The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

“Life can be long or short, it all depends on how you choose to live it. It's like forever, always changing. For any of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. You can never know for sure, so you'd better make every second count. What you have to decide is how you want your life to be. If your forever was ending tomorrow, is this how you'd want to have spent it?”
 
This is my first Sarah Dessen novel. It won't be my last. While it may not have made me "sawooon," it was still a delightful, light read. It's about grieving and getting through it. It's about trying to be perfect and letting go enough to realize that being who you are is good enough. It's about friendship and what happens to us without it. It's about family. It's about loss, acceptance and forgiveness. 

Macy's father died traumatically. Since then she and her mother have lived together in a shallow, sterile existence. Macy works hard to be perfect so her mother won't worry about her. On the outside she looks "fine, just fine," but really, Macy is miserable. Her sister, Caroline, who has successfully dealt with her grief and been able to move on, does her best to support them, to help them realize that, “Grieving doesn't make you imperfect. It makes you human,” but they are trapped in their safe, regimented world. Then when Macy makes new friends and starts to be happy again, her worried mother grounds her. It looks like not even Caroline's advice can save her.

There were times while I was reading this book when I was very angry with Macy's mother.  Honestly, I suspect I would been much more vocal about my unhappiness than Macy was. In the end I realized that perhaps Macy's way was better. It was certainly better for Macy and her mother.

If you like realistic fiction that can make you cry, you will like this one. 

This book is probably more of a teen (12 +) than tween book. Mostly this is because there are parties where drinking takes place.