Once Upon a Twilight!: Book Review: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen #ReadADessen

The Truth About Forever
Author: Sarah Dessen
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: May 11th 2004
Review Source: Speak

In The Truth About Forever, when asked how she is coping with her father's death, invariably seventeen year old Macy Queen's answer is "fine," when nothing could be further from the truth. In actuality, she is drowning in grief while maintaining a flawless façade of good grades and unblemished behavior. Though she feels lost when her boyfriend heads to "Brain Camp" for the summer, she finds herself a job with the quirky Wish Catering crew, and meets "sa-woon"-worthy Wes, whose chaotic lifestyle is in direct opposition to her own.

As the two share their stories over the summer, Macy realizes she can no longer keep her feelings on ice. Though it feels like her future ended with her dad's death, Macy's learns that forever is all about beginnings.

You know what the best part of this #ReadADessen campaign is? Being able to finally put time aside to read my Sarah Dessen collection. I own over half her books but I’m so busy reading books that I need to review that I’m not able to get to my own collection of books often, but that never stops me from buying more. So when this campaign was offered to me I was all sorts of grabby hands and couldn’t wait to dive in. And this week I got to dive into The Truth About Forever.

In The Truth About Forever, Macy has her whole summer planned out, study, work at the library and hang out with her mom. Some very exciting plans if you ask me. Her father had passed away tragically and her and her mother grieved in their own ways and they may not have been the best ways to do so. While helping her mother with a showing of new townhouses that she was developing, she happened upon helping the catering crew out which changed her whole planned out summer. New job, new friends, a new Macy.

My favorite part of reading a Sarah Dessen is the way she develops each and every one of her characters. Firstly, she makes them feel so real and relatable and that their trials and tribulations feel like your own. Then watching them grow and evolve throughout the book feels authentic. You’re not seeing them wake up one day with an epiphany and then their life is suddenly altered. They’re making the everyday mistakes and learning and changing through them. While the story was about Macy and forging her own path in life and finally living it, my favorite character was Wes, cute artistic, Wes. Their friendship was exciting to watch evolve and their time together playing truth was some of my favorite chapters.

Sarah Dessen is most definitely the queen of YA contemporary. And I can’t wait to dive into more of her work. What has been your favorite Dessen book?