First Time, Long Time, Amy Silverberg
First Time, Long Time, Amy Silverberg
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

First Time, Long Time

Author: Amy Silverberg

Narrator: Amy Silverberg

Unabridged: 8 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/22/2025


Synopsis

For readers of Emma Cline and Melissa Broder, the story of an untethered, sardonic young woman falling for an older radio host… and then for his daughter.

When aspiring writer Allison moved to L.A., she expected her life to finally take shape. After years of dwelling in grief over her brother's unexpected and untimely death and allowing her mercurial parents' feelings and desires to infect her own, she feels ready become the main character in her own story again. Yet Allison continues to feel inextricably tied to both her parents, particularly her unpredictable father, and weighed down by her the loss of her brother. In L.A., as with anywhere else, she feels lonely and adrift, unable to write and barely scraping by as an English teacher. 

After a serendipitous run in with famed radio DJ Reid Steinman, an idol of her father’s and her late brother’s, Allison is rapidly drawn under his spell, while also developing an unanticipated, tangled relationship with his adult daughter, Maddie. She’s forced to balance her romance with Reid with her gnawing desire for the intoxicatingly charming Maddie, as it becomes increasingly evident that she and Allison's late brother share more than a few qualities. As Allison's relationships with the equally self-possessed father and daughter deepens, she struggles to establish the boundaries of her own identity. 

Through candid self-awareness, keen observations, and deliciously wry humor, First Time, Long Time asks, what happens to a young woman’s goals when she becomes involved with a famous man whose needs seem so much louder than her own? And how might she move forward when so much in her past remains unresolved? 

Reviews

Goodreads review by emma on August 01, 2025

it be like that sometimes (review to come / thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)......more

Goodreads review by Angie on June 24, 2025

Allison is a college professor and at the age of 28, her mother is being very annoying about her singleness. Allison is a relatable character, she has other side hustles like facilitating book clubs. She met Reid at a bar, he is close to her father’s age. He is a successful shock jock and inspired b......more

Goodreads review by '*•.¸♡ nay♡¸.•*' on July 08, 2025

Is this a literary masterpiece? No. But it is the rare novel that read me back A chronic over thinker and people pleaser, Alison is passing through life without much of a plan. When she enters into a relationship with a famous radio host, she never expects to feel something for his daughter too. Comp......more

Goodreads review by Ale on May 08, 2025

There are a handful of lines from this that I'd like to quote, but I won't. Anyone who knows me will understand how frustrated I am that the best books I've read about messy relationships this year have involved comedians.......more

Goodreads review by Ashley on July 25, 2025

RTC, sneak peek on IG! Thank you bunches to Amy Silverberg & Grand Central Publishing for the #gifted finished copy 🥰......more


Quotes

"First Time, Long Time by Amy Silverberg is the consummate L.A. story. Here is a brilliant novel about searching for answers that can't be found and making grand mistakes and becoming more the person you're meant to be, all held together by the yearning and striving and ambition of any creative person who finds themselves in the City of Angels. Silverberg is a witty, charming storyteller with a bold, unique voice that makes the writing leap off the page and into your heart."—Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist and Hunger

“Amy Silverberg’s First Time, Long Time is not only funny, smart, and tender, it’s also so sneakily well-written that you’ll be tempted to stop to admire a cool turn-of-phrase instead of plowing through to figure out how her f-ed up heroine gets herself out of the mess she’s made for herself. Read it slow or fast - either way, you’ll have a great time."—Michael Ian Black, comedian and bestselling author

 “I didn’t feel like I was reading this amazing book so much as getting to hang out with it every time I picked it up, relaxing into the voice which I savored on every page. Silverberg is a writer’s writer, rewarding us all the time with fresh phrasing that nails an emotional experience, but she’s also a person’s person— open, curious, wrestling with what might be true. A thrilling debut."—Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade and The Color Master

"From the very first chapter, First Time, Long Time is a charming, enveloping novel about how we obsessively define ourselves through our aching, absurd, and often fraught relationships with other humans. Amy Silverberg writes like an earnest Joan Didion, with dazzling, clear-eyed prose, a blazing, hyper-observant wit, and a heart bigger and brighter than LA County. This is one of the finest literary debuts I’ve ever read. Silverberg’s a massively talented writer. I'm in awe."—Dean Bakopouos, author of Summerlong

"First Time, Long Time is exactly my kind of funny sad. Silverberg is a master of wry observation. She can be cutting one moment and deeply empathetic the next in her almost surgical understanding of human behavior and the strange comedy of our blundering motivations."—Benjamin Percy, author of The Ninth Metal, Red Moon, and Thrill Me

"It's a rare book that can balance humor with existential dread, beauty with wryness. Early in the novel, Allison tells Reid Steinman: 'I read at stoplights. I read all the time.' Amy Silverberg's debut novel First Time, Long Time has me wanting to read at stoplights. I felt propelled, sentence by sentence, scene by scene, to read on and on. This is one of the most enjoyable novels I've read in a long time--for its wit, style, vitality, and pizzazz."—Olivia Clare Friedman, author of Here Lies