Forever for a Year

by B.T. Gottfred

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.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Teen, Realistic Fiction, Banned Books

432 pages, Hardcover

First published July 7, 2015

About the author

B. T. Gottfred is an author, playwright, and—ooh, look there, behind you . . . no, you're right, never mind—director.

His first-ish novel, “Forever for a Year”, was released July 2015 by Macmillan/Holt. His second-ish novel, “The Nerdy and The Dirty” arrived November 2016 from Mac/Holt. His third book, "The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy", debuts May, 2018.

Reviews

[Paula M · Rating 1 out of 5]

"I like girls, Carolina. Well, one girl. See?" And I grabbed her hand and put it on my penis.



I should've known that this book won't be for me. My fault, really.

[The Bibliophagist · Rating 1 out of 5]

*I really did not enjoy this book. However, you might like it, so give it a chance!
---
If you wanna read about annoying high school freshman who repeatedly make stupid decisions, and talk nonstop about how much they love each other until you want to gag, then this book might be for you.

In a way, this is a smart book because (I think) it’s a commentary on how ridiculous first loves/high school relationships are. I can applaud Gottfred on that. But all the story does is focus on Carolina and Trevor’s stupid relationship, that it lacks any sort of emotional depth and maturity. This is not one of those YA books that will resonate with any age. The only people I can see enjoying this story are eighth or ninth graders. Or anyone who between 13-15. It’s authentic in terms of voice, I can give you that. But who in their right mind wants to be stuck in the head of two immature kids for 400+ pages?!?

Other things I disliked:

Dual Point of View: Carolina and Trevor sounded to much alike. This book changed povs way too often.

The writing was awkward. Fragmented sentences. Choppy sentences. Lots, and lots, of commas. And the characters repeated everything so many times. The story became redundant because they kept repeating themselves. They kept saying how much they loved each other. And how they are soul mates. Soul Mates. Carolina and Trevor are in love. (See, it’s annoying, right?)

I have no idea why this book is the length it is. I feel like this story could have been told in 200 pages or less. It dragged on and on to the point where it was just excruciating to read.

I didn’t like Carolina. She was immature. She was a slut shamer.
I didn’t like Trevor.
And I didn’t like Lily. I don’t care how mature you say a 7 year old is, she would never talk like that.

I think the biggest issue for me with this book is the…insta-love. TREVOR AND CAROLINA HAVE THE WORST CASE OF INSTA LOVE I’VE EVER READ ABOUT. THEY SAY THREE WORDS TO EACH OTHER- AND NO JOKE-THEY ARE BOTH MADLY IN LOVE! AFTER THREE WORDS!! Granted, this might have been a point the author was trying to make on high school relationships, but geez. Even high school relationships have some amount of attraction and substance behind them. A small bit of history to get the relationship going. Carolina gave Trevor two sheets of paper and they became Facebook friends and then the two of them were in love!

In short, this book frustrated me.

[B.T. Gottfred · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give (almost) all books on here five stars so I guess that allows me to give my book five stars, too;)

To you, fine lover of books, no matter if you love Carolina and Trevor or not, thank you for your passion for the written word. As the world evolves, the inner dialogue we have inside our own minds – and with the fictional characters we allow inside there with us – will only become more vital to ensure that the advancement of consciousness outpaces all else.

Lastly, I'd like -- OH MY GOSH IS THAT A TINY ALIEN IN MY EYEBALL AGAIN!? ...no? false alarm? okay, thanks...

Anyway, good luck with all you do good people of goodreads.

[Hannah McBride · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer: This book chat will have spoilers of FOREVER FOR A YEAR by B.T. Gottfred. 

I considered writing this as a review, but I can't. There's just too much I need to cover and this is less a review on a book and more my thoughts/commentary on this ... thing. FOREVER FOR A YEAR consumed my life for the better part of 2 weeks last month.

It was all I thought about. I read and re-read it. This book even inspired a new term:

Bookholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages/readers express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors/book, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors/book.*

To truly understand what happened, let's go back a few months. The season is winter and I have just received a copy of FOREVER FOR A YEAR, a debut novel by B.T. Goottfred, from Macmillan. The cover intrigued me. The premise intrigued me. I thought, Yes. This sounds awesome and real because teens fall in love and think it will be forever, but sometimes forever only lasts a year.

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.

But sadly, the book went onto my ARC shelf and lingered, forgotten for months, until right after BEA when the first ever YADC Book Party occurred -  I invited friends over to come and take some of my excess books. Prior to BP, I was going through books and would randomly flip to a page and read it to see if it was something I would read (and review) or needed a new home.

