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    The Problem With Forever
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    The Problem With Forever
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    The Problem With Forever
    Ebook494 pages7 hours

    The Problem With Forever

    By Jennifer L. Armentrout

    4/5

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    About this ebook


    Some secrets go too deep for words…

    From No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes a riveting new story about friendship, survival and finding your voice…

    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 home schooling 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 realise 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers Australia
    Release dateJun 1, 2016
    ISBN9781760374488
    Author

    Jennifer L. Armentrout

    # 1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. Find her on Twitter @JLArmentrout or become a fan on Facebook and Goodreads.

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    Reviews for The Problem With Forever

    4/5

    129 ratings12 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I think the author had the right idea with this book's premise, but failed in the the delivery. The plot was too long and, frankly, I found Mallory boring so I never engaged with her, and struggled through until the end.
    • 5/5
      Wow! I haven’t read a book that has touched me like this in a long time. Beautifully written, with characters and situations that grab you from the very beginning, Jennifer Armentrout reminds us that every life is important, that our past does not define us, and that we always have a future to look forward to, even through our darkest moments.
      This is a message that teenagers really need to hear and adults sometimes need to be reminded of.
      I listened to this on audio while driving and hated every stop I had to make because it paused the story.
      Thanks to my friend Janet for her review which prompted me to listen to this!
    • 4/5
      This book was provided to me as an uncorrected proof by the publisher. It is scheduled to go on sale May 17, 2016.

      The Problem With Forever is the story of a girl trying to recover from an abusive childhood, the boy who stood between her and harm, and what happens when they are reunited after four years of believing they would never see each other again.

      I really dig this book. That's saying a lot for me, because, under normal circumstances, I avoid anything resembling teen romance. A particular sparkly vampire series completely killed the genre for me. Jennifer Armentrout has brought it back to life in my eyes. She is an incredible writer. Her characters are lovable, heartbreaking, frustrating, and absolutely relatable. The dialogue is heartfelt, but without the angst or overwrought drama one comes to expect from a YA book centering around relationships. The way she gets into Mallory and Riders' heads makes me worry about Ms. Armentrout, because she has to have been through some stuff to have this kind of understanding for abused children and their psyches. Having worked with endangered teens in the past, I was concerned about how they would be portrayed, but Ms. Armentrout has proven herself deeply empathetic (sympathetic) to the emotional struggles of the abused. This was just such a good book, and I look forward to reading more by Ms. Armentrout.
    • 4/5
      The problem with forever is everything that I've come to expect from JLA, it has great characters and a steamy romance. It made me laugh it made me sympathize with the character and feel their pain.I like how this story really took two people who came from a similar background and showed how they could overcome things in their own ways and that they had just different struggles and different way of dealing with everything.I really felt for her because she had grown up pretty much conditioned that noise and speaking is bad so she's very quiet and it comes across as shy. it's hard for her to talk to new people or to make new friends but she is starting public school for the first time in a long time and she's put face-to-face with a bunch of these insecurities.On top of all of that a boy from her past someone she thought she'd never see again is also going to her school. I love seeing them reconnect and he was very protective of her in their group home and saved her from a lot of physical pain and protected her emotionally as best as he could. they had to find a unique balance of him still wanting to protect her and how much she cares about her and also how much she's growing up as a person and doesn't really need all the sheltering and does need to learn to use her voice and found the right way to communicate with other people.I like the family dynamics in this one. of course we get to see the very rough side of the foster system in the way that she and Ryder grew up. but we also get to see her taken into a very loving home and how much they provided for her and helped her daughter through therapy and is still supporting her. Though they did have to learn how to let go and let her make her own decisions and trust in those especially as she is interacting with Ryder because he hangs out with a rougher crowd. even though he's in a home with the woman who really cares about her and has two brother like figures he's gotten into some trouble and one of his foster brothers the woman's actual grandson is in some trouble.I liked the ending and how things wrapped up for them. She learned to stand up for herself, to use her voice, and she helped Ryder see the potential in himself and make steps towards his future, and letting himself believe that he's worthy. Bottom Line: Loved it, all I love about the author.
    • 4/5
      Audiobook- Wonderful narration Emotional, heartbreaking abuse and teenage angst. This is not a pretty little love story. It's so fragile, so absolute I had no doubts about them for the first paragraph. It was the rest of the cast that had me guessing. They had power over these two and I didn't really know how it would go till the end. Teenagers suffering from abandonment, abuse, fear and low self esteem meet up after being separated after a horrific night 4 years earlier. One suffers very visible scars, she doesn't talk, fears everything, except him. The other is a tough, no worries mate kind of guy who still hasn't found his way. Their reunion breaks many memories back to the surface, nightmares and some realities must be dealt with. This is a solid love story. Trigger warning: Drugs, murder, and child abuse
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars

