Review: Forever For A Year

Title: Forever For a Year
Author: B.T. Gottfred
Expected publication: July 7th 2015 by Henry Holt and Co.
Source: ARC courtesy of the publisher for an honest review
Goodreads

"When Carolina and Trevor meet on their first day of school, something draws them to each other. They gradually share first kisses, first touches, first sexual experiences. When they’re together, nothing else matters. But one of them will make a choice, and the other a mistake, that will break what they thought was unbreakable. Both will wish that they could fall in love again for the first time . . . but first love, by definition, can’t happen twice.

Told in Carolina and Trevor's alternating voices, this is an up-close-and-personal story of two teenagers falling in love for the first time, and discovering it might not last forever."

Thoughts: Are kids nowadays really having sex at 14? That seems so young, right? Or maybe I'm simply old and times are changing?

At any rate, this isn't the reason I'm giving the book 1 star. I just couldn't stand the two main characters and constantly felt annoyed by one or the other. The writing was good, not as juvenile as the characters, but characters make or break a book, and these two broke it for me. I understand being young and stupid, not listening to your parents because you feel so self-assured, however, these two teens were just...I don't know. There's a difference between wanting to grow up, enjoying the perks of a grown-up relationship, and being cautious and wary. Both Carolina and Trevor were reckless when it came to their relationship. I feel like Trevor's mom warned him how things could be, and he just blew her off. Yes, I know teenagers often don't listen to their parents, but they really should when it concerns seriously topics such as sex. It's very disrespectful and made me dislike Trevor. That and his pressuring Carolina to have sex. Again, I know this is how teenage boys can be, but he was written as this sweet character with feelings, and he ended up just being a huge disappointment and kind of a tool.

I found myself skimming through the book rather than reading it, mainly because I was so tired of the whining or Carolina and Trevor's bratty nature or because of all of the sex. So much sex, and don't even get me started on the issue of unprotected sex. The fact that they discussed safe sex but were still careless and again, reckless, drove me absolutely bonkers. How can someone preach safe sex and not have it? I'm sorry to say I found myself rolling my eyes and becoming increasingly angry.

Still, with that this said and done, I wanted to know how it would all end. I became invested. Now that I know, I wish I didn't, because the ending actually made me loathe the two of them even more. They're hurtful, selfish, and only think of their own needs and emotions. Please tell me not all teenagers are like this.

On a scale from 1 to even, I can't. This novel left a distaste in my mouth I couldn't brush off. I will say that I think the author is a gifted writer, one reason being that I haven't felt such intense emotions regarding a novel in quite some time. Though I pointed out the issues I had with FOREVER FOR A YEAR, it's not saying that everyone will hate it. Some people may love it. We're all different, ya know? Sadly, it's just not the book for me.

Rating:

1 Star