Review: More than just a YA romance...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 11, 2013
I’m not usually a fan of Young Adult fiction. The only YA series that I will willingly admit that I’ve read and liked is The Vampire Academy, and I think this comes down to the fact that it’s not really a true YA book, but when I found out that Sawyer Bennett had written Forever Young, I thought I’d have to swallow my general disdain for YA and read, read away. After all, she totally turned me onto New Adult, so why wouldn’t I like a YA book she’s written?I have to start by saying that I didn’t even read the blurb for Forever Young. I just saw Bennett’s name on the cover and knew it would be a good read. And it was. Right off the bat, we can see how Charlotte “Charlie” Wright – a seventeen-year-old girl who has already seen enough in her life to put her in the mental hospital – is driven by a powerful internal desire to save people. You see, Charlie is a bruiser—a self-admitted lover of knock-down-drag-out fights, which ultimately gets her into a lot of trouble.After a particular fight, Charlie thinks she’s going to be sent to juvie. Instead, she is introduced to a man who can offer her the world—a safe place to live, friends and a weapon to keep protecting those she sees as needing help. She’s taken to Semper Terra, or Forever Land, and place where magic exists and anything is possible—including flight.With Charlie’s journey of self-discovery and training, we’re introduced to some amazingly sexy, amazingly sweet, amazingly supportive and amazingly funny characters. These people support Charlie and by the end, we even see some characters we thought would never change, slowly warm to Charlie.So, what did I really think of Forever Young? Honestly? I liked it. It was incredibly creative and interesting. Bennett’s descriptions of the lush, tropical land of Semper Terra are incredibly vivid. After reading a few lines of the description and layout of the land, I could visualize it in my head – from the lagoon to the beach to the rustic-style beach houses.The concept of the whole book is also incredibly interesting. What I wouldn’t give to have a peek into Ms. Bennett’s head to see how she cooks up these ideas. There are daimons (demons) which live among the humans, and which are hunted by members of the Alliance who live in Semper Terra. I love this quote, and I really think it demonstrates a lot:“They are just like the human race. Some are good, and some are evil, and some are hanging on the edge, not sure which way to fall.”We can see aspects of Bennett throughout the book, including her love for mythology re: Athena, her love of the Irish accent (which comes into its own in Off Course) and her general snark and good humor which is lent to Charlie’s character. There were so many good little one-liners in there that had me grinning.Was it as good as her later Off Series? In my opinion, probably not, but that largely has to do with how reserved some characters and scenes are in YA in general, although Bennett does write some sweet kissing scenes. It’s also nice that the focus is not all about lust, rather Charlie enjoys the company of a certain guy, loving the way he makes her feel about herself, how he supports her through the trials and tribulations she has to endure.If I really think about it, I’m not sure what makes Forever Young so different; I mean, I can see Bennett’s writing style from the Off Series in there, but it’s almost ‘diluted’, I guess. Her style has certainly come a long way in an incredibly short amount of time since this was released in January of this year.I'll definitely be picking up book two in this series because everyone loves a heroine that wields a battle axe like a boss