(Blurb) Real love. Real lives. The real thing . . .Four girls, three boys, turning 18. Get set to follow their eventful final year at school.
Cass is Ms Monogamy. Ashley is a player. Donna is a party girl. But what about Sarah? Her friends tease her for being uptight, but she's waiting for The One. Now she's found him, but is he forever - or is Sarah just his summer fling?
The Short Story? - Cronin just about broke every cliche about YA contemporary romance. No Such Thing As Forever is far from your typical YA contemporary yet it's every bit as beautiful and enjoyable! A bittersweet love story about real teens dealing with real problems in the real world. Gritty and confronting, No Such Thing As Forever is perfect for those who look to venture into the ugly side of teen romance! Beautiful!
The Long Story? - No Such Thing As Forever is pretty self-explanatory. There is no such thing as forever! That is the ugly truth and while we all want to fall in love in high school with cute boys and then have babies with them - that's just YA "fiction". Cronin's No Such Thing as Forever really explores the "real" teen world where guys are jerks, girls are nasty and where love is pretty much non-existent. Cronin has incorporated several very confronting issues about growing up in the plot including sex, family, relationships, friendship and love. It's a real gritty kind of novel, no sugar-coating, it's the ugly truth with a bittersweet THE END. It's not the novel that I would normally pick up and read but I very much enjoyed it. It's refreshing, it's unique and Cronin has a beautiful narrative voice. I highly recommend No Such Thing As Forever for those who like "dark-ish" contemporary!
Overall, I liked the characterisation. I really liked Sarah, she was dependable and nice and I think many readers would find her easy to relate to. There was this chunk of the book where Sarah became overly obsessed with Joe and I know Cronin intentionally made her that way to portray the clingy girlfriend but that's not my thing. That obsession made Sarah do stupid things and blinded her and I really wanted to just shake her and say "OPEN YOUR EYES". However, Sarah was definitely a good protagonist. Sarah's friends play a major role in the novel and I thought that was great because friends are so underrated in teen romance when really, it's friends over boys - ALWAYS. The importance of friendship is definitely one of the highlights for me because my friends mean the world to me and Sarah really values her friends so we're like TWINSIES.
In a nutshell No Such Thing as Forever is a novel that you should definitely put on radar because it's unique and authentic and it's enjoyable. No Such Thing as Forever is a bittersweet story about a girl and a boy and the love story that was never there. It's about opening your eyes, setting your priorities straight and learning the importance of friendship. It's about growing up, love, sex, alcohol, drugs, sexuality. Cronin has absolutely everything in her plot! Go read it! :)
What's it Worth? - Squeeze into the Budget/ Hand Over the Paycheck
Badass Bookie xx
Ooh, this sounds interesting. Didn't expect it to be 'dark' ;) Will check it out when I have the time! Great review.
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