First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison follows the story of a jaded radio show host, Aiden Valentine, who hosts a romance hotline in Baltimore. Aiden is doing his best to host his show but has fallen out of believing in love and is struggling to enjoy his job until a young girl calls into the hotline for her mom.
Lucie Stone, a single mom and mechanic who is chugging along just fine with her unconventional family – or so she thought. She catches her daughter on the phone late at night, talking to a grown man. Furious, she snatches the phone and realizes she’s on the radio, talking to Aiden Valentine, on his romance hotline while Baltimore listens. Embarrassed, she is trying to get off the phone while Aiden is trying to keep her on the line, asking her questions about her non-existent love life which prompted the phone call in the first place. While Lucie thought her life was just fine as is, she starts to question whether she’s truly happy, and if her person and the kind of love she deserves is out there.
I loved this story. I related to Lucie (outside of sharing a name though my spelling is superior) and her confession of wanting to be loved. She’s vulnerable with Aiden on that first phone call, and later on in the story; remaining true to herself and realizing that she deserves love as she is in the moment. It’s fair to say that most of us want the same thing but we’re not always as brave as Lucie was in those moments. Outside of being brave, Lucie was also decisive once she realized what she wanted, and refused to settle for less.
As for Aiden… In a nutshell, he could benefit greatly from a therapist. Experiencing that kind of trauma at a young age with nowhere for it to go is a lot for one person to handle, and it clearly impacted his adult life. He thinks that love doesn’t exist based on his experience without realizing that his experience shows the opposite. He talks about basically watching his father’s heartbreak without realizing that his father’s actions and support were the biggest declaration of love possible. It’s understandable why Aiden felt jaded about love and struggled to accept that he was worthy of it as well, but the man needs to talk to a professional haha.
Overall, the premise of the story was fun. It played like a movie in my head, which tracks given that this was inspired by Sleepless in Seattle. This is my second five star read for the year so far and I’m excited to read the second book in the Heartstrings series when it releases in the future.
