Anica Mrose Rissi

A powerful YA debut, told with astonishing insight and wit, about the depths and boundaries of true friendship and obsessive teenage love—perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, E. Lockhart, and Sara Zarr. When Betts meets Aiden at the candy store where she works, their connection is like a sugar rush to the heart. Betts already knows the two of them are infinite. Inevitable. Destined to become an us. Betts has only ever kept one secret from her best friend, Jo, but suddenly there’s a long list of things she won’t tell her, things Jo wouldn’t understand. Because Jo doesn’t see how good Aiden is for Betts. She finds him needy. Possessive. Controlling. She’s wrong. With a love like this, nothing else matters.

Always Forever Maybe

Raven K

Amanda Kordeliski

An excellent read about how a teenage girl finds herself in an abusive relationship. When Betts meets Aiden he makes her feel like the world revolves around their relationship. Slowly alienating her from her friends and family, Aiden is controlling, possessive and ultimately abusive. If not for the determination of her friends, Betts would have found herself completely alone and unlikely to ask for help. The relationship is realistic in the escalation of abuse, jealousy and gaslighting Aiden does to make sure Betts can only turn to him when she needs something. The dramatic ending of the relationship and the guilt Betts feels over the accident is a little contrived, but I liked that she came to a healthy conclusion by herself. Her best friend Jo is such a strong and influential character, it really highlights how alone someone can feel if they are in a relationship like Betts and Aiden and don't have such a strong and determined friend. Highly recommend for high school collections.

Sophia De La Garza

~ 3.5 Stars 
~ Trigger Warning:: Abusive relationship
 
~ starts off like a cheesy stereotypical romance featuring the bad boy in a leather jacket riding a motorcycle and the good girl who’s never spontaneous Honestly would still read it if it was just this but hey it came with a toxic twist. 

~Could have been executed in a more elaborate and detailed way, however still got the message across . . .kind of. Everything was rushed from the relationship to self-dwindling aspects to the outcome. If slowed down, I feel like the author could have elaborated a lot more of the aspects of an abusive relationship and how the couple and the people they love start to feel the effects of what is occurring. The writing was okay not mind blowing but with more works and slower pacing, I feel as though the author to become a well-established contemporary writer 

~ I only really like Jo the side-character and would be interested in a story about her and her relationships, both Aiden and Bee felt one dimensional and I only cared for Bee when she began to realize how bad her situation had become. 

~ Aiden can just go away and never be found 

~ Kinda want a sequel/epilogue to elaborate more about the ending since it was a bit vague and wrapped up a little too quickly for my liking

~But give me a book about Jo (with mention of Bee I suppose) any day and I'll be perfectly content

Always Forever Maybe

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