When I stumbled up FFAY, the first page I saw was this:

I think my exact reaction was

Because, seriously, what the actual hell? It went in the Not-For-Me pile and down to the basement where one of my friends picked it up. But while we were sitting around chatting, this book came up in conversation and it was fished out and random parts read by Stephanie (No BS Book Reviews) and myself.

Which I filmed. And turned into this video.

After that, I realized I had to read this book. There were so many unanswered questions - how is Carolina's name pronounced? What went wrong? Is this book really that bad the entire time?! In short, yes. Yes it is.

Let's start with Carolina and the fact that no one knows how to pronounce her name. Thankfully, she explains:

B.T. Gottfred also seems to have a small obsession with teenage girls boobs. They're referenced and detailed. Often. Which is a little creepy.

Think that's all?

Oh, honey. We're just warming up. If you need to grab a snack and a beverage, go on. This will be here when you get back.

So to give you a quick back story, Caroline and Trevor are freshmen. In high school. Trevor is a year older - he's repeating his freshman year. See, his mom had an ... incident last year, which he used as an excuse to stay home and watch her play video games for a year. But he's adjusted to what happened last year. And his mom is totally fine.

Yeah. Son of the Year contender right there, folks!

But let's talk about the parentals of FOREVER FOR A YEAR. Because the parents are easily as messed up (maybe moreso) than the teens. In fact, the only sane one is Lily, and she's 7.

Carolina's mom is a bit concerned about their relationship:

While her dad thinks Carolina should be less serious about school, kissing boys she's known for a week, and wearing lots of makeup.

Trevor's dad is a workaholic and not around much. He does apparently let Trevor drive his BMW unchaperoned while only having a lerner's permit, which Trevor promptly crashes into the garage because he's texting and driving. With Lily in the car.

And then we have Trevor's mom. Trevor and his mom have a relationship built on mutual indifference and over-sharing.

So we have the ground work for absolute and utter disaster.

But ultimately this is a book about 2 crazy kids falling in love. In a week. Did I mention they meet in Biology? *cough*Twilight*cough*

And fall in love they do. 

Their love progresses (as teen love does) to a more ... physical nature throughout the first half of the book.

For the rest of the review: http://theirishbanana.blogspot.com/20...

[Lena ♫ ♪ · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 okay, 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, but these two teens were just...I don't know.

I found myself skimming through the book rather than reading it, mainly because I was so tired of the whining or their 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. Still, I wanted to know how it'd all end. Now that I know, I wish I didn't, because the ending actually made me dislike the two of them even more. They're reckless and hurtful. On a scale from 1 to even, I can't.

I just can't.

[Fee (Ebook Addicts) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Story:
Ok firstly I had to google the age range of American High school ages as I am not familiar with the freshmen sophomore terms here in the UK and secondly I am under no illusions that some 14/15 years old are having sex already, I hope to god my kids don't (my oldest is almost 10!) but will cross that bridge if I need to, but this story reads more like 17/18 year olds.  The story is told in duel aspects from Carolina and Trevor's point of view. It is very much fuelled by teenage angst and first love, the characters were true to their ages - Carolina a annoying teenage girl was portrayed perfectly in my eyes, though it did made me cringe. I thought about how I acted with my first love at 16 years old and yeah the thoughts and feelings that Carolina had were the same for me. 

I did enjoy this story though, it was a real and honest book if slightly annoying at times.

The Narration:
I was not expecting a full cast and music to accompany this audio version! It threw me off at first, but then I realised that it fitted perfectly with the story. The voice actors were able to hold my attention and with the various cast members it made for an entertaining listen.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Forever Young Audiobooks. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

[Christina (Confessions of a Book Addict) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's freshman year for Carolina, formerly just Carrie, and she wants to start fresh alongside Peggy, her best friend. With the help of Peggy's older sister, Katherine, who just so happens to be the most popular girl in school, they can break out of their nerdy status and become "it" girls as well. That is if Carolina is willing to take orders from Katherine, resident mean girl and all around bad person. In walks new kid, Trevor, who is not only good looking, but actually shows some attention to Carolina. After some near misses and sabotage from Katherine, Trevor and Carolina finally hit it off and realize that they both like each other. Trevor, a former football star, is trying to find his place here in his new school. His cousin goes to school here, but isn't exactly helping him find his way, in fact, he makes things more challenging. So when Trevor hits it off with Carolina, things get much easier for him. Except when they don't. Their first love becomes the all-consuming unhealthy type that we often see in high school. Between dealing with their family problems at home, first sexual encounters, and the ups and down of high school, it proves to be a lot for these two kids. B.T. Gottfred's debut, Forever for a Year, is an absorbing portrayal of first love.