      This is a super sweet young adult romance. This storyline really brought out the feelings in me, but it's definitely aimed toward a younger audience. Mallory and Rider were abused foster kids together. She got out of the system when a great couple adopted her. He didn't get adopted, but there are people in his life that care about him. This story addresses a lot of what someone faces growing up. There are consequences to every decision. It's a growing up, life lessons, sweet romance type of read.
    • 3/5
      3.5 STARS

      Whenever I pick up a JLA book (a contemporary one) I always brace myself for it to be a little bit NA-ish, even if it's shelved as YA. because you know this is JLA, queen of steemy books.

      But apparently I was pleasatly surprised & mistaken, it was anything but (a first).

      But as much as I liked this book I must say that it was quite similiar to Katie McGarry's books (Pushing the Limits series), I couldn't seperate the two. *sigh* I hate when this happens...

      I can't wait for Hector & Ainsley's story, I bet that I would love that one far more than this one.
    • 4/5
      This book was so good. I feel like Ms. Armentrout has really come into her writing with this book. I've shelved this one in realistic fiction, but there is a romance in it. The romance doesn't really get started until more than halfway through the book, even though you know it will come. By then I was fully vested in the story. I loved the reference to [book:The Velveteen Rabbit|144974] and parts this book had me in tears. I want to read Ainsley's story next. I don't know if that is in the works, but I am totally on board for Mallory's best friend.
    • 4/5
      Problem with Forever has the right concept and I liked it but it could be done better. The characters were nice and sweet but everything was so wrapped around Mallory and Rider which you couldn’t get enough of other characters who really deserved better.In my eyes there was extra tragedy happening to those around Mallory just for the sole reason of her becoming better in finding herself and appreciating what she has. I think it would have a better affect if she could understand all she did without being sorry to what happens to her friends.Generally I liked this book.
    • 4/5
      This book for young adults begins with Mallory and Rider growing up in the same foster home in the Baltimore area with two very abusive parents. Rider, while only six months older than Mallory, always acted as her protector: hiding her, advising her not to make a sound, and taking the blows that otherwise might have landed on Mallory. He read The Velveteen Rabbit to her when she was scared, and he promised he would be there for her “for forever.” But when Mallory was 12, she ended up in the hospital and got adopted by two doctors who had cared for her. She thought she would never see Rider again.After years of home schooling and lots of therapy, Mallory, now almost 18, decided she was ready to try public school for her senior year of high school. She still hardly spoke, having been conditioned to be as quiet as possible. But she knew she had to get over it to get on with her life.Her first day of school, she is stunned when Rider walks into one of her classes. Mallory discovers that Rider is the same in many ways: he is kind, and has an unshakable protective instinct. But he also has no expectations of respect by anyone, including himself. Rider is also shocked to see Mallory, and in spite of having a girlfriend, Paige, he and Mallory fall into InstaLove. Rider thinks Mallory still needs his protection, but actually, it turns out he is even more stuck in the past than Mallory. Will the past pull them down, or can they learn to focus on the future instead of the past? Can love make them, like the velveteen rabbit, “real,” in spite of all the damage that has been done to them?Discussion: This book has much appealing about it, but also much that is, well, a bit much. First, some criticisms:To some extent, the author parades a checklist of issues confronting the characters that borders on the excessive. There are mean girls - and yes, where else does this manifest itself the most but in those two nightmare locations, by the lockers and in the cafeteria? Mallory’s best friend struggles with a disease that is about to change her life for the worst (although that plot line is kind of dropped). We also have drugs, gangs, cultural and class conflicts, self-esteem problems, the broken foster care system, adoption problems, to have sex or not to have sex, and more. Most are handled well, but it does seem a bit extreme and exhortative.The characterization is mixed. Rider is adorable and quite likable, but so nearly perfect - smart, brave, smart, and talented - that the revelation of his flaws revealed in the end doesn’t ring entirely true. The character of Mallory is not consistent. She talks fine at home and has a best friend through home schooling with whom she can communicate normally. Yet otherwise she is close to mute. Nevertheless, she has a bit of a miraculous recovery from the beginning of the book to the end, as the author embraces the now very popular “Pretty Woman” trope of who is rescuing whom.On the positive side, the romance is very charming, and even heart-warming. There are some good messages about gratitude and kindness, while still having the courage to live your own dreams rather than being entirely other-directed. The author also spends some time on the often neglected subject of regarding bad things as positives, for the lessons they teach and for the way they highlight by contrast the good things.Evaluation: I enjoyed this story in spite of some of the criticisms I had. In fact, I liked it enough to wish the “Epilogue” would be expanded into a second book.
