christian; A couple mentions of sinners;
             *Note: Pete encourages Ava that she can do “whatever [she] wants” (job wise; he doesn’t mention God, but she thinks that she can do anything that God wants her to do); When discouraged, Ava thinks “I am worthy of respect. I am loved. I am strong. Good things are coming my way”.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘darn’, a ‘for crying out loud’, a ‘heck’, five forms of ‘idiot’, and eight ‘stupid’s; Some Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Mentions of a car accident (that a side character caused by running a red light), passing out, injuries, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of lies, lying, & liars (including not wanting to lie); A couple mentions of a woman whose husband passed away from cancer & her grief (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of parties (implied negative ones); A mention of poker; A mention of throwing up;
             *Note: Ava is determined to make it in her new place so she doesn’t have to hightail it back home after being unable to make it; Ava was very insecure in high school & has been known to let others walk over her (this comes up in discussion and her thoughts many time; She thinks her outlook is steadier now because she’s successfully kept sight of how valuable she is in God’s eyes); Both main characters get off on the wrong foot by judging the other or by first impressions (Ava judges Pete at first because of what she’s heard about him (his self-importance, which she finds repugnant) and thinks that he thinks he is better than everyone else; Pete thinks that Ava must have some idiosyncrasy that he’ll dislike); *Spoiler* Pete gets upset at Ava for helping someone that treated her like garbage and that she’s being used, but Ava says she’s choosing to help someone who needs it; Pete then says that she can be stronger, but chooses not to because it’s “easier to get people to like [her] by working [herself] to death” and Ava calls him cynical and thinks that she’s let him down; Shortly after, he says he didn’t mean to attack her and then they are okay *End of Spoiler*; A few mentions of children who have “sensory issues which made going out in public a challenge at times” (this is seen on page once, barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of authors (Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis, & Alfred, Lord Tennyson); A couple mentions of sports teams (NFL); A couple mentions of zombies; A mention of brand names (Cheetos); A mention of sweating your butt off in the heat.

Sexual Content- Two cheek kisses, and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Wanting to kiss (once, barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Nearness, & Smelling (most are to comfort the other and not sexual, barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (a few times, barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Butterflies; Noticing (including a man’s muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); Going on dates; Ava is hurt from her ex-boyfriend suddenly breaking up with her and comments about being unable to count on others (her best friend tries to cheer her up, but Ava wonders that if she’s such a catch why did every man she’s dated “make his excuses and leave?”); Pete doesn’t think he’ll get married after an ex-girlfriend taught him that you can’t rely on others; Ava becomes infatuated with a man (thinking that it’s destiny, acts a bit like a lovestruck teenager, tries not to gawk at him, & *Spoiler* towards the end realizes that he wasn’t serious about her and later just leading her on, but later when he needs help after a car accident, she helps him regardless with no romantic feelings attached *End of Spoiler*); Ava wonders if she’ll ever find “the one” & struggles to trust guys after disappointment; *Spoiler* A bit past the half-way point, Pete wonders if he should fight for Ava (not literally, but being steady when another guy is playing with her feelings) because even though he hates showing emotion and being vulnerable, he likes her; Later, he tells her that he is willing to wait for her) *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of dating, dates, boyfriends/girlfriends, relationships, breakups, & exes; Mentions of not dating casually & looking to get to know someone who is interested in something long-term and serious (both Ava & Pete); Mentions of cheaters & a man leaving the mother of his child; A few mentions of kisses & kissing (including not kissing on the second date); A few mentions of flirting; A mention of guys wanting to pick up a girl for “a night of fun” (but she’s not that girl anymore); A mention of an ex-boyfriend picking up girls are parties; Love, falling in love, & the emotions (more personality than physical attraction);
             *Note: Ava wears a swim cover to the beach & Pete respectfully notices (it’s said that her swim cover was “classy and covering but showed off her delicate arms and shoulders”); A woman tells Ava to have the right things in common with a potential boyfriend (also saying that people don’t change easily and “certainly not without God’s help”); A couple mentions of Pete’s ex-girlfriend wearing a bikini to the beach & smirking at men’s awestruck stares at her in a restaurant (Pete thinks that she had an insecurity to be constantly needing to be told how amazing she was or putting down everyone else).

-Ava Keller, age 23
-Pete Harrison
                    P.O.V. switches between them (& one other person at the end)
                                                        149 pages

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

This was a sweet and short romance novella! It did feel like things moved fast, but that’s probably because of the short page length.

Ava was very infatuated with the wrong man and I wish she would’ve noticed the maybe not quite bright red, but at least orange toned flags he was giving, but thankfully lessons are learned about trusting God and His plans for us.

Pete was a bit of a grump, but he started falling first which was cute. There were a few cringe moments that took me out of the story a bit (such as them arguing over their ages, being experienced at a job, and then her quoting a scripture for him not to look down on her age). They went back and forth being curious about the other and then thinking about the other’s flaws, which I didn’t care for seeing, but I knew it would work out. You could almost call this the enemies-to-more trope, but mainly from her side.

I did like that as he fell for her it was more about her personality and kindness than her physical appearance. The author did those parts well, especially, and I always like to see that in a romance book! The last fifty pages or so were really cute and I liked it the most. The romance that entered in was very sweet, pretty healthy, and had lots of communication. They balanced each other's strengths and weaknesses--and therefore butted heads a few times. They both had their blow-ups and flaws as well like the (fictional) humans they are and then more discussions and communication had to happen. I think the author showed the awkwardness of getting to know someone for the first time and getting past first impressions. I think I would’ve preferred them to have a few more discussions on page because of their different outlooks on life and difference of personality, but I do think this would be a really sweet read for high school age girls because of the clean romance and strong faith content.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!