Read the rest of my review here:

http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.c...

[Stephanie • Ideally Inspired · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the words of Steph O'Neil: I am going to go out on a limb, and say that I am NOT a part of the target audience for this book.

I don't really know what the author's overall message was with this book, but I found myself oftentimes confused, appalled, and quite often turned off by the unrealistic portrayal of "awkward teens" who are beginning to explore the complexities of romance, and sexual exploration.

Quite often, I'd ask myself "Is this author serious?" or "What young teen boy/girl talks like this?" I found myself laughing at inappropriate moments, and cringing more often than not.

I couldn't bring myself to read the entire thing, mainly because of the author's overuse of the ellipsis, as well as the choppy writing, which seemed to constantly showcase run-on sentences as if it were going out of style.

I am all for reading YA books that take risks while tackling sexuality, and more mature themes, however this book was abhorrent to me, and I am at a loss as to how to find good qualities about it.

I suppose I could say that I was drawn to this book by its synopsis; I went into it hoping that it would be...different. I think that in an oversaturated YA Contemporary market, it's always great to come upon a book that seems to push the boundaries with the promise of giving you a different take on "young love". Sadly, this book did not deliver in any way shape or form. If anything, it fueled emoji-driven reading updates, as I couldn't even find intelligent words to describe what drivel I had exposed myself to.

Great idea (in theory); awful execution.

[Aneta Bak]

DNF at 30%

I started this book once and gave up, then I read a different book by the author and managed to get through that one, so I decided to come back to this book.

Every time I start this book I keep thinking that I’m way too old for it. Its the way that the characters behave and talk. I just found them to be unintelligent and extremely annoying. I don’t want to make fun of 14 year olds here, but do they all act like this? I sure didn’t when I was their age…

Maybe if I enjoyed the characters more I would have at least tried to finish, but this book was definitely not for me.

[Jessica T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that the storyline was amazing and the chemistry between Trevor and Carolina was great and passionate. Trevor's suffering and deep thought were logical and really bright the character to life. But I found Carolina annoying and immature. I felt that reading her side of the story was like reading a 5th grader texting her friend... It almost seemed like all of her dialogue was her thought just spewing out of control in a way that made no sense. If that's how they think freshmen speak, think again author... Even thought I'm not happy with the ending I felt that it made the most sense after all they've been through even if they're "soul mates"... Cute book with emotional characters with a crave for affection

[Fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forever for a Year paints a picture of what it’s like to be a teen nowadays–relationships start and end in a snap, more friendship and family conflicts arise, and finding out who you are turns out to be the hardest thing ever. But our dear characters, Carolina and Trevor, have survived. They just learned the hard way.

Full review on my book blog: https://bibliophilesoprano.wordpress....

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful, sad, thought provoking book. B. T. Gottfred has managed to take the tart (and sometimes bitter) taste of life and wrap it in the sweetness of something we all know well - our first year of high school.

At first, this book is just ridiculous. It is told via the stream of consciousness from a fourteen year old girl. Carrie has decided she will now be known as Carolina - pronounced car-o-leen-ah, because she is now grown up and no longer a baby in junior high school. We start with her first day, full of trepidation and insecurity. Trevor, a new boy, enters the classroom late so she gives him two sheets of paper and a pencil.

The book is told alternately from Carolina's and Trevor's points of view. It really is stream of consciousness; probably the funniest thing is when they catch themselves being ridiculous. Case in point - Carolina often says her life is ruined. Then she decides to stop being such a drama queen and stop referring to her life being ruined. It's almost like you're reading their diaries.

But the writing fools you. I wondered if I could continue with the story after just the second chapter. But Gottfred draws us in slowly, putting us right into the minds of these two characters. They begin a relationship that is naive and sweet, full of saccharine almost to the point of nausea. But it works, because while we're rolling our eyes we're understanding that this is the only way these two teenagers know how to communicate. Their feelings are heartfelt even though they relate them in such a juvenile way. The sappy dialogue is nicely balanced with their poignant inner musings.

