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A review by magnafeana
This Is Forever by Natasha Madison
3.0
I loved it, I loved it, I loved it…until I didn’t
Justin and Caroline (and Dylan) deserved their happy ending for all the BS that happened to them.
Having said that, I don’t condone either of the MCs’ actions throughout this story.
So in this story, Justin (H) is a rich, attractive hockey player who (as the trope allows) has this huge family to back him up. Caroline (h) is a struggling mother to a great eight year old, and she repeatedly has OM drama as she lets her druggie baby daddy constantly in her life.
Long story short, rich guy meets poor girl, bulldozes his way to her life, and HEA.
So. The summary is out of the way. Onto the MCs’ actions and how much I (personally) disagree with them.
I will never say Caroline is a crap person. She really isn’t. But her mothering style makes me very concerned because she continues to let an abusive person near her son.
Many single parents have abusive ex-partners. Some of them tolerate the abuse on themselves, but if their child is harmed, they are ready to go. Others allow their partners to abuse their children.
I’m a little appalled Caroline cares so much for her child but consistently made bad choices about the father. And I wish this point was brought up more. Dylan does not deserve his things stolen and a lying drug addict around him. Even I would have questioned if Caroline is a fit mother exposing her child to this with some flimsy reasoning of “I just want him to have a positive connotation of his daddy”.
Onto our MMC Justin. I started having neutral, lukewarm feelings toward him when he kept pushing Caroline. Everyone acknowledged he was moving too fast. And he was! It was extremely a savior complex, even if he said he wasn’t. I hated that so much. I hated how he made all of Caroline’s choices and even if they had conversations, he did as he pleased.
I couldn’t get behind their romance because both MCs made so many irresponsible and disrespectful decisions.
From a literary device standpoint, the two epilogues and three time skips… Yeeeeeeeeah. Not to be critical, but my brow sort of puckered when I saw all that. Why not make two more chapters to show a lot more than is told and then an epilogue into the future?
Same to the info dumping. The first couple of pages were just that, info dumping. It would have been nice to see information shown throughout the series and instead of told. That, and I had a hard time following who said what, but maybe this a KU thing?
I love family series’s, but I also hate them because they don’t realize being so tight knit and crowding the “new kid” isn’t always the wisest thing to do.
I sort of wish Caroline had left. I forgot a lot of her ish because we got an info dump, but it makes no sense to me why she wasn’t on EBT/food stamps (since this is US-based?. Considering her work and she states she’s low income, this means she makes enough to qualify for government assistance of some degree.
This book always fruitfully reminded me of my privilege being sterile and I have PCOS and I have my IUD. Not to knock on anyone who accidentally becomes pregnant in unsavory circumstances, but having the “choice” to carry or not or to never carry? Priceless.
Overall 3.5 ⭐️ rounded down. From an objective standpoint, I understand the book’s popularity and draw. From a subjective point, I have my own feelings about it.
Justin and Caroline (and Dylan) deserved their happy ending for all the BS that happened to them.
Having said that, I don’t condone either of the MCs’ actions throughout this story.
So in this story, Justin (H) is a rich, attractive hockey player who (as the trope allows) has this huge family to back him up. Caroline (h) is a struggling mother to a great eight year old, and she repeatedly has OM drama as she lets her druggie baby daddy constantly in her life.
Long story short, rich guy meets poor girl, bulldozes his way to her life, and HEA.
So. The summary is out of the way. Onto the MCs’ actions and how much I (personally) disagree with them.
I will never say Caroline is a crap person. She really isn’t. But her mothering style makes me very concerned because she continues to let an abusive person near her son.
Many single parents have abusive ex-partners. Some of them tolerate the abuse on themselves, but if their child is harmed, they are ready to go. Others allow their partners to abuse their children.
I’m a little appalled Caroline cares so much for her child but consistently made bad choices about the father. And I wish this point was brought up more. Dylan does not deserve his things stolen and a lying drug addict around him. Even I would have questioned if Caroline is a fit mother exposing her child to this with some flimsy reasoning of “I just want him to have a positive connotation of his daddy”.
Onto our MMC Justin. I started having neutral, lukewarm feelings toward him when he kept pushing Caroline. Everyone acknowledged he was moving too fast. And he was! It was extremely a savior complex, even if he said he wasn’t. I hated that so much. I hated how he made all of Caroline’s choices and even if they had conversations, he did as he pleased.
I couldn’t get behind their romance because both MCs made so many irresponsible and disrespectful decisions.
From a literary device standpoint, the two epilogues and three time skips… Yeeeeeeeeah. Not to be critical, but my brow sort of puckered when I saw all that. Why not make two more chapters to show a lot more than is told and then an epilogue into the future?
Same to the info dumping. The first couple of pages were just that, info dumping. It would have been nice to see information shown throughout the series and instead of told. That, and I had a hard time following who said what, but maybe this a KU thing?
I love family series’s, but I also hate them because they don’t realize being so tight knit and crowding the “new kid” isn’t always the wisest thing to do.
I sort of wish Caroline had left. I forgot a lot of her ish because we got an info dump, but it makes no sense to me why she wasn’t on EBT/food stamps (since this is US-based?. Considering her work and she states she’s low income, this means she makes enough to qualify for government assistance of some degree.
This book always fruitfully reminded me of my privilege being sterile and I have PCOS and I have my IUD. Not to knock on anyone who accidentally becomes pregnant in unsavory circumstances, but having the “choice” to carry or not or to never carry? Priceless.
Overall 3.5 ⭐️ rounded down. From an objective standpoint, I understand the book’s popularity and draw. From a subjective point, I have my own feelings about it.