Lexa Hillyer

Wendy Wunder calls Proof of Forever, “The Sisterhood of the (Time) Traveling Pants for a new generation!” Elegant and evocative, and now in paperback, Proof of Forever is one of those novels that hooks from the beginning and builds toward a stunning—and unexpected—end, calling to mind Gayle Forman and Ann Brashares. From author and poet Lexa Hillyer comes the lyrical story of four seventeen-year-old friends who receive an unlikely chance to relive the perfect summer…and the devastating secret that could unravel it all. Joy, Tali, Luce, and Zoe were once best friends. Now they barely speak. That is, until the fateful flash of a photo-booth camera transports them back in time, to the summer they were fifteen—the summer everything changed. Photos fade. Friendships dissolve. Summers end. But this one will change the girls forever…again.

Proof of Forever

Sofie

Lots of mediocre books I'm reading this year...

I don't really know where to start with this book. I usually love time travel, parallel reality type novels, and I definitely liked the concept and setting of Proof of Forever, but there was something I just didn't like about the book overall.

Lets break it down.

Characters:

I lOVE that all four girls were district from one another, complex. So often, you read books where the female characters are interchangeable, have no defined personality or purpose. That was nOT the case with this book. With the exception of Joy, I loved the girls. 

I'll mention that I wasn't a fan of Joy because of one particular moment in the novel, (view spoiler)[ when she threw the tiara into the lake. I understand why she may have wanted to stay in the past and relive the last 2 years, but I found this move incredibly selfish  (hide spoiler)]

Setting:

I can picture the camp so clearly in my head. Beautiful.

However, as a long-time camper and counsellor at a camp of my own, I was INCREDIBLY bothered by the set up. Look, I get that there needs to be some sneaking around and whatnot for anything exciting (and scandalous) to happen to the girls, but this was just... illogical.

First, there's no way the girls could have access to the lake without supervision. Not only is it irresponsible of camp staff, but it's literally dangerous. It's a liability. At my camp, we assign campers "buddy numbers", so that, when they sign up for activities, every camper is accounted for. There's no skipping meals (everyone heads down together), sneaking off to a waterfall and having sex (just... how?), finding a private area of the water to swim in... Maybe i'm nitpicking, but if a camp operated like this, they would be shut down. 

Do I think people don't find ways to get into trouble, even at my camp? No way. But life-threatening situations are not taken lightly, and shouldn't be in the novel just for the sake of plot.

The boys:

Loved them all, honestly. Found Andrew sweet but a bit boring. Loved Ryder, loved Shane (though he was incredibly problematic for reasons I'm sure you can gather. (view spoiler)[ While what transgressed between him and Tali was set up adorably, I can't get past the fact that a counsellor did that with a camper... Maybe I'm biased, but it's incredibly inappropriate. I'm glad Hillyer at least mentioned the risks in the novel, but that didn't stop them from acting on it, and it should have. By the end of the novel, the relationship was cute, but at camp, I cringed. If a counsellor is looking at campers that way (typical camper cut off age is 16), then there's an issue.  (hide spoiler)]

Wring me out if you want, I know I'm getting caught up in technicalities based on my experience at camp, but I couldn't get past it. The whole novel, the girls are doing things that would be impossible at any real camp. It's sic-fi, I get it, but, if Hillyer is insisting these sorts of things are a normal occurrence, then there should have been more at stake. I didn't feel the girls ever thought twice about their actions. 

As for the ending, it was cliche and I hated it. No spoiler but... saw it coming a mile away.

Cortnie

I knew that ending was coming but it wrecked me anyway. ESPECIALLY THE LAST LINE. :(

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

3.5 stars!

Proof of Forever is a unique twist on your typical summer camp, second romance type of beach read. These just happen to be one of my very favorite types of books to read, so this was one I wasn’t going to miss. The uniqueness of this story took me a bit by surprise… but it was a good surprise, and one that kept me pretty interested.

Luce, Joy, Tali and Zoe were the best of friends up until a summer they spent in camp together. After that summer, the group of friends completely drifted after Joy walked away from the friendship without any explanation. The girls are all living their own lives, but Joy is still torn up about the loss of these friendships and decides to call together somewhat of a reunion with the girls. When they all pile into a photo booth to take a group shot, they are teleported back to that very summer when they were 15 years old and their friendships dissolved. Now that they’re back at that summer camp, each girl has the opportunity to relive that week that forever changed their lives. Each girl learns a lot during this second chance week, a lot of life lessons that will touch your heart. I wasn’t sure how this story was going to end, but I was satisfied with its bittersweet conclusion.

I have to admit the story was a bit slow at times, in the beginning particularly. And I had trouble liking some of the characters, especially Tali. But since I was able to relate to others, specifically Luce the most, I still really enjoyed the book and was invested in the story. The only real issue I had with this book, and it’s totally MY issue, not really the book’s, was trying to keep all of the characters straight. Having 4 MC’s, some with boyfriends and other characters that went along with them, it seemed like I needed to take notes in order to keep all of them straight. I have trouble with this a lot, so I’m sure it’s more of a “it’s not you, it’s me” type issue, but I wanted to mention it regardless, in case others have a problem with multiple POVs as well. I also was a bit disappointed at first when I saw it was all in third person. I wished it had been in first person POVs with each chapter being a different MC. But, honestly, I can see why it was written the way it was… and since it did end up working this way, I got over that pretty quickly.

When I went into this book, I honestly wasn’t prepared for the time travel part. I guess I missed that when I had first read the synopsis. My first thought was, “What is going on?”… then my immediate second thought was, “Oh, this could be cool.” I’m glad I stuck with it because I really ended up enjoying this. It had a typical contemporary feel, yet the added time travel factor, as well as some very valuable life lessons. Overall, I was pretty pleased with this book, and I really think others will enjoy it as well.

(Thanks to HarperCollins for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

From debut author and poet Lexa Hillyer comes the lyrical story of four seventeen-year-old friends who receive an unlikely chance to relive the perfect summer . . . and the devastating secret that could unravel it all. Elegant and evocative, Proof of Forever is one of those first novels that hooks you from the beginning and builds toward a stunning—and unexpected—end, calling to mind Gayle Forman and Ann Brashares. Joy, Tali, Luce, and Zoe were once best friends. Now they barely speak. That is, until the fateful flash of a photo-booth camera transports them back in time, to the summer they were fifteen—the summer everything changed. Photos fade. Friendships dissolve. Summers end. But this one will change the girls forever . . . again. Wendy Wunder calls Proof of Forever "The Sisterhood of the (Time) Traveling Pants for a new generation!"

Proof of Forever

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