And they do communicate well, which might be where the book strays somewhat into unrealistic territory. What two teenagers are that secure in themselves that they can be so honest? As their relationship gets more and more serious, they find solace in each other as their respective families slowly disintegrate. It's funny the way they think of the future and yet tragic when they have to face it. As I watched them encounter the real world, changing feelings, changing situations and people, I just couldn't turn away. My heart just broke for them, because life isn't the fairytale they believed it was. It was almost like watching them figure out that Santa isn't real.

Because of the dual perspectives, the characters are extremely well-developed. Carolina starts out as a quiet geek. But her true colors emerge as her relationship with Trevor grows; she's an extrovert who loves fun and friends. and Trevor, who is a moody, angsty, angry young man slowly lets go of his cynicism and allows himself to be happy with Carolina. The side characters are just enough to enhance the story without overwhelming it. They lend a sense of believability to the plot.

Ultimately the strength of this book is that kids just starting high school will be able to identify with it. The book illustrates beautifully what can happen when every hope and dream rests on a changing, growing person. Disappointment and heartache always follow. And yet, that's not the end of the world. We grow up and life goes on.

Also refreshing is that the adults in this book are seriously flawed but never really vilified. The book really does take a pretty realistic view of kids playing at being adults - and then finding out all is not what it seems.

I never expected that the flighty ramblings of a fourteen year old girl would move me. But it really did. By the end, I was totally invested in this story. This author took a gimmicky hook - telling the story via stream of consciousness - and turned it into something beautiful. What a pleasure it was.

[Stacee · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 26%

I really liked the idea of this premise, but I struggled with what I read.

Carolina and Trevor are very whiny and their age definitely comes across in their voice. Her inner monologue is full of things like debating whether or not she's madly in love with Trevor after he friend requested her on FB and swearing she's having a heart attack because BFF's sister talked to him. On the other hand, Trevor liked Carolina, but decides to declare her ugly and worthless because his friends and cousin tell him to.

I was planning on continuing, but as soon as I got to the maybe rape of a drunk 14 year old freshman by a junior she just met, I was done.

**Huge thanks to Henry Holt and NetGalley for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**

[Payton Walgenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely breathtaking. It was beautiful and one of my favorites. I was so attached to the book I wanted it to never end, and when it did, I was torn. The end was so beautiful I cried.

[Veronica of V's Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

Carolina and Trevor are starting freshman year of high school in Riverbend, IL, a fictional town nestled into the North/Northwest side of Chicago. This is the kind of town with wealth disparity--haves and have nots.

Trevor's family has recently moved from LA to join his mother's family--his Gram and uncle still reside in his mother's hometown. He lives with his mom, dad and 7-y/o sister who is precocious and means the world to Trevor. just over a year ago his mother had a botched suicide attempt. Trevor had a hard time dealing with it, and he stayed home from school for a year; he's more than melancholy. He's clinically depressed, but it seems that everyone's focus is on his mom. Kid gives Holden Caulfield his money for all the "this world's pointless and fake" internal dialogue.

Carolina is a geek. Has been for evah. Her best friend, Peggy, wants desperately to be popular, and Peggie has an in because her older sister is really popular. So Peggy's sister has agreed to get the popular kids to like both of them--but Carolina's a mental spaz. Her internal dialogue is equivalent to The Flash mainlining pixie stix. She is meant to be smart, but I mostly saw low-self-esteem. She admits that whatever someone tells her, she will do. I didn't like her much, but, as the story got on and she stopped listening to Peggy and her insane sister, I admired her backbone.

Trevor and Carolina meet in the first class of the first day of school. Trevor shows up late, and leaves his bag in his dad's car so he has no supplies. Carolina lends him some--without speaking a word. They have a few classes in common, and it seems as if they make a tentative connection, but it becomes this THING before it can ever be a thing, mostly because they hardly speak to each other. Others step in, and Trevor thinks Carolina must be a "fake" and disses her, but he still thinks shes beautiful.

Fast forward.

They work out their communication issues, by communicating!, and begin dating. I'm not going to belabor this: they are physical and it's on the page and their sex is not always protected. There are a lot of emotional issues going on, too. Carolina's father has had an affair and her parents want to reconcile, but Carolina's been so hurt, and protective of her mom that she's obstructive to the process. Trevor's mom is clearly not faithful, as well, and the emotional impact of both of these relationships influence the development of Trevor and Carolina's romance. They consider themselves soul mates--pretty early on. This felt both overblown and just right--mostly because I had trouble believing doom and gloom Trevor could be so positive about Carolina. Carolina falling head over heels? Yep.

