The Problem with Forever (Harlequin Teen)

I’ve been on the outs with JLA’s books since the final Lux book let me down. I felt as though I was reading the same story over and over again with different characters. That’s one of the reasons I decided to wait on reading The Problem with Forever, I didn’t want to be let down again by one of my favorite authors. What a surprise I was in for when reading this amazing novel. The story feels real and compelling, and it left me feeling joy when I finally closed the book. Well done JLA for making yet another amazing story.Mallory Dodge came from an abusive household where the only bright light during those first thirteen years was Rider Stark. Rider would protect her during those dark times and tell her to “not make a sound.” After an accident that leads both Rider and Mallory out of that terrible home, they became separated for four years. In that time Mallory was adopted by an amazing family of doctors who has worked with her to help her find her voice again. When TPWF starts we are meeting Mallory when she is a senior in high school and instead of being homeschooled for her final year before college, she wants to attend a regular high school. Her last class of the day; Speech class (every kid everywhere’s worst nightmare) is where she sees Rider again.TPWF was a beautiful story. Mallory, Rider, Hector, Ainsley, Jayden, Paige, Kiera, and Mallory’s parents all made for an amazing cast of characters. I loved how they all had an important role in this story and didn’t just become background noise to Rider and Mallory’s relationship. JLA has always done a good job making the secondary characters feel as important as the main characters, and this story is no different.Mallory was a character I enjoyed from the very beginning. She is going through a lot, she doesn’t talk much, and she wants to go to high school as a senior. Even though a lot of the times she thought she was weak, going to a new school in your senior year talks a lot of guts. Mallory worries over typical school-related things like “where am I going to sit at lunch?” and “will I make any friends?” Typical stuff that made Mallory and this story feel more real. Mallory’s character was just great. She struggles, a lot, and struggles some more. Not a lot of things are easy for her and while she struggles she doesn’t give up. Her strength was admirable and I loved how even with Rider she chooses what’s best for her. I can go on about how I enjoyed Mallory’s character, especially with her parent's role in this story. They were amazing characters and Mallory goes through a lot of drama with them.Now there’s Rider. Honestly, he hasn’t been my favorite male lead to a date. I did like him a lot though. I mean JLA has written some very amazing male leads and while Rider was amazing he wasn’t my favorite. Rider at the beginning of the story has a girlfriend and friends, and a job. He sees Mallory “Mouse” as he calls her and everything for him changes a bit. He sees his best friend and always a beautiful girl that he’s always loved and wants her to be apart of his life again. There was a lot of stuff going on with Rider and he struggled just as much as Mallory which I liked for a couple reasons. Mallory realized she all she wanted was to be there for Rider like he was there for her, and he wasn’t her white knight. Often times in stories where a character has a traumatic past the guy swoops in and saves the day, Rider couldn’t really do that for Mallory and I liked that aspect of the story that they both saved each other.Onto the secondary characters. I want to start with Paige for a couple reasons. First, Paige was Rider’s girlfriend throughout the book and had been apart of his life for a couple years. I like that she wasn’t just some mean girl popular bully out to make Mallory’s life miserable. She had a story and she wanted her boyfriend. It makes sense she wouldn’t like Mallory because she was seemingly trying to steal her boyfriend and no girl is going to be nice about that. Hector and Jayden added a lot of diversity to this story which I enjoyed too. Not that Rider didn’t as well, but they spoke Puerto Rican and they were super cute and crucial to the story. I always love when diversity is in stories because it seems like sometimes authors write only white worlds. Then there’s Ainsley who was such a great friend. I liked her a whole bunch and liked how she was going through her own stuff but was still herself and was still there for Mallory when she needed her. Plus bringing awareness to what is going on with the actual author's eyes was a nice touch.Honestly, I can go on and on about how amazing this book is. The book covers mental health in a way that’s realistic and as a psychologist, I loved that. For Mallory a lot of times when people come out of a situation like hers people want them to just move on, or they think everyone else is doing fine so why can’t they just snap out of it. I love how Mallory feels like this and struggles with the knowledge that yeah she came from a bad place, but only she can control how she reacts to that, and that it will take time to get her to where she wants to be. Similar to Rider. I think a lot of people expect boys and men to shrug off their trauma and that’s what Rider tries to do as well. I like that he wasn’t unaffected by what happened to him and that it was affecting him like it was affecting Mallory.Well, this review turned out to be quite long so I will just say I enjoyed the story a lot. For more details read the rest of the review. lol

