Bros before hoes or so the saying goes.However, Maxwell Sheridan threw that saying out the window the minute he hooked up with his best friend, Alex’s, poisonous ex. The moment he slept with her, he was hooked. Sloppy seconds was not his style, but she was a cruel addiction he couldn’t overcome. He thought his days of betraying his best friends were behind him. But Max learnt the hard way that … hard way that history had a way of repeating itself.
That was until one moment on a bridge would change it all.
Josephine Faulkner is struggling. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. Life has caused her to grow up. Gone are the wild days, black hair, and dating men her ambassador father would never approve of. But juggling work and life has meant that university hasn’t been high on her priority list.
When Maxwell Sheridan finds her on a bridge, dropping small stones into the lake, a friendship and connection between them blooms.
He offers to tutor her.
She offers him her compassion.
But their undeniable attraction and friendship will be tested.
And her name…
Andrea Wallace.
Book five in the the Thirty-Eight Series, With the First Goodbye can be read seperately from the other books in the series.
The Thirty-Eight Series reading order:
#1 Thirty-Eight Days
#2 Thirty-Eight Reasons
#2.5 What We’ll Leave Behind: A prequel
#3 What You Left Behind
#4 All We Have
#5 With the First Goodbye
#6: With the Last Goodbye (Coming soon)
more
5 HONEY stars! This is a sweet book that will melt your heart. Be prepared for one of the best friends to lovers romance!
Dear Lord! I still taste the sweetness after reading this book. My soul is over the moon. I do not consider myself as a romantic girl but this book made me reconsider it. Who wants hearts and flowers? Women, they do and men rarely want them. I could be wrong but there are few men who really want a serious relationship. However there are some exceptions.
I shall say that this is the first time I read something from Len Webster. Her writing was classy and proper. With the First Goodbye melted my heart. She delivered a beautiful and heart-warming story with amazing characters that will steal a piece of you.
The author gift us a man who is consumed by guilt and despite of his mistakes, he wants to find the woman capable of warm his heart and soul. Those mistakes are eating him alive and the only way he could find love is by healing every wound of his soul. Maxwell is just a man who wants love. The same kind of love that his best friends found.
“One action affected the other. The ripple effect. Life’s cruel tricks. One mistake led to another and then another.”
Sometimes our mistakes are so big that you think you do not deserve redemption. We are human so we make mistake. It is in our nature. We are not perfect machines and less when feelings are involved. This is something that Max will learn with the help of Josephine. She will change his life like a sweet tornado.
“You have no idea what really meeting you has done to my life. You better it. You made me look at myself and realise I made poor choices”
At first sight Josephine seems a delicate woman but as you carry on reading you will discover a strong heroine. She only has her mother and her best friend Stella. She is a smart student. And as every woman, she has dreams. She has worked so hard to become a good lawyer and nothing will stop her. Not even her father issues. Because of her father she feels abandoned and she does not trust men easily.
“I’m not someone’s first choice, Stella. I will never…”
Meeting Max will be bittersweet. They will start as friends but fate has other plans for them. Can friends become lovers? Yes, can lovers become friends? No. It is simply as mathematics. Josie will heal Max’s wounds and Max will make Josie stronger and confident. Everyone around them see the attraction and devotion that their eyes express when they are together. They are perfect for each other.
“You and your words don’t play fair.”
I highly recommend you this book. It is perfect for those who are romantic. This is one of those books that are good when it is rainy outside. Rainy days make the perfect scene for this book. Rain will wash the mistakes and give redemption for those who need it.
Let’s start with the characters, I didn’t connect with any of them, except maybe Stella. I’ll get to her later. So let’s start with Max, he annoyed me so much. I could not see the attraction with him, and I was fine for the first few chapter and then whenever this guilt thing came up of being with two people his friends had been with, it drove me crazy. I couldn’t stand it, just the way he went on and on and on and on, it would have been easier enough to say to his two friends, I banged your bird and I kissed one, especially as they were now in happy relationships but no he didn’t. He kept it a secret even longer. His guilt was so annoying and kind of misplaced because most men just get over it when they are told things like that. It really drove me mental I couldn’t stand it.
Josephine, now she wasn’t awful so to speak but she fell in love with Max, well they both fell in love with each other, but anyway I liked her determination when it came to being in law school and just trying especially as her mother was going through cancer. But she wasn’t honest with him either, she kept the fact her mother was ill to herself rather than sharing the burden with him. Like I don’t understand how she can love him and yet not tell him. So that annoyed me with her.
Stella, I think she is the only one I liked and she wasn’t even in it that much she was Josephine’s rumour and she was so funny and I loved her character, I also loved her obsession with Gilmore Girls, like I’m with you girl.
I’m really sad that I didn’t like this story as I say it had its good points but I just I didn’t like it very much and honestly the plot didn’t really keep me that much invested like I don’t think I could care what will happen to the characters. I’m going to read the 2nd book of Max and Josephine and hope it is better than this one.
I thought I could do it…I thought I would make it through the whole book without tears but I was wrong. It started when the title finally clicked. With The First Goodbye…
I’m a newbie to this series. I didn’t even realize it was book 5. You can still read, enjoy, and love the characters without reading 1-4 but it would strengthen the bonds between characters and yourself.
It starts with a wedding and ends at an engagement party. Seems like everyone around them is happy. Yet, both Josephine and Maxwell are outside of the party. One simple encounter changes them both…
It’s sweet, conflicted, and all sorts of sigh inducing. The kick in the butt though…you need more. Lots more…a whole other book more. I feel 3/4 empty without…well you will see.
I am eager for With The Last Goodbye but also hesitant because I need to to be everything I want and more.
reviewed for Naughty Book Blog
Timing, love and loss
OMG I’m so glad that the sequel to this story is out in a few days because there’s no way I’d survive months no knowing what happens with Josie and Max. This is an absolutely gorgeous love story about two people who it seems have been waiting for each other, until the time was right for them both to perhaps find the love they both desperately crave.
With the First Goodbye is Book 5 in Len Webster’s 38 series and I can say that it definitely can read as a stand-alone. I haven’t read any of the previous books (but will be ASAP!) and I could pretty much follow what happened to the previous couples. But be prepared for one hell of a cliffhanger as this book doesn’t have a satisfying ending (yet…)
“Josephine Faulkner was a complete mystery. One that Max had every intention of being lost in. And that in and of itself was something else.”
Len Webster is a master of writing emotion. She has a way of making her characters every nuance and feeling so clear and you can’t help but feel everything they do. Your heart will fill with love, your heart will break and your heart will long for hope… and it’s utter perfection. I’m a massive fan of authors who can make me feel, and Len does this in spades. Josie and Max are incredibly likeable characters (despite their pasts – Max’s especially) and I loved watching them fall in love. The Gilmore Girl references were fab (even for someone who isn’t heaps familiar with the show) and I loved the realism of the story.
There’s so much more I could say but it would spoil what you must experience for yourself. With the First Goodbye is an absolutely beautiful story and I cannot wait to find out how it all ends!!!!
With the First Goodbye is beautifully written and so darn good that I didn’t even mind the cliffy. Max and Josie’s story is emotionally charged with friendship, heartbreak, and love. There were so many wonderful things about this one, but it’s hard to give details without spoilers. I’ll just say that this compelling read is one that will stay with me. It is a standalone, but there were several times that other characters entered the tale and I was a bit lost on their stories. That aside, I was quite impressed with Webster’s writing and will be anxiously awaiting the next book in Max and Josie’s sweet love story.