Forever (Temptation Novel, #3)

by Karen Ann Hopkins

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I loved the previous two books, but Forever just did not work for me. On its own, the story wasn’t that interesting to me, since I’m not into pregnancy stories. As a series finale, it was also disappointing. I was nervous going into it because of Rose’s pregnancy, but I was interested in how it would effect her relationship with Noah, as well as what it would mean for his relationship with his community. I figured one of the main tensions would be whether they decided to go Amish or English, and there’s good arguments for both sides.

Just like in Belonging, we get the added POV of Rose’s brother, Sam. However, it doesn’t add anything at all in Forever. In fact, he was extremely frustrating and once again gets involved in something that’s not his business. All of his chapters could have been eliminated the story would have been exactly the same. Similarly, we also get chapter’s from Sarah–Noah’s sister–which don’t add anything either. Something major does happen with her toward the middle, but I don’t think it warranted adding her as narrator. These added perspectives just made the story feel dragged out.

As for the plot, Forever starts with Rose stressed about what she’s going to do: go Amish and marry Noah, stay English as a single mother, or try to convince Noah to go English. This delays her in even telling him that she’s pregnant, although he does suspect. Of course, she tells him and he wants them to be married and be Amish. But things aren’t going to well for Noah’s family after his broken engagement, and he starts to have doubts about raising a family in that community. Neither of them want to be out in the city, far from their families, but being Amish isn’t the right decision either. There was a super obvious solution to this predicament, but strangely, no one even considers it. They make a terrible decision, and terrible things happen to them (which was a bit over-the-top), and the finally that obvious solution appears. Really? The in between drama was really not needed.

I didn’t care for Forever much at all. I was completely invested in Rose and Noah’s romance, but this conclusion was a bit on the silly side. The last third could have been avoided altogether with just a little compromise. Actually, it wouldn’t even be a compromise since it was exactly what both of them wanted and needed. I’m just bummed.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.