Book Review: Forever For A Year by B.T Gottfred

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Forever For A Year
Author: B.T. Gottfred
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: July 7 2015
Review Source: Henry Holt And Co.

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.

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.