First Love, Last Love by Carole Mortimer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Strong Writing But Dated Characterizations

FINAL DECISION: The writing of this story is strong and in its time it was right in the center of romance books, but not the ages of the heroine (17) and the hero (34) in the contemporary romance is just creepy.

THE STORY: Lauri Prescott is seventeen years old and just started a job in the typing pool. A run in with her boss, Alexander Blair creates sparks. The two agree that they will spend some time together in order that familiarity dampen their reaction to one another. Their story becomes more complicated because Lauri wants to keep their relationship a secret and there are many other secrets surrounding the two.

OPINION: This story is so well written that the dated elements stand out tremendously. I thought the characters were well written and the story was interesting. There are a a lot of secrets that are revealed throughout this story and the twists were fun to see. The romance story was more on the surface and did not dig deep into the emotions of the characters as would be more common in current romance books. The relationship between Alex and Lauri feels really dated. The age different is not as significant as the fact that Lauri is only seventeen. That just feels creepy to me in a contemporary romance. In addition, the discussion the two have where the hero makes a rape joke is just inappropriate. Ultimately, those issues bothered me and the rest of the book was not strong enough for me to overlook it.

WORTH MENTIONING: This book was first printed in the early 1980s as a category romance.

CONNECTED BOOKS: FIRST LOVE, LAST LOVE is a standalone.

STAR RATING: I give this book 2 stars.