Monday, January 13, 2014

REVIEW ~Forever & Always by Jasinda Wilder~

Title: Forever & Always
Author: Jasinda Wilder
Series: The Ever Trilogy #1
Release Date: December 16, 2013

My Rating: 5 Soul Shattering Stars
Ever,

These letters are often all that get me through week to week. Even if it’s just random stuff, nothing important, they’re important to me. Gramps is great, and I love working on the ranch. But…I’m lonely. I feel disconnected, like I’m no one, like I don’t belong anywhere. Like I’m just here until something else happens. I don’t even know what I want with my future. But your letters, they make me feel connected to something, to someone. I had a crush on you, when we first met. I thought you were beautiful. So beautiful. It was hard to think of anything else. Then camp ended and we never got together, and now all I have of you is these letters. S**t. I just told you I have a crush on you. HAD. Had a crush. Not sure what is anymore. A letter-crush? A literary love? That’s stupid. Sorry. I just have this rule with myself that I never throw away what I write and I always send it, so hopefully this doesn’t weird you out too much. I had a dream about you too. Same kind of thing. Us, in the darkness, together. Just us. And it was like you said, a memory turned into a dream, but a memory of something that’s never happened, but in the dream it felt so real, and it was more, I don’t even know, more RIGHT than anything I’ve ever felt, in life or in dreams. I wonder what it means that we both had the same dream about each other. Maybe nothing, maybe everything. You tell me.

Cade
~ ~ ~ ~

Cade,

We’re pen pals. Maybe that’s all we’ll ever be. I don’t know. If we met IRL (in real life, in case you’re not familiar with the term) what would happen? And just FYI, the term you used, a literary love? It was beautiful. So beautiful. That term means something, between us now. We are literary loves. Lovers? I do love you, in some strange way. Knowing about you, in these letters, knowing your hurt and your joys, it means something so important to me, that I just can’t describe. I need your art, and your letters, and your literary love. If we never have anything else between us, I need this. I do. Maybe this letter will only complicate things, but like you I have a rule that I never erase or throw away what I’ve written and I always send it, no matter what I write in the letter.

Your literary love,

Ever
This book turned me into a blubbering, incoherent MESS! And I loved it. I felt like every other chapter I was crying, and the in between chapters I was swooning or getting a little too hot and bothered. Forever & Always is a breakout novel and a genius idea for a love story. Ever and Caden met at a fine arts camp when they were about 15. After one afternoon of really hitting it off, they decide to become pen pals. FYI, I now want a pen pal. Even in the day and age of technology these two teens decided to use one of the oldest forms of communication to keep in touch. But, they end up using one another as a sort of diary. They share their every thought and feeling... except the true and deeper feelings they develop for one another.

"So familiar. Like holding her was my whole eternity, like we'd always held each other this way. But we hadn't, and it was exhilarating. It was Ever, actually Ever, and her body was so soft against mine, warm, her weight a perfect pressure, her breasts crushed against me, and I wanted so much, but there was more to say."

Forever & Always follows Caden and Ever throughout the hardest times of their life. We get every heartbreaking and gut-wrenching detail of their lives over a five year span. I kid you not, I was crying within 30 minutes of starting this book. While they do lead separate lives for a good portion of the book, you feel like they're living their lives together. The emotions in their letters will tug on your heart strings every time. Caden experiences tragedy after tragedy and Ever is his only constant. Even when they move on in their lives they can always come back to one another. But we all have our breaking points, right? When Caden finds his, he turns to Ever. But he runs right past the pen and straight into her tangible, loving arms. Together they find a reprieve from all the bad in the world. They make plans and live their lives in their own blissful bubble until tragedy strikes just one more time. A tragedy that will leave you gasping, crying, screaming and may just be the end for Ever and Caden.

"Our letters have bee a part of me, a part of my maturing, part of who I am as I've grown up. Which means you're a part of all that, part of me. That's why I love you."

While I did ugly-cry like a fool while reading this book, it reached a part of me that not many books have. It was more than just a romance book. It was a bone-melting, all-the-feels, book that is magnificent from page 1 to the end. Yeah, it was an semi-traumatizing read but, how many books can make you feel emotions like that? I love the books that pull my heart out and stomp on them... as long as they don't end that way :) And while I don't know Caden and Ever's true ending (because this is only book #1), I have to believe that the characters that are shouting at Jasinda to write them can't be that cruel to themselves. And because I always get asked: yes, this is a cliffhanger BUT (don't you dare click the exit button!) Ms. Wilder released BOTH book #1 and #2 at the same time for this very reason! So you can move on right away. I believe book #3 will be released in February, so there isn't a long wait for that one either. I don't care if you absolutely loathe cliffhangers. You HAVE to read this book. To me, it was the ultimate escape. I was so wholly immersed in this book that nothing else was relevant while I read it. Forever & Always became my reality while I reading it. I was standing right there next to Ever and Caden while they grew up over those years. It's a journey that will captivate you. Caden and Ever will be one of those couples that will always hold a special place in your heart. This is definitely a stick with you kind of book.

Happy Reading!
*Review Copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*

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