“Deciding to end years of loneliness, Amandine takes a leap of faith and enters the dating pool. After seemingly endless disappointments, it seems her luck has changed when she meets Connor, another lonely heart.

What starts as a dinner date ends in a night that will change their lives forever. For neither of them knows that they are being watched by a killer whose primary target is happy couples.

Soon, Amandine and Connor will find themselves fighting for their lives. Their only chance of survival lies in each other, but can they work as a team to escape before their time runs out? And even if they do, will they ever be able to escape each other?”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of First Date by Gemma Amor. First Date was published by Datura Books on 10th February 2026 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free ARC of First Date but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to the team at Datura Books for sending me a finished copy.

WTAF did I just read? So, this book is categorised on the back cover as ‘crime/domestic suspense’. Well, yes. But it’s so much more than that. I would say it verges on horror, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, as I think Amor is best known for her horror fiction. I actually don’t know what I expected from this book. I mean, it says it’s ‘not a love story’ on the cover, that’s the tagline. Great. I’m really not a fan of romance in my crime fiction but blimey…! I don’t think I was expecting THAT!!

First Date is a gritty, unnerving, edgy novel. An intense battle for survival against a psychotic killer. There’s no prettying the situation up here. No blurring of the horrific edges. It’s a brutal nightmare, come terrifyingly true.

Amandine has never been lucky in love. In fact, she’s never really been in love. She doesn’t feel she ‘fits in’ as other people do. So when she gets talking online to Connor, the chemistry they share is impossible to ignore. Even if Connor is perhaps a little more into Amandine than Amandine is into Connor. The couple arrange to meet. But before the date, Amandine has an attack of the first date nerves. Her gut tells her to back out. She should have probably listened to her gut. Meeting at a secluded pub, deemed to be the most romantic pub in the Norfolk Broads, their date gets off to a nervous, uncomfortable start. In the dining room there is only one other diner. Otherwise, the place is empty (bar the three staff). During the meal, Amandine starts to feel uneasy about the lone diner. And so she should. Lone Diner is a deeply troubled individual who takes great pleasure in ending the loved-up happiness of couples in the most terrifying, humiliating way possible. And now he has his sights set on Amandine and Connor. As first dates go, this is probably going to be the worst one either of them has ever had…

Blimey! What a highly readable, stress-inducing book First Date is. You think it can’t get any worse for Amandine and Connor, but it does. Time and time again. Amandine, with her spidey-senses, has Lone Diner almost worked out from the first time their eyes meet in the pub. He gives her the heebie-jeebies; he’s antagonistic, but only Amandine can see just how unpleasant, how utterly vile he is. Connor can’t work out why his date (a date he’s built up in his mind to epic proportions!) is so distracted and dismisses Lone Diner as some lonely, harmless creep. By this point, the reader has already been completely repulsed by Lone Diner’s actions. We’re 100% on Amandine’s side. We know that what the couple are dealing with is a lot more dangerous than Connor anticipates. This really isn’t going to end well.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. First Date is packed to the brim with relentless, palpable tension. This is a book that will get under your skin. It’s psychological horror written by an author who really knows what she’s doing. I cannot wait to read more by Gemma Amor. Amandine and Connor are both beautifully flawed. Unapologetically so, and I loved their authenticity. Connor frustrated me on multiple occasions by being blind to Amandine’s concerns. If only he had listened and acted differently! Lone Diner is beyond vile. He physically made my skin crawl. Ugh! Brilliantly written though. All in all, First Date is a consuming, uncomfortable, unsettling read, perfect for fans of survival horror or ramped up, darker than average domestic suspense. Not one for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure. Engrossing, nerve-racking, tension-laden, and pretty darn brutal! Wow. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free ARC of First Date. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

First Date by Gemma Amor was published in the UK by Datura Books on 10th February 2026 and is available in paperback, with audio and digital formats to follow (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Gemma Amor is a Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award-nominated horror author, editor, illustrator, and podcaster based in Bristol, UK. She was named one of Esquire‘s Writers Shaping Horror’s Next Golden Age, and recently featured in Ellen Datlow’s prestigious Best Horror of the Year anthology, Vol. 15. Gemma loves to write about misunderstood monsters, both human and supernatural, as well as feminist horror.