The Problem with Forever (Harlequin Teen)

Jennifer L Armentrout writes the best characters with the best stories. But this book raises the bar even for her.

Emotional. This one is emotional and there's no way to not be effected by the lives of two people who grew-up in foster care under the worst of conditions. Two people who experience the same dread and misery but react very differently. One protects and one hides but they do it together and a bond is formed. Though they are separated, that bond stays.

Here's the thing about this book - the emotions that these two experience, the pain they have in their lives - it's relatable. Everyone has experienced something that causes them to feel lost, unsure and just trying to survive. And that's what makes this book so dynamic. I saw myself in these characters. Different characters at different times, but I was right there with them because I know how this feels. I didn't grow-up the way they did but I remember feeling some of what they did. My heart was so involved every step of the way. So I was cheerleading big time, very devoted to their happiness. And when the pain comes anew...I had to take a break. So much pain. It was real to me. But I had to know what would happen so I jumped back in and I'm so glad I did.

The wonderful bookish experience that is reading a JLA book is all there and accounted for but this one has more. It has a depth of humanism that transcends the pages of this book and connects with readers lives.

Of course, I love Rider. He has protecting down. But he's also convinced himself that he deserves what he got in life. He's existing, taking things day by day and that's all he should get. When Mouse re-enters his life, he wants more but that's just not how things work for guys like him.

Mouse...Mallory seems like the weak one but she's not. She handled things differently but she has a depth of strength and love that runs deep. I adore her. I love how she fights for Rider, how she challenges his ideas of who he is and what he's capable of. He does the same for her with different challenges and together they are whole.

The ending is sweet. I'd love to read a chapter from their lives that takes place four years from the ending. I have a sweet hope for what that would be like and I'd love to know if I'm right.

This book is throughly YA. It's not on the verge of NA. It's emotional and deals with hard struggles but so is are many teens lives these days.

Don't miss this one.

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.

This book was absolutely incredible. I loved it from the start and was sad for it to end. I cried like a little baby in more parts than one throughout the book. It was an amazing read. Mallory, Rider, and Jayden have become some of my favorite characters from a book. Would definitely recommend people to read this book. Just incredible and will not disappoint.

I loved the main characters- from the moment they saw each other on the first day of school I was hooked. The author did an awesome job writing Rider and Mallory. I enjoyed all the characters actually- that is what made this book. The story line is ok, nothing special but still entertaining.

When I think, Jennifer Armentrout can’t mess with my emotions more than she has, she has to go and write a marvelous book like this. The Problem With Forever wasn’t just a book, it was journey, and enlightenment, and a true test of what we all crave unconditional love. It wasn’t simply amazing, but unexpected in such a good way. If I could be part of any book, I would definitely choose this one. It has not only stayed with me since I read it weeks ago, but burrowed itself deep in my heart.

In the beginning to this story, we meet Mallory, who after years of home schooling due to a trauma that occurred is entering high school. She is quiet, and reserved, and suffers from anxiety. She has every reason to, but when she discovers that the boy who she grew up with in a foster home is in her school, sitting next to her in class it doesn’t bode well for the hard work she’s done to leave her past behind. Ryder is a product of the foster system and has dealt with his fair share of anguish, but when the girl he thinks, he will never see again shows up at his school. He becomes fiercely protective of her. He made her promise’s years ago and intends to keep them. As they both become reacquainted, they realize that their lives have gone in very two different directions, yet the connection they formed as young children haven’t faded, just the opposite. Their chemistry has become stronger than either could ever imagine, but will the past along with an addition of new dangers just be too much for them both?

This book is filled with guarantees. A guarantee you will fall in love with each and everyone of these characters, a guarantee that you will never want the story to end, a guarantee that you will feel while reading. It was reminiscent of the movie Dangerous Minds, where we meet a group of kids who don’t have many choices, but to survive by any means possible, and that having one another’s back may be your only option.

Jennifer has filled this story with everything I have come to love from her writing. I’ve loved many books this year, but I can say this is one-hundred percent my favorite book of the year, many years. The five-star rating just doesn’t do it justice. This beautiful book deserves so much more. I can’t recommend this book enough. It will appeal to everyone in every sense. As you can tell the love, I have for this book has no bounds. I’m sure I’ll be giving it several good reads. I highly advise you to do the same.

This book was simply amazing, it never made want to put it down and pick up a different book. It was engaging and told a wonderfully written story with just the right amounts of romance, conflict, and plot twists it will definitely keep you on your toes, and have your heart pounding each time you read more. Truly one of my favorite books.

Absolutely fell in love with this book. Couldn't put it down from the first page! Had me very emotional and was bed awestruck through the whole thing. I could read this novel over and over! Beautiful.

Although the book can be corny and cliche here and there, you can't help but relate in some way. You can kind of predict where the plot is going, but it doesn't take away the intensity you feel in each situation .

I truly adore JLA’s contemporary books. They are always such an emotional roller coaster for me. One minute I’m laughing, the next crying (like a lot, and I ugly cry y’all!” And the next I’m throwing the book down (happens quite a bit in this one!) JLA just has a way of making her contemporaries relevant (though in every series she writes her characters are overly similar to each other don’t believe me? Deacon, Tink, and Jayden, they are the same character! Annoying AF but we still love them) the characters are relatable and the back ground for Rider and Mallory is so tragic, what they had to endure is sick but they came out stronger and better. And JLA demonstrates that very well in their story. More like a 4.5 rating

"And maybe... maybe it wouldn't get better. Rider had said nothing lasted forever, but some things, some scars, ran too deep to ever fade away."

"The past never went away and it was not designed to do so.
It would always be there, and it should be acknowledged."

This book was so beautifully written. It tugged at your heart strings and had you reeling for more. I like that this story line was different. We so often forget that we all face some challenge in life and we may not have the same background, money, job, or family but we are all facing something and it should never be dismissed not matter how small.

We can either let the past hold us forever or move forward into the future.