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brisbookreviews's review
5.0
The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton is about a small town girl named Sophia, who is an outcast in her town because she is Wiccan. Having a stressful life and hearing constant noise/static in her head she decides to cast a spell to attempt to relieve the noise, which only opens a whole new world for her.
The Forever Girl is a extremely great read, filled will urban fantasy and paranormal romance. The characters were well written and interesting. The entire book held my interest and I enjoyed Rebecca's writing style. The story was fresh, original, and exciting. I love that the romance wasn't instant "love at first sight" and that it took some time to develop. However, the ONLY thing I wasn't sure about in the book was the time lapses, there was a few.."a few weeks or months later" I understand that we don't need to know every single detail of what went on during those months, but it still left me feeling like we might have missed something.
Overall, I highly recommend The Forever Girl and can't wait to read more from Rebecca Hamilton.
The Forever Girl is a extremely great read, filled will urban fantasy and paranormal romance. The characters were well written and interesting. The entire book held my interest and I enjoyed Rebecca's writing style. The story was fresh, original, and exciting. I love that the romance wasn't instant "love at first sight" and that it took some time to develop. However, the ONLY thing I wasn't sure about in the book was the time lapses, there was a few.."a few weeks or months later" I understand that we don't need to know every single detail of what went on during those months, but it still left me feeling like we might have missed something.
Overall, I highly recommend The Forever Girl and can't wait to read more from Rebecca Hamilton.
michalice's review
4.0
I have had my eye on The Forever Girl for a while, and I think I have an eBook of it on my old eReader so when the opportunity came up to join the blog tour for it with Dark World Books I jumped at the chance. The synopsis alone drew me in, but added with an amazing cover it was easy to say yes.
Sophia is wicca, add her family history to the story and people in her town blame her for everything going wrong or people getting sick, saying she is setting curses on them. Enter Ivory, one of Sophia's friends who takes her to a new club and that is where the action starts. She ends up mixed up in things she never dreamt about, but has a Knight in shining armour to save her, Charles.
I will admit that when I started reading The Forever Girl I was distracted easily, but I quickly found myself hooked within the story and found it hard to put down. During the story there is a natural progression, not only between the relationships and friendships between the characters, but also with how we learn new things along with Sophia and each new revelation was a surprise that added new twists and turns to the plot.
Charles truly was a knight in shining armour, and in the beginning he is there for Sophia, whether she wants him there or not, and one scene in particular at the cafe had me in stitches. I loved Sophia's snarky answers to his questions or statements and I was literally laughing out loud reading it. The Forever Girl was by no means a quick read, but it was one I enjoyed. I never knew what would happen next or what turn Sophia and Charles would take. When a secret is revealed to Sophia about someone she cares about I was shocked, it was not something I expected, but the resulting flashback that follows this event was very insightful and I enjoyed getting to see some characters histories and the meaning behind the title.
The Forever Girl was a book I really enjoyed and I would definitely read any books that follow Sophia and see what her next adventure is.
deanapotter's review against another edition
4.0
I love a good witch story and The Forever Girl book 1 Sophia’s Journey is no let down!
The Forever Girl is a wonderfully written book that contains everything a good paranormal should. I do not think I have read a book where the main charter goes through so many life changing events so quick. Sophia has a hard time just being herself. She is Wiccan and the town outcast. Whenever there is trouble the finger is pointed at her. Friendships are tested while Sophia learns who she truly is and the power that come with. Falling deep into a world of magic and mystery that she did not even know existed. Learning to love someone she did not think she could. There are many surprises that had my jaw dropping and sitting on the edge of my seat turning pages to see what happened.
Rebecca Hamilton has done a wonderful job describing ritual, as well as Wiccan beliefs accurately. For her insight and research, I applaud and give her much respect.
All the characters were well-developed and well written. Hamilton captured the relationship between Charles and Sophia perfectly. World building is great. This novel was a real treat to read and a total surprise. I am very happy I picked this book up and I will defiantly be read the second installment of the Forever Girl series!
I give this book four stars. The beginning was a bit slow, but once things starting to happen and events fell into place, I could not put the book down!!!
The Forever Girl is a wonderfully written book that contains everything a good paranormal should. I do not think I have read a book where the main charter goes through so many life changing events so quick. Sophia has a hard time just being herself. She is Wiccan and the town outcast. Whenever there is trouble the finger is pointed at her. Friendships are tested while Sophia learns who she truly is and the power that come with. Falling deep into a world of magic and mystery that she did not even know existed. Learning to love someone she did not think she could. There are many surprises that had my jaw dropping and sitting on the edge of my seat turning pages to see what happened.
Rebecca Hamilton has done a wonderful job describing ritual, as well as Wiccan beliefs accurately. For her insight and research, I applaud and give her much respect.
All the characters were well-developed and well written. Hamilton captured the relationship between Charles and Sophia perfectly. World building is great. This novel was a real treat to read and a total surprise. I am very happy I picked this book up and I will defiantly be read the second installment of the Forever Girl series!
I give this book four stars. The beginning was a bit slow, but once things starting to happen and events fell into place, I could not put the book down!!!
mlcreads's review against another edition
3.0
How to do you react when you find out that the world is not as you thought. You are your ancestor reincarnated and witches and vampires and shape shifters and more are all real. I am looking forward to seeing how the story evolves in future books.
kinx128's review against another edition
2.0
The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton is the first book in the Forever Girl series. I have to say that I’m not crazy about this book. I really had to struggle to get through it. I kept hoping that as I continued to read that it would pull me into its story. It didn’t. I will say that this book had an interesting take on vampires, witches and shape shifters. It is a very unique perspective of the paranormal world.
The story begins with Sophia trying to find your place in her community and life. She is a practicing Wiccan and is constantly harassed by the local fundamental Christians, which includes her mother. On top of the harassment, she constantly is hearing a buzz. To get rid of the buzz, she performs a positive energy ritual to dispel the noise. Instead of helping, the noises change into voices and get worse Sophia’s calls it her “curse.” The importance of her “curse” slowly (and I mean slowly) unveils itself in the story. I’m still unclear about the source of the voices. . My first issue was that it was not explained why the ritual unleashed more power. I had a hard time connecting the dots on why the ritual set certain things into motion. Sometimes I felt that some explanations were dumped on me in a haphazard way and it was difficult to understand how it relates to the overall series story.
There are several characters introduced in this book. