THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER BY SARAH DESSEN

(I said I'd not write reviews without telling you I'd started a book, so I'm sorry, but I read this book rather speedily on the weekend - started Saturday night, finished Sunday night - so I need to quickly review it because I'm speeding through my next book! I'll write a more topical entry soon, I've got a few ideas...)

The Truth About Forever is the story of Macy Queen. She's about to start her last year of school, but before then she's got 8 weeks of summer to get through. And it's eight weeks without her perfect boyfriend Jason, who is super-smart and very goal-oriented. But Macy's got an even bigger problem: dealing with the shock death of her father. Macy is pretending she's fine, but it takes meeting new friends and a heartbreaking email from Jason for her to realise that she's not actually fine, and that no matter how hard she tries she'll never be perfect. And the most important contributing factor to her realisation is Wes, Jason's polar opposite and exactly what Macy needs.

Sarah Dessen is clever. She knows what teenage girls dream about (boys, being perfect and a happy life) and what they struggle with (boys, impossible standards and family problems) and she's managed to turn her knowledge into a book with a likeable, realistic protagonist. I think that's why books like this do so well: girls have problems, and they wish the solutions to their problems were as romantic/easy/exciting as the solutions in books like this one.

This book is, really and truly, cute. Wes and Macy play a game together that is really quite gorgeous, and there are moments in the book that just make you say 'awwwwwwwwwwwww...'. Again, Sarah Dessen is playing on the desires of girls to have amazing encounters like that in real life in order to appeal to her market. And it works. I found the book very likeable and easy to read.

The best thing is that, despite the book being teenage chick lit, the characters are really not 2-dimensional or predictable. Macy is slightly cliched, but her new friends have really interesting back stories and they are nicely flawed, giving the book a certain maturity.

All in all, a really nice read, and very easy. It's not challenging or particularly deep, but it's sweet and it was a great antidote to both Wuthering Heights and The Piper's Son

Butterflies: 7.5 out of 10
Recommended for: girls over 14. (Or boys, if you want to pick up some tips on how to impress girls! Seriously, this book is full of them.)
Warnings: very very minimal swearing