Book Review: Once Upon a First Love by Tope Omotosho

Published: August 2018

Pages: 268

Genre: Christian Fiction

Purchase on http://www.okadabooks.com; http://www.amazon.com

Publisher’s blurb: Sometimes first loves don’t turn out the way you plan them to. . .Beautiful, strong and confident, Peju Adams has always been a woman who knows what she wants. When she finally reunites with her teen love, Abdul Layeni, it’s a dream come true. He’s the kind of man she wants to be with. In fact, he’s the only man she’s ever known. Their love stronger than ever, she’s determined that nothing will keep them apart again. But it seems fate has other plans for them. In a struggle for love, will she come to realize who her first love really is? Once upon a first love is a story filled with new beginnings, betrayal, disappointments, heartbreaks, pain and love.

The Author: Temitope Omotosho is a loving, caring, friendly person. She is passionate about impacting the world through timeless wisdom and knowledge in her thought provoking stories and writing that applies to all ages. Her stories and articles cut across love, relationship and romance in a way that does not deny the relevance of love in our everyday life. She is a devoted Christian, passionate about bringing people to the knowledge of God’s true and unfailing love.

My Thoughts: I set out to read a love story. A happily ever after of pure and innocent  first love that blossomed into something real. Something I could relate to. I am married to my first love, we met when I was sixteen and he was nineteen. Just like Peju and Abdul, we broke up for a while and got back together knowing that we were heading for a happily ever after as we had dreamt and promised each other when we were teenagers. . Even as Peju’s story and challenges differed from mine in certain ways (as my husband and I married as Christians), I found them the same as in the end we both discovered who our first love really is. For Peju, it was the fact that she had to choose between obeying God’s command about marriage and her own desires, for me it was thinking that my husband’s love was enough for me and putting his love on a pedestal that only God’s love can exist . I believed that our love could conquer any storm but learnt through the years that only God’s love can stand through the test of time. That only God can love you completely even when you are at your worst and that it is only He that sustains a marriage and life itself.This story is so complete that I can never do justice to stating how I feel. I loved all the characters and how their lives and experiences reflected God’s undying love for us and his constant desire to have us close to him. Eliana’s character is one I would hope for my daughters to have, God fearing and obedient but honest and always trusting God’s will in her life. Not wanting my thoughts to be a spoiler for you all, I will summarize the entire story with Peju’s last thoughts “”Her first love was not the one who she had loved since her secondary school but the one who had loved her even before she was born. The one who had seen her through the pain of the last month. The one who is love himself. She couldn’t believe she had given God up just because of her love for Abdul. That she should deny Jesus because of an old flame. It was almost like nailing him on the cross all over again and joining the Jews to chant for his death and crucifixion. Yes, she loved Abdul but he wasn’t her everything. He wasn’t who she was going to give up everything for”. I was reminded of many fundamental things in my relationship with Christ and my daily work with God. I am grateful I read this story and I urge everyone to read it. It will put things in perspective for you. It will help you know where to go to fill that emptiness in your soul that no man or woman can fill. In as much as I still have a couple of books to go before this year ends, I doubt if any of them will impact on my life as this one has but you never know, right? Congratulations to Tope Omotosho on this great book. I look forward to reading other titles from her.