"First Date" Review

"First Date"
by Krista McGee


Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: Jan 10, 2012
Source: sent by publisher

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary from goodreads.com:  

The orphaned daughter of missionaries, Addy is quite content to stay in the shadows and never draw attention to herself. But when she's selected for a reality TV show to try to become the President son's prom date-a show she didn't audition for-she's suddenly in America's spotlight.
The lights, the make-up, the competitions, and the blogs discussing every move she makes all make Addy incredibly uncomfortable. But through her time at The Mansion, Addy comes to realize that first impressions aren't always right, that hiding out may not be what God had planned for her life, and that her faith should affect everything she does. It may just be that her selection wasn't random at all and that she's on this show "for such a time as this."

My Review:

I had high hopes for this cute cover, and thought it would be a light, fun read. But it wasn't as relaxing as I had hoped. The message in this book was a bit too heavy handed for my tastes. The story sounded like it had potential, but I couldn't get into it, and it seemed over the top for me.

Addy's best friend on the reality show, Kara, was probably my favorite character. She was spunky and was a lot of fun to read about. It intrigues me that the author's next book features Kara as the main character.

It was fun to read about the world of 'scripted reality' tv, which we all know isn't so much about reality. But sometimes it just went way over the top for me. Hank, for one, was just so mean!


Main Characters: 3/5
Supporting Characters: 3/5
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 2/5
Uniqueness: 3/5
Cover: 4/5
Writing: 4/5


Bottom Line: This one was a little over the top for me. While there are some great nuggets of wisdom here, I'd recommend it to those who want a very heavy Christian message in their reads.