The First Time I Saw Him (A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick)
4.3 | 4,562 ratings
Price: 14.99
Last update: 02-02-2026
Product details
- ASIN : B0FCSN114P
- Publisher : Scribner
- Accessibility :
- Publication date : January 6, 2026
- Language : English
- File size : 2.0 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 288 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1668003008
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank:#35 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Women's Psychological Fiction
- Mothers & Children Fiction
- Women's Domestic Life Fiction
- Customer Reviews:4.44.4 out of 5 stars(22)
Top reviews from the United States
- DavidBest Sequel I've Readsuperbly told, the sequel is as compelling as The Last Thing He Told Me. A worthy new installment.
- CookieAn entertaining mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat!The First Time I Saw Him is the second book in the Hannah Hall series and is the sequel to The Last Thing He Told Me.
It has been five years since Hannah's husband, Owen, vanished without a trace and left her with his daughter, Bailey. When he disappeared, Hannah and Bailey went on a journey of discovery in finding out the truth to Owen and Bailey's mysterious past. Now that they have settled into their new life, Owen appears and warns them to flee. His past has caught up to them again and they must go on the run while they figure out a way to survive.
I was very excited to hear that Laura Dave wrote a sequel to The Last Thing He Told Me. I loved that book and I had hoped that we would get more of their story since it didn't give me the closure this romance reader needed. I'm glad to say that this book wraps up their story nicely with what seems to be the best kind of HEA that they could get in their situation.
I won't go much into detail about the story because I don't want to spoil the plot, but I really enjoyed this book. It had more of the mystery, espionage, and life on the run entertainment that the first book had. All of the things they did to stay safe while they were on the run were very clever. I am sure I wouldn't think of all of those things if I were in that situation!
I enjoyed the parts that were from Nicholas' and Owen's perspectives. It went a bit into their backstory and filled in some gaps that readers were left wondering about from the first book. It built more depth to their characters and helped me see that they were men who had to make very tough decisions in impossible situations.
Pick this one up for an entertaining mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat! - JaneColoradoHard launch into nonstop, high-stakes, heart-pounding action!The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave starts in the exact moment—that stunning, poignant, heartbreaking moment—where we left Hannah and Owen in The Last Thing He Told Me. I’ve read a lot of novels since then so I didn’t remember a lot of story details, but THAT scene has stuck with me all these years. So that ending is this start and right after, we hard launch into nonstop, high-stakes, heart-pounding action. Was it worth the five-year wait? Oh, hell yeah.
Like its predecessor, this relentless thriller is intense and unputdownable. Courageous and fiercely intelligent Hannah is all in for an epic showdown that could finally set (step)daughter Bailey free. Free to live her life without the low-key but ever-present fear, vigilance, and threat they’ve lived with since Owen disappeared. They’ve managed to build a calm life in the ensuing years, but that’s over now. Owen’s been watching and planning, but so have their enemies. The story, full of twists and turns, builds and builds tension to the extremely dangerous but inevitable confrontation, because the deal struck with the OG in the last book won’t hold with the new guard stepping up. Hannah and Owen are both ready to sacrifice everything for Bailey, but they’re also (still apart, sadly) planning and strategizing. Maybe, if everything goes exactly right and they’re really lucky, they can save themselves, too.
The pacing is excellent, the suspense unrelenting, and the denouement almost everything I could have wanted. I’ve waited for this since I finished TLTHTM back in 2021. This is a worthy, awesome, adrenaline-fueled sequel. I loved finally getting Owen’s perspective. The how and where and when of it all, the background, heartbreak and sacrifice, and his planning, scheming and maneuvering through the deadly waters to try and save his family. I do have one complaint—no spoilers here—so it’s an enthusiastic 4.5 rather than rock solid five stars. Overall, I really enjoyed and highly recommend this.
Laura Dave is a very talented writer and this duology is fantastic. While I’m looking forward to whatever she writes next, I’m just going to put it out there: I’d be thrilled(!!) to see Hannah, Owen and Bailey back in a third book. The author herself states in the Acknowledgments, it was only because of readers that we got this book. And I still don’t want to say goodbye.
Massive thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC. This is my honest, unbiased review. - Obsessed with dogs and booksinteresting follow up to the first book!The story picks up 5 years after the end of The Last Thing He Told Me, which I also read, albeit 4 years ago. Hannah and Bailey have adjusted to a life without Owen, but something happens to stir everything up again, and they have to go on the run.
I would not actually call this book a thriller, because it’s not fast-paced. What I mean by that is that there aren’t a lot of action scenes like car chases and escapes. (Two examples of exciting scenes are a shadowy figure following our protagonists on the street in Paris and an unexpected airplane fueling stop in Miami.) However, the plot of the story is just twisty enough that I kept turning page after page.
This is a quick read. Ms Dave uses an interesting writing style, with the use of short sentences and sentence fragments. She also uses a lot of repetition, which must be intentional, but can be annoying at times. (This almost reads like a YA story, actually.)
The characters are very likable, even some of those we originally thought were the antagonists. The relationships between the characters have really developed. I absolutely love the bond between Bailey and Hannah - it has evolved into something so beautiful, and they are a true mother-daughter pair now. The grandfather/granddaughter relationship is incredibly touching, too. The story pulled some real feelings out of me - at the end, I was surprised to find myself tearing up!
Also, the settings are amazing - Sausalito with the floating houses, the central CA coast, Paris, and Eze. I could totally imagine this as a show/movie with gorgeous cinematography in these locales. Maybe Jennifer Garner will agree to a Season 2… It would be amazing if so!
I don’t really think this can be read as a standalone - in fact, I had to look up a few things as I went along, to remind myself of who the characters were and what happened in the first book. I’d highly recommend that you read the first book (or watch the Apple TV show!) before this one.