The book Another First Chance, written by Robbie Couch explores themes of grief, love, healing, and the importance of second chances. The story's main character includes a teenage boy named River Lang, who’s struggling to cope with the death of his best friend, Dylan. River’s a complex character with complex emotions, and he’s not doing the best coping with his friends death. After he was caught vandalizing a billboard with Dylan’s face on it, a representative from the Affinity Trials gave him the choice to participate in the program or face the legal consequences. River ended up joining the Affinity Trials, which is a study based on troubled teenagers. There, he reconnects with Mavis, his ex best friend and Dylan’s girlfriend, who is also the only one who knows the truth about the day Dylan died. River also befriends Nash, a star football player who is also hiding emotional trauma. However, as the experiments go on, the tasks the Affinity Trails are doing on them starts to feel invasive. River begins to wonder the real purpose of this program, since it seemed like they knew a lot more about the teenagers than they should. Throughout the program, River uncovers shocking truths about Dylan’s death, the Affinity Trials, and himself. At the end of the book, River learns to not just forgive other, but also himself, as forgiveness is one step closer to healing. What makes this book powerful is how it portrays mental health and emotional growth. River’s relationships, both past and present, are complicated, but he learns to forgive and love again, which was inspiring to read. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys emotional character driven stories. The book realistically captures grief and guilt, and River’s journey felt raw and authentic, making it easy to sympathize with him. Robbie Couch also balances humor, heartache, and love perfectly, making the book hard to put down, therefore it deserves five stars.
Another First Chance
About This Book
They Both Die at the End meets You’ve Reached Sam, in this heart-stopping speculative young adult novel from New York Times bestselling author Robbie Couch that explores all the different ways love can live on after tragedy.
It’s been a year since eighteen-year-old River Lang’s best friend died in a car accident. And every day since, he’s had to pass by the depressing billboard that appeared as a result: a texting and driving PSA that reduces Dylan to a cautionary tale and River to the best friend of the dead kid at school. Dylan was so much more than a statistic, though, and River hates that everyone in town seems to have forgotten.
When he’s caught improving (a.k.a. vandalizing) Dylan’s billboard, River is blackmailed into joining the Affinity Trials — a research study that’s observing teens who are “struggling socially.” But as soon as he arrives, River’s social struggles only worsen as he’s thrown together with the last person he wants to spend an entire week with: his ex-best friend and Dylan’s former girlfriend, Mavis, who’s the only one who knows the truth about the night Dylan died.
During the Trials, River finds comfort in talking to Nash, a hot jock from a neighboring camp. Despite never having met Dylan, Nash’s charm, internal battles, and fascination with the universe remind River of his late best friend in the best possible way. As River starts to fall for the all-star athlete, feelings he never let himself explore begin to bubble to the surface. But so do bizarre developments within the Trials that make him wonder what researchers are actually studying while monitoring his every move. And when suspicions lead him to a bombshell discovery, River will have to decide just how far he’s willing to go for another chance at first love.
