FOREVER, INTERRUPTED | TAYLOR JENKINS REID | WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS | JULY 2013 |
Elsie and Ben are average twenty-somethings, but this is not your average love story. It begins bright and promising: the newlywed couple is head over heels in love, having eloped six months after they met. But it all shatters in an instant; Ben out riding his bike, is hit by a truck—and dies on impact.
Forever, Interrupted was a little out of my comfort zone as I don't typically read "romance" novels. However, as the description implies, Forever, Interruped is different from what you'd expect in a love story. The book jumps back and forth between Elsie's grief after Ben's death and alternate chapters that explore Elise and Ben's passionate whirlwind of a relationship.
You can't help but feel sympathy for Elsie. She's honest and distraught - obvious reactions to the death of her husband. It was difficult to put the book down, concerned as I was about Elsie's well-being. You want so badly for things to work out for her, to see that she is able to overcome grief.
Forever, Interrupted also gives considerable weight to Elsie's relationships with other people in her life, like her parents, her best friend, and her mother-in-law. None of these relationships are what you expect them to be. She finds support and frustration in the strangest of places.
Learning Elsie and Ben's story through flashbacks is refreshing. The book provides snapshots of their relationship, just enough for you to understand what they meant to one another and to keep you guessing. Taylor Jenkins Reid spares the unnecessary details. Dialogue is witty, the emotions are raw, and the story is both heartbreaking and hopeful. Forever, Interrupted is a great debut with incredible writing.
Forever, Interrupted is available on July 9, 2013. For more information, visit the author's website.
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