In Always and Forever, the female protagonist, Suzanne, is a woman pushing thirty who has always loved Jay, but due to pressure from her mother, has never been able to express those feelings and has contented herself with being best buds with him. They both have a lot of baggage. Suzanne is a former child movie star whose career was ruined before she achieved real success. She has a ne’er-do-well absent father. Jay’s policeman father was killed in the line of duty, and Jay now babysits his alcoholic mother. Both sets of parents were friends at one time, and a tragedy ruins their relationship and affects the next generation. As Suzanne and Jay decide to move forward with their relationship, these old family secrets return to haunt them.
This emotional book deals with love and loss with eventual forgiveness but felt a bit flat to me. At times I wanted to slap Suzanne for allowing herself to wallow in the past and not move on.
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Always and Forever (Tribeca Press November 11, 2025) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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