    • 4/5
      For me this book was just heart wrenching! I love that this story is balanced. Mallory has struggled over the years but she has had a great support system and is trying to achieve what she considers a normal life. Rider has never left the foster care system and although he has escaped his nightmare situation and is in a safe home now, he has deep scars. I love how the writing shows that the system can work but that there are situations that do fall into the cracks as well. As much as no one wants to admit that.“I thought about the boy who made my chest hurt, the one who’d promised me forever. It had been years since I’d seem him or even heard him speak. Four years of trying to erase everything that had to do with that portion of my childhood, but I remembered him. I wondered about him. How could I not? I always would. He had been the sole reason I survived the house we’d grown up in.”After a four-year separation you would think that the main characters would be written into an insta-love situation but that is not the case at all. In fact Mallory is completely clueless about how to read social cues regarding boys interest in her and I think that is realistically written. If she has been homeschooled, has social anxiety and her only friend is a chick then she is not going to know what to do with male attention. She is so brave and even though she has been given a new start it does not mean that her happily ever after is going to come easy. You will fall in love with her!Sweet, endearing Rider. He took so much responsibility for Mallory during their childhood that he has carried such worry about what happened to her that seeing her in school is the last thing he expected and it really disrupted his entire life but as far as he is concerned it is only been for the better. With everything he has been through you would expect him to be hardened but he is not. He is respectful of Mallory, protective of her and he puts up with a lot of negativity from her family for her sake. He will truly find a place to your heart.I love the relationship building between Mallory and Rider. I also truly enjoyed the supporting characters. They really add to the overall story! I loved this novel. It took me by complete surprise. I am usually not the person to fall in love with a YA high school romance story. If anything I think I try to avoid them but this book is about more than just two kids falling in love. It was about connection, overcoming great odds, believing in yourself and reaching for your dreams. I was truly engaged in this book and found the entire story endearing from beginning to end. I cannot recommend it enough.
    • 4/5
      This book seriously tugs at your heart strings. Have tissues handy. Mallory and Rider share a very hard, troubled childhood, but it’s not the few flashbacks that get to you, it’s the mental and emotional scars they still bear, and how those affect them today. It took me some time (as it took Mallory some time) to understand how deeply those scars affected Rider. There is a lot of focus on Mallory, and the reader has a very clear understanding of her situation, whereas we only really see a surface view of Rider and on the surface he seems fine. But he’s not. And eventually Mallory realises that. The use of the childhood book to illustrate the characters’ struggles was brilliant. It helped me (who doesn’t have that history or those scars) to understand the way these troubled teens viewed the world and their place in it. Some parts were predictable (the roles that Paige and Ainsley played, in particular) but there were enough curveballs (Jayden!) to keep you wanting to turn the page and find out what happened next.

      The way that Mallory spoke did grate on me a little, and put me in mind of Bella from Twilight and all her teen angst, but it was pretty integral to the character and I can’t see how the author could have written it any differently, so I shouldn’t complain.

      I thought Mallory’s speech was fantastic, and really pulled all the loose threads together, but then Rider went one better and gave us an incredible satisfying ending. The epilogue was also satisfying – no perfect lives, but moving together towards a brighter future.

      This book should come with trigger warnings, but otherwise is a must read if you like powerful YA romances.