The First Time. 

The First Time is, unsurprisingly, about two teenagers and their first time. They meet in the alley behind a house party one night as Dave paces up and down trying to figure out what to say to the girl he likes and Aubrey waits for her friends who are no doubt hooking up with people inside. Conversation strikes up between the pair and when the cops show up they make a break for it and that is the start of their relationship. Aubrey has a boyfriend and Dave is supposedly in love with another girl but there seems to be a connection between the pair that develops quickly over the weekend. This film is basically about this pair as they try to figure out what (and who) they want in terms of sex and relationships.


This may seem like your typical, crappy teenage film but it was actually deeper than that. This film explores the minds of two teenage virgins and their thoughts and expectations of their 'first time'. This certainly isn't the best film and there were many flaws as you can expect from this sort of teen drama but I think it did do a fairly good job of portraying teenage thought patterns and the awkwardness of one's first time/first love. This is a very confusing time for most teenagers and this film doesn't glance over that fact. This isn't a teen rom-com where everything is fine and dandy, there are many bumps along the way as Aubrey and Dave try to sort their thoughts out. So, in terms of the main plot this film fulfilled its purpose.

At times I felt that the pace of the film was moving a little two quickly, as was the relationship between Aubrey and Dave. This entire film plays out over the space of one weekend though it seems a lot longer than that. This was probably the most unrealistic thing about the film and made it seem more like a teenagers fantasy, but everything else about this film seemed pretty real. This film makes you laugh and cry and cringe. It is incredibly funny at times, awkward teenage encounters are hilarious - especially when true and realistic, but it was also really poignant and sad at times.

I felt that the acting was absolutely brilliant in this film from the two main roles, most notably, Dylan O'Brien. He is most known for staring the nerdy best friend in MTV's Teen Wolf so he fitted the role of social outcast Dave really well. O'Brien was in his element and managed to bring across an extremely witty but kinda sensitive teenage boy. He's definitely portrayed as a good guy, but he's not perfect, he's still human, and that's what makes him all the more lovable. Nobody does awkward teenager like Dylan O'Brien and he is definitely the best thing about this movie. Britt Robertson didn't do a bad job as Aubrey either. Aubrey is not your stereotypical girl and for the most part Britt Robertson portrayed Aubrey's fiesty character well on screen; however, there were a few moments when Robertson seemed like she was trying to be one of those slightly 'indie' girls (these rare moments were only a slight flaw in the movie though).


All in all this film is full of awkwardness, laughter and emotion. A lot of teenagers will be able to relate to the one or both of the two main characters in some way or another and if you're the sort of person that likes these sort of coming-of-age teen movies then this is definitely for you. This is the sort of movie that critics hate but the public secretly loves. It's not the best film, but you can't help but enjoy it and feel your heart warm to it. There were a couple of twists that made your heart skip a little but for the most part this is a fairly predictable film, but name me a teenage drama that isn't. I would highly recommend this to teenage girls or anyone looking for a fairly lighthearted teenage film that can make you laugh out loud and cry at the same time.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

Title: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
Author: Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 26th 2010
Goodreads Summary: “I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.

{ Review }

Apologies, again, for my long absence - it's a busy time but I'm trying :(

I've been wanting to read this for a long time now, the cover is just too cute to resist! It couldn't be more appropriate that I decided to pick this book up again at Christmas time because that's exactly when it's set. If you're inspired by my review to read this fab book, then now, like right now, is definitely the time to do it! I have heap of revision to be doing, but I just couldn't stop reading this book. (I think this sentence may quite possibly have made its way into just about every review I've written) In fact, I've been going to bed at around 3:30 a.m. every night because I just can't stop reading and as a result I am now extremely ill, but - it was worth it.

So apart from the uber cute cover, I was also drawn into the unique plot line. This didn't seem like your average teen romance, and I was right. Dash and Lily's story begins when Dash stumbles across Lily's notebook, wedged on a shelf at his favourite bookstore, next to his favourite book. Inside, he finds a list of things to do, if he dares, which of course, he does, and so their special correspondence begins. I suppose its a bit idealistic to think that if you left a notebook hanging around with a list of things to do inside it that the perfect guy for you would stumble across it, but somehow this story seems like it could be real.

The other great thing about this book is that it's quite relateable, I would say, to the average reader of this review. Both Lily and Dash are misfits who are much more comfortable with writing things down rather than saying things out loud and that just makes everything between them seem much more real, despite the fact that this story is really quite unrealistic (picture a dog running into a pram, a baby flying into the air, a teenage girl leaping for (and catching) the baby, and then a few hours spent in a jail cell).

This wasn't one of those teenage stories where you fall in love with the protagonist because he sounds so dreamy and hot, it's one where you learn to love and appreciate every single character because they've all got a part to play. That's not to say that I didn't think that Dash sounded dreamy and hot - because he did. You find out a lot about the main characters through their exchanges in the notebook and whilst they don't actually meet each other until about three quarters of the way through the book, you can feel the connection between the two. I love the realism that both characters had. Neither of them were the swooning romantic sort, but the practical and thoughtful sort who understood that at the end of the day, it was just a notebook full of dares and perhaps there was nothing more to it.

I think that the main reason that I enjoyed this book so much is that I'm secretly waiting for something exciting like this to happen to me. I wish that my parents would leave me alone for a week over the Christmas holidays, leaving me to do whatever the hell I want, when I want, including secret rendez-vous with mysterious bookshop boys. Alas, I don't think this will ever happen to me.

This story makes you think about what you're really looking for in that special someone and warns you not to get too caught up in the idea of someone, which, in my opinion, is a very important lesson. Whilst this book was exciting and daring, it was also calming. Now that I've finished reading it, I feel like a sort of serene peace has settled over me which is strange. (It also cured me of my review-writers block which is another plus). So all in all, this was an absolutely fantastic Christmas-New Years read that I'd recommend for any teenage girl, I guarantee that you'll fall in love with this story!