From the publisher:
A Star is Born meets Christina Lauren’s Love and Other Words in this deeply romantic, emotionally sweeping novel about first love, fame, and the long road to finding yourself—even if it takes a lifetime.
When the past collides with the present—literally—one woman must decide if the life she built is the one she truly wants, or just the one she chose.
Vida Jamison favors the reliable and the unsurprising – the things she can count on. But all it takes is a winter storm, a chance encounter, and a familiar voice to turn certainty into quicksand.
Elijah Beck, her first love and most enduring wildcard, is back in town.
He might have struck gold on the stage, writing the soundtrack to the lives of a generation, but for Vida, he’s just the one person who has always known how to get under her skin. Elijah, for all his talent and magnetism, has spent a lifetime being wanted but never quite held—by the industry that made him famous, by the fans who adored him from a safe distance. When an accident lands them in the hospital, Vida has to face the question she’s spent two decades avoiding: Is Elijah her greatest mistake, or the love she was always meant to find again?
Nostalgia is a tricky thing. The past can pull you under just as easily as it can set you free.
https://bookshop.org/a/123058/9781728264080
Griffin’s latest, after The Favor, follows Elijah, a wildly successful musician, and his lifelong love, Vida, a pediatrician. Vida grew up in a troubled home and spent most of her time with Eli and his mother, Miriam, who became a surrogate parent and believed Vida grounded her son. But as Eli’s fame grew and he spent years on the road, their relationships began to fracture. Eli fell into addiction and, despite multiple stints in rehab, never truly recovered. Vida eventually married Tom, though when the novel opens, they are separated, sharing custody of their teenage son.
When Eli returns, Vida is wary, but lets him stay in the guest cabin. Tom dislikes Eli’s presence but accepts that their connection is unbreakable. Everything unravels when Eli, drunk, crashes into Vida’s car, seriously injuring her. The accident becomes his long‑overdue wake‑up call. The story moves between past and present, gradually revealing just how dysfunctional Eli and Vida’s relationship has always been. It’s a thoughtful, emotionally heavy exploration of love, addiction, and family dynamics that starts slowly but gains momentum as it builds toward the end.
VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoyed The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner, or Modern Lovers by Emma Straub.
©Library Journal, 2026
11/2026 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
FIRST LOVE LAST LOVE by Adele Griffin. Sourcebooks Landmark (November 3, 2026). ISBN: 978-1728264080. 368p.