Both Carolina and Trevor are gag within a month. I remember those times. It's heady and overwhelming. Strange that the two parents who become their confidantes are the ones who are known betrayers; I think this was meant to convey the idea that just because a person is a lousy spouse doesn't mean they are bad parents--and that chestnut was dropped at about 97% in, so my impression was spot on.

I felt like I knew what was going to happen--partly because of the name, but also because this book was billed as a new "Forever" (but with frankly less mature characters than burgeoning adults Katherine and Michael) so I knew this was going to be bittersweet. It was, without question. Expect big family drama, big dumb mistakes, and some betrayal.

Near the end I got frustrated because it seemed that Trevor needed to make a change and couldn't be honest. That was his whole thing: honesty. He and Carolina had overcome some pretty crap stuff, but he demanded complete honesty and couldn't even give it.

The final pages were even more frustrating. I can't even fathom the situation between Trevor and Carolina at that point. Their story might not be over, but I was kinda over it.

In truth, it was a decent read. Not great, not bad. I wanted more. Some plot points were awkward: missing "friend," jealous manipulative girls, gossip, schoolyard brawl, missed periods, stodgy parent v. permissive parent, barely any communication between the kids and the faithful parents, suffering grades...it felt a bit heavy on the moralizing.

Oh well. It's freshman year. Everything is dire, even the love. If you don't want to read about two 14-15 y/o's falling madly deeply, then getting it on, and having issues, and more issues this is not the book for you.

I received a review copy via NetGalley.

[Monica Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I see a lot of reviews for this book that say the characters are too immature but I really loved it. Felt real. Cos 14-16 year olds can be...very immature. I really loved Trevor especially. Ah teen love....

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**There needs to be more books like Forever For a Year. This book is so good, that I am sure my review will not do it justice. It is a story of first love, and the realization that even if we really want it to, that it may not last forever. I heart the heck out of this book. It made me feel every range of emotion, and I had to put it down multiple times just because I didn't want to finish it. I wanted to savor Forever for a Year.

Forever For a Year is told in dual perspective between Trevor and Carolina. It starts off right at the tender age of 14, where everything changes because they are starting high school. But Trevor and Carolina each approach the new school year with their own set of baggage and their own unique perspective to things and to life. I love Trevor and Carolina. My very favorite part of the book was their oh so unique voices. The writing style changed dramatically when the chapter and point of view switched. B.T. Gottfred did such a masterful job with the prose and personalities of Trevor and Carolina. It really was beautiful to read. Even when he was kind of breaking my heart.

Forever For a Year is a book that I want everyone to experience for themselves. Who doesn't love a story of first love from two characters that you want to hang out with, hug and just spend some more time with. I lived in Trevor and Carolina's world, and I became them while I was reading this book. That takes talent. There is a difference between reading a story about two people falling in and out of love, and reading a story so vivid and so real that you become them for 430 pages. That is the magic of Forever for a year. I know a lot of people on goodreads have less than positive things to say about this book, and the biggest claim is that the characters are immature. Umm, hello...does anyone remember being 14 years old? They are young. So yes, they act like 14 year olds. It didn't bother me. I thought it was incredibly realistic. Forever For a Year is a great example of a realistic look at first love. This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

[Dee Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Carolina meets the new boy, Trevor, they are instantly drawn to one another. And although their friends initially try to keep them apart, they soon become the school's coolest freshman couple. Throughout the course of the year, they experience first kisses, first love, first sexual experiences, and first heartbreaks. Carolina and Trevor truly love each other, but mistakes, betrayal, and guilt threaten to shatter their perfect world.

I liked this book, but to be honest about 1/2 way through it the pacing and the redundancy of the character’s thoughts began to annoy me. Carolina's whining about everything also grated on my nerves. But then I realized...this is being told from the POV's of 2 teens who are experiencing everything for the first time. From that perspective...this book is real. The characters, thoughts, actions, and responses to certain situations were on point. Thinking about sex all the time...is what teens do. So while this wasn't a happy go lucky romance novel, it is definitely one of the most realistic books about teen relationships that I've ever read.

[Terri Robinette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Total and honest glimpse into the mind of a high school student. For me, it made me shudder and remind me that I am so glad not to have to go through the experience again. The heartfelt I love yous, the best friend drama, the strive for popularity and trying to fit in, the heartaches, the peer pressure, the raging hormones - yep, this book covers it all. It bounces back and forth between the female lead and the male lead giving the reader an insight into what each are thinking and feeling. A little laughter, a few tears, a little shared embarrassment. For me, I wasn't sure if I liked the book. It was too realistic. Made me cringe and wasn't sure that I could get through it. However, I think it is an excellent book for a teenager, it would let you know that you are not alone. High school is full of cliques. Like it or not, its true. But regardless of where you stand(and I know that this is hard to believe),everyone has problems and faces some of the same issues - boyfriends, sex, drinking, maintaining friendships, parental problems, and fitting in. So to top off this review, its a great book for the ages of 13 to 17.

