Review: "What It Was Like" by Peter Seth

WOW!!!I just finished this book and what a page turner. This is the debut novel from author Peter Seth and I couldn’t put it down. It is a story of a shy middle-class young man who works at a youth camp during the summer before he starts his college career at Columbia. There, he encounters his first true love, Rachael. She is a rich, spoiled manipulative, soon to be a high school senior who wraps his heart and mind around her finger. It starts off like other typical novels that you have read but that’s where it ends. Just when you think you know where the story is headed it changes directions. It’s a roller coaster ride to the very last page.

The story is told in the first person narrative style. The author does an amazing job with this approach. You are inside the young man’s mind from page one. You can almost hear his voice as you read the story. You are taken back to your own youth and the strong feelings that your first true love evoked. Maybe it was just the mother in me but I found myself thinking, Please stop and think about what you are doing! Then as you brace yourself for one outcome, a curve is thrown and you are left thinking..Oh my, I didn’t see that coming!!!

I highly recommend this book but offer this warning…be careful because you won’t want to put it down until the last page is turned!