Heather's Reviews > With You Forever

2.5 stars. Meh. I could give it 3 stars like I've given the rest but I don't feel like it.

Here's the thing. For all of Chloe Liese's books so far, I've constantly felt that there was something about the way she wrote and something about these stories that just felt off to me and I couldn't really figure it out. But I figured it out here. Liese does this thing with her characters where she picks 2-3 things that define her characters' personalities and nothing but those 2-3 things. Everything that happens to them in the story revolves around those 2-3 things and you are constantly reminded about it. For example, Rooney is defined by her disease (which I cannot remember, though I should given how many times it was constantly mentioned because that's all her character was!!!), and Axel's character is defined more or less by him being autistic. As a reader, you are constantly reminded about these defining character traits and there was no effort really made elsewhere. Like I understand that you want to establish your characters and who they are, but I really think you need to show me these things instead of constantly telling me once a chapter, at least. The characters are supposed to move forward with the plot but it's like everything kept circling back to "this plot point happened because of this character trait" kind of pattern.

And the plot was mediocre at best, but it's hard to really see how it moves anywhere when it doesn't feel like there was any true movement or development because the characters hardly move or develop themselves. It was like any plot point was only relevant for that one moment in time and we never heard about it again. Rooney and Axel get married for money? They barely talk about what to do about their marriage when they develop real feelings, which again go from 0-100 with no concrete timeline. Axel has friends for half the book who help him repair the house? Then they disappear when they're not useful anymore. And the last minute drama was just annoying and unnecessary because it ended up rushing the ending way too much in a gross cliched way. Everything about this felt so underdeveloped because Liese spent too much time defining her characters by 2 traits but didn't help her characters be MORE than those two traits. And that's what annoyed me the most. Tropes and traits are great but you have to do more than just that. Though the reading community has literally no critical thinking anymore so I'm sure they're happy with a story defined by two traits and a trope with nothing else to say.

I could read the next book in this series but it's gonna be more of the same so I'm not sure if it's really going to be my cup of tea anymore. I just wish that Liese would write characters that were more than whatever it is she's defining them by because while it's great she's having her characters represent all these different communities and voices, it still feels like she's writing them under a stigma and preconceived notions. I don't know, maybe it's just me. But there are so many ways this series and this book in particular could be so much better and it's a massively missed opportunity.

Also, the entire plot is in the synopsis so if you just read that it's like you've read the book. That's how basic and bland the story is.