I love this book with my entire heart.

As a thirty-two-year-old woman, I definitely felt the nostalgia with this one. The story follows Ella Cole in dual timelines; when she is a teenager and meets Lowe Archer for the first time and in the present when she is in her early thirties and has just bought a house with her partner Jackson.

Teenage Ella has a 'love at first sight' moment with Lowe but in order to protect herself, she puts herself in the friendzone. The two are the best of friends over the next decade, always there to support each other, but each time he gets a girlfriend, Ella's heart breaks a little. Their story is absolutely beautiful to read.

Lowe's band that he plays in becomes more and more famous and something happens (no spoilers here from me!) and the two don't speak for a ten years. Following his band's break up, they then reconnect.

The way that this book is written is stunning. There is real depth when it comes to teenage Lowe and Ella's families which adds another dimension and Dockrill's humour just bounces off the page. I really resonated with Ella's teenage years and this novel encapsulates what it's like to have a first love.

I love that all of the male love interests of Ella's were genuinely nice, no villains in this story, they just weren't Lowe. I cared so deeply about these characters. I laughed and even shed a tear at some parts. It gave me everything I want in a novel.

As I always do, I did a little research on the author after reading and discovered that there are autobiographical aspects in there with Ella and Lowe's relationship and Dockrill and her husband. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was in The Maccabees as I played 'About Your Dress' on a loop as a teenager in 2007 and I'm pretty sure I had a line from First Love as my MSN screen name for a while. CRINGE.

Anyway, read this book. It's bloody brilliant. I read on Kindle and will 100% be buying a physical copy too.