Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

Considering I kind of enjoyed True Believer, I had high hopes for this book—I thought I would at least like it as much as its predecessor, and since I usually fall head over heels for books about pregnancy, I thought I would enjoy it.

I didn’t have the same complaints for this book that I usually do for Sparks’ novels. The writing itself was decent enough and the story was fairly engaging—however, I found myself irritated with the characters, Lexie especially. I didn’t cut her any slack for being pregnant, and although the ending really surprised and almost succeeding in drawing a tear or two, I couldn’t overlook how frustrated and exasperated the earlier dialogues had made me.

All in all, not as irritating as other books I’ve read from Sparks (aren’t you guys getting sick of me talking about Sparks books yet?), but not all that great either.

What I Liked: Spoilers!

• I always love books about pregnancy, no matter how small a part it seems to play. I mentioned this in a status update on BookLikes, but ever since I was a little girl, all I ever really wanted was to be a mother. I might be old-fashioned, but that’s always been my number one priority, and I even picked a career path that would specifically allow me to work at home so I could be with my children. The whole pregnancy story with Lexie and Jeremy expecting their baby really struck a chord with me—I really enjoyed that part of the storyline and could feel the anticipation and excitement and nervousness that comes with being a new parent (or, at least I empathized as much as I possibly could, having never been in that position myself). I thought it was executed really well, and I’d recommend it to someone looking for a book with a pregnancy plot.

What I Didn’t Like:

• Gosh, I hated Lexie. I hated Lexie a lot. She was so irritating that I can’t even chalk it up to being pregnant. She whines and whines and whines and expects Jeremy to do everything for her and has the audacity to get mad at him whenever he questions her or shows the slightest bit of disappointment. She guilts him into getting a “healthier” dinner when he takes her out to eat at a fancy restaurant and then complains because she wanted a bite of the steak that he didn’t get. She doesn’t seem to fathom that Jeremy moved away from his family to be with her, left his job to be with her, left his home to be with her, stays at a crappy motel because she doesn’t want “people to talk” about them, buys the house that Lexie loves but that he doesn’t even really like, buys the car Lexie wants them to have even though he’s been saving up his entire life, and can’t even tell his family that he’s going to be a father because she’s worried about what they’ll think. And this was the real kicker—Lexie lies a lot about what she’s doing and who she’s with. She sneaks off to hang out with Rodney and even drives to his house in the middle of the night—and blatantly lies to Jeremy when he asks her about it. Then she has the audacity to get mad at him for “checking up on her”. Plus, Jeremy finds out that Lexie had a miscarriage a few years earlier and feels kind of hurt that she didn’t share that with him—after he’s told her intimate details about why his ex-wife divorced him, and he doesn’t feel like she trusts him enough to talk about herself—and then he doesn’t trust her because she’s keeping so many things from him. And she gets mad at him again for just asking why she didn’t tell him about when she was pregnant before! Ugh, the woman drove me crazy, and I just really, really didn’t like her. She was so selfish and I couldn’t understand why Jeremy loved her—Jeremy wasn’t a diamond in the rough or anything, but he definitely deserved better than her. I didn’t even feel bad when she died.

• This book just didn’t have much of a plot. Fighting with Lexie, planning the wedding, getting ready for the baby…none of it was intense or drew me in or made me want to keep reading. I felt like I was just getting a little peak into someone’s ordinary life, and while that’s usually nice and dandy, I at least want to see something interesting happening. This one didn’t have any drive or suspense to the story.

Overall: If you read and liked True Believer, I would just quit there. Personally, I don’t think this sequel adds any insight or growth to any of the characters and it’s mostly uninteresting and un-engaging. It doesn’t add much closure to their story, either—no more than you get from the ending of True Believer, anyway. It wasn’t worth the time to me. However, if you’re looking for a book specifically talking about pregnancy and some of the issues you face when becoming a new parent, this is a decent enough read.

(http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/63514634043/at-first-sight-review)