The Next Forever (Entangled Ever After)

by Lisa Burstein

[Angie]

As much I love catching up with beloved characters, I did not enjoy The Next Forever which shows Amy and Joe at college. I'm actually a bit confused as to the message this novella is sending. It all starts with Joe asking Amy to move in with him, she's hesitant to answer because she doesn't want to, but she doesn't want to lose him. He wants her to say yes because he doesn't want to lose her, but he also hopes she'll say no. He ends up telling Amy he's going to the library to study, but really he goes to a party of a frat he wants to join. Amy winds up going to a different party with a sexy guy from her dorm. All the while both of them are torturing themselves thinking about why they're lying to the other and what that means for their relationship.

The Next Forever was a little awkward to read, because we have no idea what kind of relationship Amy and Joe have at first. They got together at the end of Pretty Amy, but we never saw them interact as a couple. Now, we're being thrust into the middle of a major romantic crisis. However, from the look of things, their relationship doesn't look happy or healthy. While it was interesting to look at a possibly failing relationship, it felt out of context. The glimpses of insight we do get show that they were probably inseparable for months. Joe is desperate to protect Amy from herself, and Amy doesn't have any other friends. They only have each other, which cannot be good.

The fact that they lie to each other is also problematic. Amy is anti-fraternity, so Joe doesn't want her to know he's pledging. He has legit reasons for wanting to, none of them having to do with the party he wound up at....with a naked girl. Amy doesn't exactly lie about her whereabouts, she just on a whim goes out. But she still feels guilty because she's attracted to the guy who invited her out, and actually considers cheating. By the end of the night, Amy and Joe are back into each others arms, although they're not moving in together. They never look at the bigger picture of them clinging to one another. This is not a healthy relationship!

The Next Forever had an interesting idea, but I really don't like how it ultimately played it. It seems to encourage hiding your feelings from your partner just to keep them near. Joe and Amy need to go out and meet other people and stop using each other as crutches. Amy is never going to be able to do that if Joe keeps up the white knight act, and Joe is never going to stop as long as Amy looks like a damsel in distress. It's just a mess.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.