I jointly reviewed this with my co-blogger, Becca!“Forever was something we all took for granted, but the problem with forever was that it really didn't exist.”THE STORY:Lisa : After suffering with a traumatic childhood, Mallory is now in the care of two trusted, supportive and loving parents. She's attempting her senior year in a public school after being home-schooled for many years, yet it's not the easy task since she's still struggling with the after-affects of the abuse. On the very first day, Mallory runs into Rider, the sole good memory she has of those horrible years in foster care hell. The connection with Rider is instant... as if they had never been apart. Rider is also struggling with issues from his past, and he's on a vicious spiral downward. Mallory's habit of staying mute is being tortured as she struggles with the decision to stay silent or speak out and try to save her friend, the only person who stuck by her during those bad years. As you can tell... lots of feels in this story. Two struggled teens who spent a horrible time together, now reunited, and both still dealing with overcoming the trauma they both suffered.Becca : I couldn't have said it better myself Lisa!! Both Mallory and Rider endured such a traumatic childhood. A decade of their childhood was spent being neglected and abused and the only thing they had to get through it was each other. Just the concept alone gave me all kinds of feels for these two characters.THE CHARACTERS:Becca : The Problem with Forever begins on Mallory's first day of high school and is told from her POV. Mallory can speak, but chooses to be mostly mute out of fear because of her childhood. It is not that she doesn't want to talk, it's that she freezes in fear and cannot force words out. My heart broke for Mallory, after years of abuse as a child she is adopted by a loving family and even after years of therapy is still trying to put the pieces together. When she sees Rider at her new school, it is both good because he was her lifeline as a child and bad because it brings back so many unwanted and repressed memories.Rider appears to have it all together, as if he has worked through every issue from his childhood. After a year in a group home, he was placed in a foster home where he gains two almost brother Hector and Jayden. It is not in the nice part of town and he is still labeled as "trouble" but he is safe a fed there.I loved the relationship between Rider and Mallory, it was so warm and comforting at first and then slowly turned to more. I really enjoyed the slow burn of the build up. Experiencing the stories of their childhood was so hard, after all they had went through I could fully understand their connection. I also fall big time for the "second chance romance" trope, it gets me every time!The secondary characters in this book were awesome too! Mallory's adoptive parents were so amazing and very important parts. I love a book where the parents are active in their child's life. Her best friend Ainsley was so fun and totally cool! Also Rider's BFF Hector was pretty awesome, and his little brother Jayden was so funny! Even Paige, Rider's ex was a good addition because I loved to hate her!Jennifer Armentrout did an amazing job of building these characters and helping them grow. There were times I was mad at Mallory for being so scared and afraid, but in the end it struck me as being all part of her journey. As for Rider, because of his mask of indifference he is perceived as being fine and I loved how his growth became a huge part of the book too.Lisa : This had the second-chance romance feel that I adore so much. These two experienced such torture together at a very young age, then they lose contact for quite a while, only to come back together again in high school. One of my favorite romance tropes, and I loved every minute of it.I completely agree with Becca... these secondary characters were incredible. Seeing Mallory finally get the comforting and loving family she always deserved was wonderful. I also liked the addition of Paige, Rider's ex, who had the whole mean-girl vibe going on. She was very jealous by the undeniable connection between Mallory and Rider, and honestly, what teenager wouldn't be? These characters all came together beautifully to tell a wonderful story.“I'm here. You’re safe, Mouse. And I know you might not believe it, but I’m going to keep you safe forever.”TO SUM UP:Lisa : Another hit from JLA! I was so excited to see her venture into the YA genre, and I'm delighted to say it was a total hit! I'm forever loving her writing, addicted to her stories and characters, and always wanting more. I truly hope JLA writes more in this genre as it really hit the spot for me.Becca : There is a reason JLA always has me coming back for more, she builds real characters, real emotions and makes my heart hurt and then swoon all at the same time. I know some say that the "quiet girl and broken guy" thing has been done before, but I happen to love it and probably always will! Not many can make that "cliche" work quite like JLA :) If you are a JLA fan then I highly recommend this one!! I really enjoyed this book and I hope that there will be more in this series... like maybe an Ainsley and Hector story??!! That would be EPIC!

Exactly what my daughter wanted

This book was so good the end had me in tears. The character growth in this book was real. 10/10 highly recommend

I am not too proud to admit that I love teen romance. This book was no exception. It tugged on my heartstrings. I really felt for Mallory while reading this book and got emotional when she overcame various obstacles. The chemistry between her and Ryder was so well written that it made my heart flutter.Ryder probably irritated me more in places than he should have. I really sympathised with Mallory while I was reading. The side characters were some of my favourite bits and I wish they were more prominent throughout the story, I think they were still fleshed out enough as it was. I would have liked for more of a relationship between Hector and Ainsley though.The only thing that irritated me about this book is that it ended. Probably not what I'd call a lighthearted read, but definitely worth reading in my opinion.