[Read InAGarden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carolina and Trevor meet and almost instantly they feel they are soul mates - destined to be together forever. But that is a lot to take on for two teens barely in 9th grade and as young teens they begin to go through the ups and downs of school, family and a very intense relationship together. They experience all their firsts together but and are each jumbled up inside at what everything might mean. Gottfred nails the inner-workings of the 9th grade mind and social structure. So many teen books make the teens seem much more grown up and experienced than they really are but in Forever for a Year, the reader sees the teens struggle to grow up while feeling their way through their teenage insecurities. Other than the sexual scenes which make this a book for older teens and libraries - the emotional sensitivity just didn't resonate throughout the novel and descriptions were very matter of fact - not fluid and descriptive.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 A story of first love at 15, the characters of Carolina and Trevor were well drawn, and going through real teenager stuff with starting high school, friends changing and parent issues. Maybe the oft-repeated stream of consciousness writing meant to reflect the way their thoughts and feelings came fast and furious, which is a great reflection of reality, but at times it was hard to read (especially at the beginning.) You can see the characters growing and while their first love and passion is overpowering, it can be heatbreaking. Overall a good story!

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully honest and authentic book about teen first love. See my full review here.

[Mrs. Luettchau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book alternates between two characters who meet and fall in love in their freshmen year of high school. The characters in this book started out really annoying, but then they grew on me when I remembered they're supposed to be silly, immature freshmen in high school. As the book goes on, their voices did mature slightly, which made it more bearable to read. The book covers mature topics, so I don't know if actual freshmen are mature enough to handle it.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Once · Rating 2 out of 5]

Carolina is wanting to recreate the image that her junior high days have created of her. Trevor is the new kid who wants to have a normal life. When the two meet their chemistry is undeniable, but they fall into the traps of high school. Cliques and drama, all they want is each other but they are not quite sure if the other really is wanting the same thing.

I am a sucker for a good romance, and that is what kept me reading. I honestly felt like I was a little too old to be reading this book though. I felt so disconnected from the characters. They were freshman in high school...and I graduated from college a year ago...meaning my freshman year of high school was at least 8 years ago, if not more....so I felt an age gap. And it was the first time I've ever felt such an age gap when reading a book.

Gottfred was able to capture kids in high school, unsure of themselves and where their lives are headed. And I feel like that is why I was so disconnected. I've figured this out for myself already - at least more than I had it figured out when I was starting high school. I feel that if a younger reader were to pick this book up they might be able to enjoy the story a little bit more.

I was a little upset that Carolina kept saying that she couldn't be obsessing with boys and keep her grades up. Let's just say I was boy crazy. I was always talking about what boy I liked with my friends, and yet I still was able to keep my grades up. I always got A's and B's in classes. So just because you like a boy doesn't mean your whole schooling has to go down the drain. I know that this was just to show that Carolina was a serious student, but I felt like she was limiting herself. She found a boy that liked her - but kept saying 'I shouldn't like him. I need to focus on school'. You can do both, I have faith in you Carolina! She of course decides to give Trevor a chance - so she isn't super strict about it. But I was getting irritated with her thinking in the beginning.

[Winnie Lynn Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll keep this short and sweet. I hated this book. But I loved it just the same. I loved it so much I hated it. And I hated it so much I loved it. Everything worked together so beautifully, but just didn't work together enough, and if I had a better brain, I could choose my words better, but this is all I have. Forever For A Year will, I believe, always be my book. Not my favorite. But not the worst book. It will just be, *my* book, and it will mean so much to me, that I think if anyone were to try and understand me, to really try and understand me, they'd read this book. And then they'd understand. Then they would know, who the real Paula was, and there wouldn't be any confusion. There wouldn't be any secrets, there wouldn't be anything in-between getting to the center. Because this book is my center, and I believe it always will be. This book was lovely, and so horrid, I fought myself over deciding which is a better word to describe it. Because it's neither. But it's both. Forever For A Year is my healing book, and I think I needed this. I needed this book, and it needed me. But now the real question remains: what happens now? Thank you muchly. -P

[Abbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, I admit the story was narrated poorly but I could not help but relate with the first love drama. Your first (true) love is overwhelming and it can literally turn the smartest people into complete trainwrecks. I was teary-eyed at the end because we all know that not everyone is lucky enough to end up with their first love --- especially at the age of 14. But yeah, this book made me reminisce about my own heartbreaks and how amazing it had been. *Sigh* The feels.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fine with the plot and the characters and the writing, but this book made me very uncomfortable. Being a high school freshman myself, I only know a handful of people my age who have had sex and with Carolina being a regular fifteen year old girl she doesn't seem like one of those people. Also, there were detailed descriptions of handjobs, orgasms, and other related things. It was a fine book, but definitely not for teenagers to read.

