Ever,

These letters are often all that get me through week to week. Even if it’s just random stuff, nothing important, they’re important to me. Gramps is great, and I love working on the ranch. But…I’m lonely. I feel disconnected, like I’m no one, like I don’t belong anywhere. Like I’m just here until something else happens. I don’t even know what I want with my future. But your letters, they make me feel connected to something, to someone. I had a crush on you, when we first met. I thought you were beautiful. So beautiful. It was hard to think of anything else. Then camp ended and we never got together, and now all I have of you is these letters. S**t. I just told you I have a crush on you. HAD. Had a crush. Not sure what is anymore. A letter-crush? A literary love? That’s stupid. Sorry. I just have this rule with myself that I never throw away what I write and I always send it, so hopefully this doesn’t weird you out too much. I had a dream about you too. Same kind of thing. Us, in the darkness, together. Just us. And it was like you said, a memory turned into a dream, but a memory of something that’s never happened, but in the dream it felt so real, and it was more, I don’t even know, more RIGHT than anything I’ve ever felt, in life or in dreams. I wonder what it means that we both had the same dream about each other. Maybe nothing, maybe everything. You tell me.

Cade

~ ~ ~ ~

Cade,

We’re pen pals. Maybe that’s all we’ll ever be. I don’t know. If we met IRL (in real life, in case you’re not familiar with the term) what would happen? And just FYI, the term you used, a literary love? It was beautiful. So beautiful. That term means something, between us now. We are literary loves. Lovers? I do love you, in some strange way. Knowing about you, in these letters, knowing your hurt and your joys, it means something so important to me, that I just can’t describe. I need your art, and your letters, and your literary love. If we never have anything else between us, I need this. I do. Maybe this letter will only complicate things, but like you I have a rule that I never erase or throw away what I’ve written and I always send it, no matter what I write in the letter. 

Your literary love,

Ever

1. This book will be read in one sitting 
2. From page one a rollercoaster of emotions will whip you from sad to happy to hope to well…just about every emotion in between. 
3. Stop by your local super store and pick up a case of tissues. 
4. You may or may not dislike Mrs. Wilder for about 24 hours (or more). 
5. You will long for the simple beauty of the written word. The lost of pen pal friends and the simple joy that a stamped square envelope can bring. 

Extraordinary! This is the one word that will sum up Forever and Always for me.

“That summer we met, Interlochen. The lake. Drawing all day. Sitting on the dock together. It was the last day of my childhood, I think. The last happy days of my life.”

Beautifully painful, this story paints a picture of love, uncertainly, growth, and the strength to live life no matter where it may lead. Ever and Cade meet as children and although their time was limited it bonded them forever. Pen to paper, they both created a connection stronger then either of them thought possible.

They both become each others life line…

“It really was a drug. The more I got, the more I needed. And I didn’t know where the endpoint was. I was afraid I’d reached the event horizon, the point from which I’d never escape the inexorable gravity of needing him.”

Just as the strokes of a painting or sketched lines of a drawing, life will never be predictable. The beauty of existence is that in a moment, a split second, the unbearable can and will happen. Forever altering the reality we thought we knew.

“I also knew I’d never be the same. I felt the scars on my heart and in my mind. I’d been cut deep and the wounds would never really heal… I’d been painted by pain. Several coats of it, a deep, thick varnish that wouldn’t ever fade.”

This book, really this series, is a game changer. Jasinda writes exquisite stories that overwhelm the reader, pulling them into a world of emotions. I find it hard to explain what this book is all about. Simply put my words will never do justice explaining why you need to read Forever and Always. Read! This! Book! If you are already a Wilder fan or if this is the first book of hers you pick up know that you are promised no less then a wild ride of pure literary genius.

Ever,
I don’t know who I am anymore. I’m a castaway. Lost. Drowning. I love you. That’s the only true thing I know, and it’s all I have to hold on to. I love you. I’ll love you forever. Until the day I die, and I’ll love you in whatever world comes after this one. I love you so much, Ever. I miss you. Dear Jesus, I miss you. Come back to me.
For forever, and after forever,
Caden

Forever and Always rocked me to my core. When Jasinda told the masses that she was releasing book one and two of this trilogy back to back I was hesitant. If the author is willing to state upfront that this book will wreck you then you may want to take notice. Cracking open After Forever I was a mess. How could I piece myself together to continue Ever and Cades story? I am unsure of how I did but it happened and now I wait for book three…

A spoiler free review is complicated for After Forever. The twist in this book is earth shattering. Up until the last words I was jaw dropped (and I still am). I felt the twist. I did! The words flowed and I keep giving myself a mental pep talk…Will it? NO! Really? REALLY? Well it did and I will say I am still on the fence about my feelings. I keep looking at the big picture and I am emotionally mapping out book three in my head. I know what I want but one very wicked Wilder may have other plans.

Jasinda Wilder writes one hell of a story! You may love or hate her but you can not deny the basic fact that her stories provoke emotions. So my lack of a review is the best review I can produce. As I, not so patiently, wait for February 14th I hope you pick up the first two books of the trilogy and hop on the emotional rollercoaster with me!