Things I loved- Childhood friends to lovers trope- Mallory as the mc was one of my favourites. I love how raw & honest she was. She doesn’t stew on info like most young female characters in romances. She just says it how it is- The depiction of PTSD felt so real & really well done- All things Rider - my new fave book bf- Hector - I NEED a book about him- JLA’s writing style is very easy to get on with. She’s fast becoming an auto buy author for me & I’m grateful she has a huge back catalogue for me to catch up on!!Things I struggled with:- I can’t really think of anything. It was just such an intensely wonderful book to read

Thanks to net gallery i got to read this early.The problem with forever was a magic of a contemporary, from the first page i was drawn into the life of Mallory. Mallory had a hard life with not only mental abuse but physical, her only friend was Rider who lived with her and was her protector. As it mainly set four years later we do see flashbacks of Mallory's past. Now Mallory is adopted by a couple of doctors who saved her when she was burnt. Now she is headed to high school, after being home-schooled since getting out of the abuse she suffered. Rider is bored of school so he is happy when he and Mallory find each other again, he has his set of problems as he normally had more of the abuse. The romance is not at the forefront so no immediate getting together as their are many obstacles, Mallory and Rider have to face not only together but on their own. My thoughts that until last year i never read any Jennifer L Armentrout books, (the Lux series) but i much love her contemporary's, as you can feel the characters come off the page. To me can't say anything bad about this book as for me it ticked all the boxes.5/5

I’ve never read anything by Jennifer L Armentrout before but after just a few chapters of The Problem with Forever I began to realise that maybe I should have. Her writing is absolutely lovely to read and she portrays emotions so well, right from the start I could feel Mallory’s pain and anxiety pouring off the pages.The story itself is actually very touching. Trying to fit into normal high school society when you struggle to speak and experience anxiety is somewhat of a challenge and Jennifer writes this so well. As a slightly older YA reader I tend to avoid high school settings because they’re sometimes a little young for me and the drama is typically a bit dull, however this is completely different here. We manage to avoid most of the stereotypical high school themes and focus just on Mallory and her journey.Pretty quickly Mallory bumps into a familiar face at her new school. Rider Stark was another child who grew up in the same horrible foster home that she did. When they were kids he used to try and protect her and now suddenly they’re reunited after years apart. What sparks between them is not only the rekindling of a deep friendship but also the first embers of something more and we’re treated to a genuine and sweet romance between the two.The romance isn’t completely faultless though. Initially Rider has a girlfriend, Paige, who treats Mallory coldly because she’s jealous of their history and bond. I did feel pretty bad for Paige because she clearly cares for Rider very much and Mallory’s arrival only seems to bring her heartbreak. She’s painted as a bit of a bully, the typical ‘mean girl’ at school, but underneath that I think she’s just a girl dealing with the pain of losing someone she loved.All of the characters in this were surprisingly likable and individual. They all had their own issues to deal with but there wasn’t too much focus on side-plots which helped the story stay focussed on Mallory. I really loved Jayden, a young boy caught up in the wrong things because he’s trying to do the right thing. He was so cute and witty. Such great characters across the whole book really helped to flesh out the story and make it feel real and genuine.The book was perhaps a little slow in the middle but the detailed insight into Mallory’s struggles and how she dealt with her personal issues was so touching and inspiring that the pacing didn’t bother me too much. By the end I was completely sold on this book and would easily recommend it. There is a brief epilogue, it was a little bit of a let-down in some respects as I was hoping for a bit of a glimpse into their futures but I still enjoyed the book a great deal.

There is nothing to dislike about this book.The plot is immaculate, the characters are all lovable in there own way and the lessons it teaches will stick with me.Mallory and Rider’s relationship is so beautiful and natural. The way they support and understand- SLAY!!!They went from being each-others everything, to kinda strangers to being each-others everything again and it was lovely to read. I loved the slow burn😫✨Coming from a similar background- I really loved reading a book that showed that the healing process for past trauma isn’t easy and that the past is always with you.This book deals with love, loss, gang violence (kinda) and grief (all brilliantly written) and how everyone still manages to deal in their own ways. I honestly have nothing bad to say 10/5 stars, so many pages were tabbed in this book I simply love Jennifer armentrout’s writing.