Plot:
Fresh off the heels of a devastating breakup, Riley Benson is a mess. But with her ingenious plan to become a ball-busting heartbreaker herself, she’s pretty sure she’ll survive. After all, what better way is there to get revenge than to move on?
Riley’s determined to become the perfect bachelorette—she’s going to drink like a bro, belch like a beast and swear so much that she’ll make even the most seasoned sailors blush. After all, those are the qualities that every guy’s secretly looking for…. aren’t they?
Max Fletcher is in love with the girl who gave him chicken pox and his first broken leg. When his best friend seems to finally be out of the picture, he can’t help but want to keep Riley all to himself. And, after coaching her with the very best of the very worst love advice, it seems as if he might actually get what he’s wanted after all those years. But just as the two come to the realization that they’re actually kind of perfect for each other, along comes a secret that threatens to tear them apart.
Review:
Before I even started reading this book, I saw that reviewers had been giving it very negative reviews, so I tried to go in with as open a mind as possible and to not let others’ opinions influence my own.
The characters in Since Forever Ago are very realistic. While some reviewers have called them whiny, immature and clueless, I think that these characters are very much a representation of at least a good portion of those in the “new adult” age range. As a 19-year-old college student myself, I thought that Riley and her roommates Liz and Audrey portrayed new adults in a fairly accurate way. College students are notorious for partying too much, drinking too much and being overly dramatic, and the characters of this book represent just that. While these traits don’t describe all college students, it does describe a decent percent of them.
Riley is no hero. She drinks too much, swears like a sailor, and generally doesn’t have any part of her life figured out. But no one is perfect, and not all characters are hero types. Not everyone can be a Hermione or a Katniss. Riley showcases real emotions and often acts before she thinks. Just because she isn’t the empowered heroine doesn’t make her a bad character. She is just flawed, as everyone is, but perhaps just a bit more.
This book does have a lot of swearing and a few sex scenes, if that bothers you. While this book definitely wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever read, I enjoyed it and thought it was very funny. I found the characters and the story easy to relate to, and it was a very fast read.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
