Published June 2012 by Speak
Paperback, 374 pages
Borrowed from library
Macy's boyfriend Jason is away for the summer at Brain Camp leaving Macy with little to do other than study for her SATs and all her other routine stuff. When catering company Wish is hired to serve Macy's mum's latest party, Macy gets caught up with their chaos and their messiness, a far departure from what she's used to - orderly and tidy. But the more she's with them, the more she finds herself enjoying the experience and becoming someone she's never known before with the help of a great supporting cast of characters!
So after reading a string of really great books that I really loved, I was left with the worst book hangover ever. I literally could not pick up a single book without thinking about the pure book heaven I was in a few days before. Every time, I would read a sentence and feel like it just wasn't up to par and put it down. So I really needed a book that I KNEW I would like. Enter The Truth About Forever. One of my favourite Sarah Dessen novels ever and the first one I'd ever read. A reread was loong overdue and I just knew that it would be the cure to my book hangover. And it was! I had no trouble at all falling back into step with this novel and it reminded once again why I loved Sarah Dessen in the first place.
WHAT I LIKED.
+ The cast of secondary characters.
Well-developed secondary characters for me is something that I can always expect to find in a Sarah Dessen novel. I love how she takes the story beyond the main characters and creates these interesting plot lines with the more minor characters. I think it adds a lot of dimension to the story and makes it just that much more fun to read through! And out of all the Sarah Dessen books I've read, I think The Truth About Forever has one of the best, if not THE BEST, cast of secondary characters. Everyone on the Wish Catering team was just so lovely and I loved how they were all so individual. I never had trouble telling any of them apart ever which happens a lot when you have so MANY characters like in this book. Everyone was just so well written and appeared so genuine. I think I would be happy reading a book centred around any one of the characters in this novel. From Kristy to Delia and even Jason, I thought I was really able to get a good sense of character from every person!
Two words: SO CUTE. Like honestly if I didn't ship Macy and Wes so hard, I would be thinking of stealing Wes for myself. Two really great and contrasting characters that just work so well. I feel like there doesn't even need to be an explanation for why Macy and Wes are a thing, they just ARE. They just work and if you don't think so... well, you can just talk to their hand. Seriously. I was basically dying of cuteness all throughout this book. Their shared scenes were the best and even though I'd already read this book and knew what was going to happen, I couldn't help but want to SCREAM at them to just kiss already. And after reading this, I think I want a Wes of my own. Like really badly.
+ Strong character development.
So that little paragraph was about the relationship between Macy and Wes and now I'm going to talk about just Macy. I think the reason why The Truth About Forever is one of my most favourite Dessen novels is because of the strong character development in Macy. Her transformation was really incredible and clear to see. She started out as this really huge perfectionist and she micro-managed every part of her day so that nothing changed. WAAAY different than Wish Catering which was why it was so interesting to see her loosen up as she got more and more involved with the catering company. And it was interesting to see how this change in attitude really bothered Macy's mother who's very much a perfectionist as well.
+ Great focus on family.
Family is one of my favourite things to see in books and I always really enjoy the strong focus Sarah Dessen has on family. I loved getting an inside look at Macy's family and the different ways she and her mother and sister dealt with the loss of her father. It's not something I can relate to but I really felt for them while I was reading this book and it made me so sad because while some of the characters had really unhealthy ways of dealing with the loss, at the end they were all just trying to get through each day.
This was such an adorable book and I'm so happy I picked it up again! As you can see, I didn't really have anything I disliked about the book which makes sense because this is one of my all-time favourite contemporaries! Everything was just so well-rounded and the characters were especially amazing! And if you've read this book, I have one word for you: WES.
people looking for a strong contemporary that'll leave you feeling all ooey and gooey inside.
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Judith @ Paper Riot gives it 3 and a half stars: "My only real issue with The Truth About Forever – but it may be Sarah Dessen’s writing style in general – is that there is a lot of telling."
Paola @ A Novel Idea gives it 4 and a half stars: "It made me smile, but it also made me think, and because of that I decided I was okay with the story being a bit predictable."
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