A review by thevillainschronicles
Always Forever Maybe, by Anica Mrose Rissi
"I couldn't think about fear, pain, hurt, guilt, sadness, anger or love, couldn't allow myself to feel any of it. Because if I felt any of that, I risked also feeling the horrible, unwelcome, and unspeakable thing that had snaked beneath it the moment he'd turned away: relief."
DISCLAIMER: as someone who's personally encountered emotional/ physical abuse, I will not be an objective, critical reviewer in this critic.
FOR FANS OF GIRL MADE OF STARS AND IT ENDS WITH US:
Always, Forever, Maybe is about this 17-year-old bored teenage girl who's always been pampered and protected by her controlling family her entire life. She can't do anything but school-work-home without her parents knowing. That is, until, one day at her job, she encounters charming Aiden who simply sweeps her off her feet. They fall hopelessly in love, but things are going a little to fast. And they might be spending too much time together. And maybe Aiden doesn't like to see Bee with other boys. Or with her best friend. Or with her family. Soon, their love turns into obsession, but Bee still believes that Aiden is the greatest thing that happens to her, even if he puts her in danger. How will be Bee finally realize that her relationship isn't as perfect as it seems?
I found this book in the 'new releases' section and never heard of it. I thought the idea of this book interesting as it seems to be a crossover between Girl Made Of Stars and It Ends With Us but for teens. Since the rise of bad boy books on wattpad and in paperback, I felt like our generation was taking a real step backwards with romance. I often find myself disagreeing with the main romance in YA, finding it obsessive, and unhealthy. I thought this book will set things straight in the YA BadBoy genre. I think it did.
I think the romance really begins as something nice anyone could envy, and slowly grows into something darker and more unhealthy. I like the fact that it wasn't abusive from the beginning and that we got to see the good side of their relationship, so we could understand why Bee stayed in this relationship. I think that's something a lot of books about abuse can't seem to do properly. They seem to antagonize the abuser way too much and make the abused a weak, needy thing. I personally believe it's morally grey and we need more morally grey books about that kind of stuff.
However, Always Forever Maybe still has a long way to go. I think up until the half of the book, this was a 5/5 stars read, but then the characters seemed to become more stereotypical and it became kind of difficult to side with the main character and go through the same heartache as she did. I also think this book lacked character development, I thought it was going to come by the end of the book maybe (we like to get to know our character through the book) but it didn't come. I think the most important thing about emotional and physical abuse is how the mind believes what's happening is okay, which has to do with family, mostly and how we were raised. The way our parents valorise us can make us a victim or an abuser. We only believe that this kind of relationship is what we deserve if we grew up believing it.
Like I said, this review is based on personal experiences and observations, but I would recommend this book if you're looking for a deeper contemporary for your summer to jazz up a little.
DISCLAIMER: as someone who's personally encountered emotional/ physical abuse, I will not be an objective, critical reviewer in this critic.
FOR FANS OF GIRL MADE OF STARS AND IT ENDS WITH US:
Always, Forever, Maybe is about this 17-year-old bored teenage girl who's always been pampered and protected by her controlling family her entire life. She can't do anything but school-work-home without her parents knowing. That is, until, one day at her job, she encounters charming Aiden who simply sweeps her off her feet. They fall hopelessly in love, but things are going a little to fast. And they might be spending too much time together. And maybe Aiden doesn't like to see Bee with other boys. Or with her best friend. Or with her family. Soon, their love turns into obsession, but Bee still believes that Aiden is the greatest thing that happens to her, even if he puts her in danger. How will be Bee finally realize that her relationship isn't as perfect as it seems?
I found this book in the 'new releases' section and never heard of it. I thought the idea of this book interesting as it seems to be a crossover between Girl Made Of Stars and It Ends With Us but for teens. Since the rise of bad boy books on wattpad and in paperback, I felt like our generation was taking a real step backwards with romance. I often find myself disagreeing with the main romance in YA, finding it obsessive, and unhealthy. I thought this book will set things straight in the YA BadBoy genre. I think it did.
I think the romance really begins as something nice anyone could envy, and slowly grows into something darker and more unhealthy. I like the fact that it wasn't abusive from the beginning and that we got to see the good side of their relationship, so we could understand why Bee stayed in this relationship. I think that's something a lot of books about abuse can't seem to do properly. They seem to antagonize the abuser way too much and make the abused a weak, needy thing. I personally believe it's morally grey and we need more morally grey books about that kind of stuff.
However, Always Forever Maybe still has a long way to go. I think up until the half of the book, this was a 5/5 stars read, but then the characters seemed to become more stereotypical and it became kind of difficult to side with the main character and go through the same heartache as she did. I also think this book lacked character development, I thought it was going to come by the end of the book maybe (we like to get to know our character through the book) but it didn't come. I think the most important thing about emotional and physical abuse is how the mind believes what's happening is okay, which has to do with family, mostly and how we were raised. The way our parents valorise us can make us a victim or an abuser. We only believe that this kind of relationship is what we deserve if we grew up believing it.
Like I said, this review is based on personal experiences and observations, but I would recommend this book if you're looking for a deeper contemporary for your summer to jazz up a little.