First Friday: How Virginity Almost Killed Me by Tory Hartmann

First Friday: How Virginity Almost Killed Me
by Tory Hartmann


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reviewed For Readers Favorite


Agnes Anne has a plan, it's a five step plan, and it will take her over a year to accomplish it, but she is determined to break free of her nutty uber-Catholic Irish family. She is twenty-eight years old and still living at home with her parents, working for her father in the back office with no career aspirations and no boyfriend. Not to mention she has a tendency to stutter when she is nervous or put on the spot. First Friday follows Agnes Anne on her adventure to put her plan into action and the reactions her family has to some of the changes that she makes. Author Tory Hartmann has woven a complex story of family, faith and change together to create a believable yet humorous story of finding your own way in life, even at an age when the rest of your siblings are married and on their own.

First Friday really revolves around a large Irish immigrant family that is devoutly Catholic, in fact maybe a little too devoutly Catholic. As a reader, knowing nothing about being Catholic, some of the things I found hilarious and some I found to be truly scary in that they hammered Agnes' ability to have a normal relationship with a guy. Author Tory Hartmann has created an amazingly complex story with many layers in the family and a number of stories going on around Agnes. In parts I felt sorry for her in that her family seemed to dismiss her so easily and she felt she couldn't he honest with them about some of the things going on, and it other ways I found myself rooting for her to break free and become her own person. This was a very clean book, there was some language and brief mentions of intimate moments, but they were so much less than anything I've read lately. I think this would be a great book for young adults and teens as well as older readers.

View all my reviews

Fluid Veracity by Nicole M. Scott

Fluid Veracity 
by Nicole M. Scott


My rating: 4.1 of 5 stars


Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite 

A beautiful summer day, June 8th to be exact, and Mykal is moping in her house over the break-up with her true love, she claims of Nixon almost two years ago. She should be over it, but it is worse today because Nixon is marrying her cousin today! Enter Taranj, Mykal's best friend since childhood who is determined to get her out of the house and take her to a club. Only issue for Mykal is that it's a gay club, and Mykal is a little homophobic even if she won't admit it. Yet she clings to Taranj as a best friend, even to the point of other relationships, which makes people wonder about their relationship. Fluid Veracity is more about the way relationships weave and evolve, that you can be a best friend and always there for someone, yet not be the same sexual orientation. Nicole M Scott writes a modern tell of the working woman, with complicated family dynamics to deal with, still trying to find her own way in the world.

Fluid Veracity was at times a bit hard to follow, but having said that and now that I have read it through once, I think on a second reading it would not be near as hard to follow. Mykal truly believes that her lost love Nixon was her only chance at love, and when she meets Aaron she finds a guy who loves she, maybe a little too much. Preconceived notions, family dynamics, rumors, lies and half-truths all interact to turn what could be into something completely different. Author Nicole M Scott uses the modern world as a backdrop to this novel, and it turns out to be something everyone can relate to in one way or another. Great read for adults.

View all my reviews