The Truth About Forever

by Sarah Dessen

Dedication: "For Jay, as ever, and for my cousins who, like me, know by heart the view of the river and the bay, the complex rules of Beckon, and all the ways you Can't Get to Heaven.

To name you all would be a book in itself: you know who you are."

First paragraph: "Jason was going to Brain Camp. It had another name, a real name, but that's what everyone called it."

Review:
    A long, hot summer. That's what sixteen-year old Macy Queen has to look forward to. Her boyfriend, Jason, is going away to Brain Camp. She's stuck with a dull-as-dishwasher job at the library. And all of her free time promises to be spent studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father's death. 
     
      But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother's open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew...

Maybe this says something about my "intellect", but I never get tired of the boy/girl/forbidden-love story. Probably because it can be told a million different ways. As long as it's entertaining to read, even if I know exactly how it will all end, I love it. In fact, I might go as far as to say that I prefer it.

Anyway, this book kept me turning the page. A total "chick-flick" in terms of the heavy emotional baggage mixed with the tempting, always present, eye-candy. I thought it was a great story. It hit on issues real people have and those issues were handled in real world ways. The characters, just like so many of Dessen's other characters, were believable. I don't doubt that they exist. That they are out there acting just the way Dessen described in this book.

I enjoyed this book a tad bit more than the last Dessen novel I read, Just Listen; although, I couldn't tell you exactly why. Maybe I just enjoyed the supporting characters a little bit more or maybe Macy was easier for me to relate to since she felt the need to get the perfect grades, have the perfect job and deal with her emotions privately where no one else was affected. Whatever the reasoning, despite the basic storyline being one I've read a hundred times before, I enjoyed it thoroughly and Dessen was able to throw in a little bit of her own flair to make the story hers.

Plus, as a side note, I just really liked Wes. Like Macy put it, he really has the whole, "Tall, Dark, and Tormented thing going for him".

Click here for Sarah Dessen's website for The Truth About Forever.