Feels Like the First Time
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Most of us would jump at a chance for a do-over of our teenage years…but what if our worst mistakes lead to our happily-ever-after?
Josie Gardner’s life revolves around her amazing children and her career. But, when her husband threatens to take her kids in their divorce, and the business she’s put most of her passion, time and money into building is at risk of failing, a panic attack shatters her grip on reality… and the present.
Josie wakes up in her teenage bedroom, thirty years in the past. She’s forced to relive her emotionally devastating senior year of high school — the year she cut her father out of her life, caused one of her best friends to sever ties, and turned away the boy she loved.
Determined to get back to her children in her own time, Josie tries to fix the mistakes she made, in the hope that righting wrongs will send her back to the present. But when tempted by her high school crush Josie faces the real possibility of losing her future for good.
Would you take a second chance for love…even if it meant losing everything?
My Review:
Feels Like the First Time by Kimberly Packard is a neon-lit dive back into the 90’s college scene, that gloriously chaotic era of grunge music, garage bands, late-night diner runs, and life choices that probably should have come with warning labels. While this is the follow-up to This Time Around, it can absolutely stand on its own, though I’d still highly recommend reading the first book for the full emotional experience.
Emily is your classic college student: convinced she has life figured out while simultaneously holding everything together with duct tape and caffeine. She’s navigating divorced parents with expectations she considers wildly unrealistic for HER future, all while changing majors often enough to make her father question every life decision he’s ever made. Her boyfriend, Wick, is the lead singer of a band teetering on the edge of making it big, and Emily is right there beside him, emotionally invested, physically exhausted, and carrying the sound equipment by herself. But when Wick signs that “big deal” and disappears without so much as a goodbye, Emily’s world gets flipped upside down and then hurled straight into the future. Literally.
Packard delivers a beautifully crafted cast of characters who balance each other perfectly on the page. Emily is sharp, self-aware, emotionally messy in the most believable way, and trying desperately to figure out how to balance independence with love. Wick is equal parts charismatic and infuriating, driven almost entirely by ego and ambition. Meanwhile, Josie and Sophia step in as the kind of supportive best friends every emotionally spiraling college student needs in their corner.
Packard’s writing flows effortlessly between timelines without ever feeling jarring or confusing. The humor and emotional depth are perfectly balanced, creating moments where you’re laughing one second and then suddenly staring into space thinking, wait… did that really just happen? This is very much a character-driven story rather than an action-heavy one, built on emotional honesty, nostalgia, and deeply relatable relationships. The plot twist leans less toward shocking drama and more toward emotional realism, where the quiet moments of realization and the painful lessons that come with learning to choose yourself first deliver the strongest impact.
Overall, Feels Like the First Time is a story about discovering whether you’re truly the main character in your own life, or just playing a supporting role in someone else’s.
I would like to thank Lone Star Literary Life and Kimberly Packard for the opportunity to Alpha/Beta/ARC for Feels Like the First Time. As always, all opinions and reviews are of my own volition. I have not been promised any compensation by the author or publisher for a fair and honest opinion.
GIVEAWAY LINKS
Click the picture above to be entered in the giveaway!!!
AUTHOR WEBSITE & ADDITIONAL LINKS:
Kimberly Packard is an award-winning author of women’s fiction and romance.
When she isn’t writing, she can be found planning her next trip, asking her dog what’s in his mouth or curled up with a book. She resides in Texas with her husband Colby, a clever cat named Oliver and a precocious black lab named Tully.
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