Review: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Title: The Truth About Forever
Author: Sarah Dessen
My rating: 4.5 hearts
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release date: May 11th, 2004
Publisher: Penguin Group Inc.
Summary: A long, hot summer...

That's what Macy has to look forward to while her boyfriend, Jason, is away at Brain Camp. Days will be spent at a boring job in the library, evenings will be filled with vocabulary drills for the SATs, and spare time will be passed with her mother, the two of them sharing a silent grief at the traumatic loss of Macy's father.

But sometimes, unexpected things can happen—things such as the catering job at Wish, with its fun-loving, chaotic crew. Or her sister's project of renovating the neglected beach house, awakening long-buried memories. Things such as meeting Wes, a boy with a past, a taste for Truth-telling, and an amazing artistic talent, the kind of boy who could turn any girl's world upside down. As Macy ventures out of her shell, she begins to question her sheltered life.

Is it really always better to be safe than sorry? (summary from Goodreads)

My thoughts: After Macy’s father died, she’s always tried to be perfect. She did everything her mother wanted, tried to be perfect and live up to her boyfriend’s, Jason’s, expectations of her, which is why she’s going to spend her summer working at the library and studying. She can’t show people how she’s still trying to deal with her father’s death. She keeps all her feelings bottled up, never really talks to anyone.

   Her boyfriend, Jason, is an idiot. So I get that he’s not the sentimental type, or anything, but he almost seems completely emotionless. More than once I wanted to just go inside the book and shake some sense into him – or maybe strangle him. Possibly both.

   Macy’s mother is a workaholic, and expects Macy to be perfect. Macy’s sister was out a lot when she was a teenager, and now she’s married. She tries to help Macy and Deborah (their mother), but she’s so focused on her job. She has as little of a life as Macy in the beginning of the book.

   I liked Macy, though. Most of the time. Sure, she made some terrible decisions sometimes, but everyone makes mistakes. No one’s perfect. I can forgive her for her mistakes.

   In the beginning, I was a little annoyed with her, but then when she met Delia and started working for Wish, we got to know her better, and understood why she thought what she thought, why she acted the way she acted. Suddenly, she started making sense. She got a life. She got some friends. She started becoming happy.

   Most importantly, she started getting to know Wes. Wes isn’t perfect, either. He has a past. Wes is a nice guy. He tries to take care of his brother, Bert. He’s an artist, and makes sculptures. Macy finds him easy to talk to. And he’s hot. And he makes girls weak in the knees.

   Wes is a very easy guy to like. He’s sweet. He’s nice. He’s a good friend and a good brother. He’s the kind of guy everyone would want to be friends with (and possibly more).

   What I like about Wes is that he doesn’t follow the pattern of love interests. Like most love interests in YA novels today, he isn’t sarcastic, smart-ass, bad boy, and he’s not an ass to the main protagonist and everyone else. So far, I’ve found very few books with a guy who is genuinely nice. This is rare, and I really appreciated the change. Sure, he wasn’t perfect, and he didn’t have a perfect past, but he was just nice. And I’m starting to repeat the same thing over again, so moving on.

   The characters weren’t the only thing I liked about The Truth About Forever – and let’s just say that the title really makes sense. The writing is good, the plot is coherent and easy to follow, and fun, and capturing, and relatable. And I loved the message, about how no one is perfect and that it’s okay to have flaws, it doesn’t make you a terrible human being. It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to not be great at everything. The only problem was that at times, the plot got a little prolonged and boring, but otherwise, a great read. If your looking for a light summer-read, then you should definitely try this out.