[Kyra]

I kinda want to read this but also kinda want to not read this since it features some teens my age having sex *cringes*

But I feel Yoda's voice in my head..



Damn, Yoda.

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hohboy. I think I can somewhat appreciate the idea behind this book and its "realistic" approach to teen love, but holy bunches of crazy oats was the execution of it not well done in the slightest. It was laughable, but not in a "this cute and hilarious, LOL" kind of way. I'm still working on how to construct this "review" so that it'll be more constructive and less of me sounding like a raving asshole, especially because there's already so many of those readily available. So, that's where I'm at now.

*Edited for full review on 12/08/2015.

My original review for this title (as well as others) can be found here on The Book Hookup.

**SPECIAL NOTE:** An eARC of this title was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. However, that did not influence this review in any way. All thoughts, quotes, and opinions will be of this version and not of the published edition.

♦ Review: It's very rare that I'll write a review for a book that I didn't complete, and until this exact moment, I have never ever rated one. I don't think it's fair to the author or the publisher (or the novel itself) to judge a book that I didn't complete. However, I have very strong thoughts on this one, especially after I scanned the entire book after having decided at a certain point that I absolutely could not subject myself to reading any more of it. With that said, I've debated long and hard about whether I wanted to actually post this review or not. For months before it was released, it was many bloggers chosen topic of conversation in the book community and even long after its publication date, too. It's received many poor ratings, so I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to heave my less-than-stellar opinions about it on top of the growing pile of others. I'm not out to bash the author in the slightest, but in the end, I decided I would do a short review for those that do follow our blog and may not have heard about this controversial book as of yet. (Though, I highly doubt anyone hasn't at this point.)

First, I want to tell about why I was quick to jump on Forever For a Year initially. While everyone loves happily ever afters, it's just not realistic to imagine that every single couple would survive high school and life after it. I thought it would be fun to experience all the dizzying, fun elements of falling in love that first time and going through all those firsts that come with that territory, but I was also curious to see how the relationship would dissolve like high school loves usually do. And if I'm being truly honest, I really appreciate that the author was going for something different, giving us a realistic approach to teen love and all the highs and lows that a couple would experience with it. That was solid, and I wish more authors would try to tackle it in this fashion so that all books don't give teens high expectations when real life doesn't always dish out forevers and always. So, yes, the idea was something that I could totally get behind, but the execution, in my opinion, had far too many flaws to make this book anything close to a novel that I'd be shoving into any teenager's hands.

One of my biggest issues with this book was how irresponsibly I felt the sex was handled, but maybe that's just me being judge-y and out of touch with today's youth. (Please God don't let this be the case.) We all know that I'm a huge advocate for sex in YA because I think it's just silly to disregard and ignore the fact that teens are having sex. It's my very strong opinion that authors could use sex in their books as a voice of knowledge to show that while it can be a good thing, it should absolutely be taken seriously and with great responsibility. So, I don't know, perhaps it's a bit hypocritical of me to judge what type of sex an author wants to include in their YA book, but holy sparkling pandas did I want Gottfred to pump the brakes in this one. I don't know if his goal was trying to demonstrate all the things NOT to do when being sexually active, but if I was an educator, that'd probably be what I'd tell students (even though I'd never put it in their hands to begin with...*shudders* Just say no.). If you want more in-depth, graphic details and actual excerpts, Hannah from The Irish Banana did an amazing job and highlighted all the terrible things about the whole book. You can find her full review for it here . Terrible sex notwithstanding, there was also hinted rape of a drunk minor (that was ignored by our our female MC when it was supposed to be her best friend!!!), slut shaming, and just general grossness levels of guys sounding like complete assholes.

Jake felt it was a good time to say, "Has anyone seen Peggy Darry this year? Her tits got huge!" And the whole table leaned in and smirked, whispering just how huge.

Henry then said, "I might pretend to like Peggy just so I can feel her up."

