From the #1  New York Times  bestselling author of  The One & Only , two thirty-something sisters find themselves facing the question: if love and marriage and children don't all come together at once, which do you fight for? Meredith thought she'd done it all right--married the perfect man, had the perfect daughter--but as she grows increasingly restless, she can't help but wonder if she got the love part wrong.      Josie has been happily single for years, but she wants a child of her own so much she's one bad Match.com date away from heading straight for the baby carriage all on her own.      These sisters, whose relationship was strained by the tragic death of their older brother over a decade ago, now find that they need each other more than they realized. National Bestseller #1  New York Times Bestseller "An engaging story of sisterly love. . . . Illuminating and engrossing."  —People "Kudos to Giffin for it takes a talented and resourceful writer to create a wealth of characters and have them all be fully described for the reader to understand and enjoy. . . . Two years is too long to have to wait for a new Emily Giffin book, but  First Comes Love  brings her back with a vengeance. Tales of sisters have been at the core of other great novels, but Giffin turns that relationship upside down and makes her view a fascinating one." — Huffington Post   "This well-written and engaging story explores how relationships evolve and people can surprise us if we let them. . . . [ First Comes Love ] is sure to be a great discussion starter for book groups and a hit with [Giffin’s] many fans."  —Library Journal   "[A] well-written family drama."  —Real Simple "Giffin is a great writer and the psychologically complex narrative races along, making for compulsive reading. [ First Comes Love ] is a compelling portrait of a family in crisis; warm, witty, wise and so honest it occasionally made me wince. I loved it."  —Daily Mail (UK) "[ First Comes Love ] is rich with well-drawn characters. . . . Giffin's fans will be pleased with this fast-paced, witty and thoughtful new offering." —Kirkus Reviews "This is Giffin at her finest—a fantastic, memorable story."  —Publishers Weekly    " First Comes Love  is an un-put-down-able, smart, and thoughtful novel that will make you think about the nature of family and how our past informs our present."  —PopSugar "Moving and complex, [ First Comes Love ] proves [that Emily Giffin is] still at the top of her game."  —Booklist   "Giffin's talent is pretty much unparalleled when it comes to the modern woman's story about life, love and family."  —Redbook "Heart-stirring. . . . It's a story about the past and the future, fighting and forgiveness. It's a story about following your heart. It's a story that insists readers consider in their own lives, 'Should love come first?'" —Associated Press EMILY GIFFIN is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. After practising litigation at a Manhattan firm for several years, she quit her job to write full time. Emily is the author of seven New York Times bestselling novels: Something Borrowed , Something Blue , Baby Proof , Love the One You're With , Heart of the Matter , Where We Belong and The One & Only . She lives with her husband and three young children. JOSIE   It is the first day of school, a symbolic and hopeful fresh start, at least that’s what I tell myself as I stand before my captive, well-scrubbed audience of ten boys and eleven girls in my J.Crew finest—gold ballet flats, gray pants, and a pink, sequined sweater set. Sitting cross-legged on the braided rug, some children beam back at me, while others wear blank expressions, waiting without judging. It is the beauty of first graders. They are guileless, not a jaded one among them.   Odds are good that they’d heard that they’d scored in the great, mysterious teacher lottery before they even walked through my classroom door, adorned with a construction-paper maple tree, cutouts of twenty-one personalized bluebirds, and a banner swinging from the boughs that exclaims: WELCOME TO MISS JOSIE’S NEST!   After fourteen years teaching at the same elementary school, I have a reputation as fun, energetic, and creative. I am not considered strict, but not a pushover, either. Incidentally, I am also known as the “pretty teacher,” which some parents (fathers and mothers alike) seem to value as much as anything else, including straight-up intelligence, a sentiment that has always confounded and vaguely annoyed me. I mean, I know I’m not teaching quantum calculus, but I am instilling critical survival skills in children, teaching them how to add and subtract, tell time, count money, and most important, really read, unlocking the mystery of consonant combinations and abstract sounds, blended and pronounced as words, strung together in sentences, filling the pages of books, whether with or without pictures. It mig