The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L Armentrout

The Problem with Forever

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

For some people, silence is a weapon.

For Mallory “Mouse” Dodge, it’s a shield.

Growing up, she learned that the best way to survive was to say nothing. And even though it’s been four years since her nightmare ended, she’s beginning to worry that the fear that holds her back will last a lifetime.

Now, after years of homeschooling with loving adoptive parents, Mallory must face a new milestone—spending her senior year at public high school. But of all the terrifying and exhilarating scenarios she’s imagined, there’s one she never dreamed of—that she’d run into Rider Stark, the friend and protector she hasn’t seen since childhood, on her very first day.

It doesn’t take long for Mallory to realize that the connection she shared with Rider never really faded. Yet the deeper their bond grows, the more it becomes apparent that she’s not the only one grappling with lingering scars from the past. And as she watches Rider’s life spiral out of control, Mallory must make a choice between staying silent and speaking out—for the people she loves, the life she wants, and the truths that need to be heard.

Reviewed by liz089 on

2 of 5 stars

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REVIEW.
So this is a standalone book from JLA, something I've never read before, just as I have never read a "normal" book by her. It has always some magical or fantasy element in it. Like the Lux series with aliens, the Covenant series with Gods, The Dark Elements, A Wicked Saga.. all of them are in the Syfy/Fantasy genre. But this one isn't, and that made me very curious about it.

I've seen a lot of this book coming by lately, it is heavy promoted everywhere I look, so I wanted to pick it up as soon as it was released.. and now I finally got to it.

Only to be very dissapointed. Because damn.. this book was BORING. At the beginning it was okay, we got to know the characters and their background, to make us understand what they have been through and how that has shaped them.
We follow all of this through the eyes of Mallory, Mouse, who is extremely shy so to say. Because of her past in a very bad fosterhome she has been conditioned to be quiet, and because of that she barely talks or knows how to function in real life. The only person who ever cared for her was the other fosterkid in that home, Rider. He took a lot of hits for her. But four years back she got out of that house after a big incident and met some great people who take great care of her. So now she is going back to school after a lot of therapy and home-schooling.. and guess what.. She is in the same class as Rider! They instantly fall for each other, but still take most of the book for them to realise that and after some drama (with drugs and gangs and not finding oneselve worthy) they have a happily ever after.

Everything was so predictable.. I could lay out the entire plot after the first couple of chapters and I was not surprised once.
Okay, with these kind of books it usually is like that, we all know they are going to end up together.. but the road to that is most of the time a lot more interesting and full of passion and heart-brake. This book did not move me at all. No heart-breaking scenes that got to me or passionated love scenes that made me ache. I felt NOTHING.

And she does have some points with this book, like that when schools know you're from a certain part of town they care less, because you'll never do something meaningful with your life, no expectations.. That is good stuff, good to bring to our attention. But well.. it has all been done before. Some of this stuff really reminded me of Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles, and the whole Jayden stuff really reminded me a lot of the first Step Up movie, and I did not really find it very original because of that.

The main characters were likable enough, but I could not really get into them.. And I really felt the romance was way too cheesy. I do like some romance, and cute stuff.. but this was like a huge sugar overdose, in a bad way. It made my teeth hurt. Ugh.

FINAL THOUGHTS.
This book was way too boring for me, and not enough happened throughout the book. It only got interesting about 80%, and they took way to long to get there. Because of that I kind of skimmed through some parts, and I hate it when a book makes me do that. Especially when I don't miss anything by doing that. So I would like to give this book 2 Freyja's and personally, if you want to read about this kind of thing, with troubled teenagers and fostercare, I would recommend reading the Pushing the Limits series by Katie McGarry over this one. That series is way more interesting and not as dull as this one.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 24 May, 2016: Finished reading
  • 24 May, 2016: Reviewed