Okay, my biggest issue aside, my next least favorite thing about this book was the actual characters. They. Were. Awful. Like, mind-numbingly painful to read. For a dual POV style delivery, they sounded very much alike (Was this on purpose? To show that guys and ladies have very similar thought patterns and get hung up on the same insecurities when entering a crush/relationship? Because while that is almost true, nope nope nope to our headspaces and voices being one hundred percent the same.) and it was written almost like a stream of conscious that I wanted to check out of as soon as possible. Not only that, but I'm relatively certain that teens just don't sound like this. I get there's going to be a lack of maturity, they're fourteen and fifteen years old, but it came across as more juvenile than that. Like, a adolescent talking about sex. Nope.

My stomach started eating my insides. This is what happens when I get nervous. My stomach becomes an alien and eats all my organs and I almost die. Yes, I exaggerated, okay! I'm sorry. Gosh.

-♦-

Did I heart that right? He called me awesome, right? He totally did. My gosh. This definitely meant he liked me, right? I wanted to throw up. I wanted to move seats. I WANTED to say something back. I really did. But it needed to sound cool, fun, smart, amazing, and like something he would remember the rest of his life, and my brain couldn't think of anything. Nothing. So I just smiled. It wasn't even a good smile. I'm sure it looked like a mean smile. Like a Shannon Shunton smile. Which is the worst smile ever. The worst.

-♦-

And then he kissed me while I was talking and his lips were opened this time and so were my lips and it wasn't like they were just pressing into each other, but instead our mouths were wet and they slid across each other, and over each other's lips, and then our mouths closed and then opened again and kissed again, and now I could feel his tongue, so I pressed my tongue against his, and gosh, this was so intense, I felt like our mouths were eating each other but it was exciting and I wanted to eat him more and him to eat me, and my head got light and I grabbed onto his shoulders so I wouldn't fall, which pulled us tighter together, and he put his right arm around my back and pulled me even closer than that. And we kept kissing, our mouths rolling into and over each other, and our tongues touching, and I could feel saliva going down my chin but I didn't care, I just wanted to keep him near me.

Yes, those are all actual quotes. Feeling the pain yet? Are you cringing? But that's just our female MC, Carolina. The guy is quite a peach, too. He hates life, it's pointless. He doesn't stick up for people. He lands kind of on the stalkerish scale of creepy at times. He also likes to joke about his mom's attempted suicide because he's a stellar son.

"Are we sure she's sleeping? She might be dead." This was a joke. You don't understand it, because you don't know that my mom overdosed on sleeping pills over a year ago. Maybe you don't find it funny now that you know. Neither did my dad. He gave me the look where I feel like I'm the worst son ever born.

But it's probably easy to be such stand-up young citizens of the world when you have excellent parental role models and older siblings. (I speak fluent sarcasm just in case that went unnoticed.) Especially when the most adult person of the whole bunch is a seven-year-old who handles life more maturely than anyone. I firmly believe in having an open relationship between parent and kid, but there is such a thing as oversharing, made worse when the advice being dished out is terrible. Here's a gem from the senior sister of our MC's best friend about said friend developing breasts over the summer and how they're going to be her ticket to popularity.

Katherine continued, "And she still has skinny legs. She doesn't quite get it even though I've told her, like, every day, but every dude with a penis, even the gay ones, are gonna stare at her, want to talk to her, ask her out, and kiss her just so they can reach up her shirt. Trust me, I know this, and this is so true. But your boobs are still small and you dress like a boy, so we are going to have to come up with a thing to make boys like you. I can't put my reputation on the line for you if you aren't willing to make boys like you. So I'm thinking you should learn to talk dirty. Like they do in porn. Guys love it.

This is my blank stare. You can't see me doing it, but I totally am right now, as I'd imagine you are, too. My other issues ranged from ridiculous levels of insta-love, gag-worthy descriptions of teen sex that made me feel a little skeezy and creepy, and an overabundance of unnecessary angst. I could go on and on, but I had planned on keeping this short and not bashing (oops?), so I'm going to cut it off here. Let me just say this, though, all my quotes listed here? Yeah, those are probably the tamest ones you'll find in the book. Just go look at Hannah's review. It's awesome.

♦ Rec it? Absolutely not. In short, the idea behind Forever For a Year is fantastic, but the delivery is far from it. I had such high hopes for this book and I really tried to go into it with an open mind, but it was exceedingly obvious from the very first page why so many bloggers DNF'ed this title.

♥ A very special thanks to Henry Holt & Co. and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.