Title: All the Forever Things
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary - Tough Subjects
Author: Jolene Perry
Publisher: Albert Whitman
Publication: April 1st 2017
Cover Rating: 3/5
I wanted to start this review by saying that Jolene Perry is one of my favorite authors. I found her book, The Summer I Found You, on NetGalley and requested it. I got approved but ended up NOT reading the book because I fell behind with deadlines. So a few months later a friend read that very same book and told me what it was about and I decided I HAD to read it. So, I read it. And ever since then I haven't stopped reading her books. They are all hard hitting, quick reads that leave me emotional but they also have such a deeper meaning about how we as humans should be. So, yes, this review might be extremely biased. BUT the author won my heart fair and square.
All the Forever Things is unlike any book this author has written before. It still has the love story and the emotional turmoil but the characters felt a lot more real to me. I think I connected with this book more because it is centered around life and death and those are two things everyone has to deal with in this life whether we want to or not.
Gabe is the daughter of funeral directors. That sounds ring right? Well, they actually LIVE in the funeral home her parents direct in. It is a family business. So Gabe hasn't exactly had the best life because obviously people need to tease someone for being different. So Gabe has her best friend, Bree and that is about it. She does help her parents with the funeral stuff, as does Bree. I think the only thing I didn't really like about Gabe was the fact that she was way too timid. She pretty much hid behind her black clothes all because some dickhead called her Wednesday Addams.
And.... that dickhead ends up asking Bree out and Bree is all overjoyed and crap while Gabe just stands in the background wondering what she could have possibly done to warrant her best friend making google eyes at Bryce AKA, hottest guy at school AKA, douche-bag that called her Wednesday Addams and ruined a precious moment for her when she was younger.
Gabe cannot seem to let go of this grudge she holds against Bryce. Then again, Bryce wasn't earning any brownie points for growing up. He still teased Gabe and Bree just let it happen. That is exactly when I started HATING Bree and started calling Bryce a fuck-boy. Yep. It happened. I have officially used the term "fuck-boy" in a review. I get a medal for that, right?
Well since Bree got her man, what does Gabe get? Oh, don't you worry. Her present comes in the form of an extremely tall new guy that wears plaid and bowties and drives his dads car. Trust me, he is better than I make him sound. I promise! But you will have to read the book to see what I mean.
I truly loved this book beyond words. I really loved Gabe and Hartman. They were perfect. He definitely sounded like my kind of guy. You know... If I was still in high school. I would be all over that! Just kidding...or am i? Gabe was a little bit of a chicken though. Seeing all the dead people that come into her home and hearing about the ways people die, she has kind of become weird about everything. She doesn't want to drive and only trusts certain people to drive her. But that same fear is what has been holding her back from really living her life. A lot of us can relate to that, I bet.
If there was one thing to take away from this book it would be... the grass isn't always greener (or the coffin isn't always better) on the other side. You might think your family is icky or horrible or too protective but I bet there is someone you know who envies your life with your family. And then that person sees you as ungrateful even though in your eyes your parents really are horrible. Everyone views situations differently. No one ever sees the same thing or reacts the same way. This... this right here, is WHY the world is so imperfect. People believe the way they view life is the right way. It isn't the right way and it isn't the wrong way. We are all very different and need to learn to accept that and start listening more to other people. No, you don't have to change your view on life, but you do need to learn to see things from other perspectives in order to understand how to be a better person.
By the end of the book I was left with a beehive of emotions and I just kept saying "Oh no she didn't!!" about the major plot point at the end. I knew something bad was going to happen. I mean come on, something bad HAS GOT TO HAPPEN, right? Yup, I was right. Just not exactly what I was expecting or, more like, WHO I was expecting.
Overall, I have the book 5/5 stars.
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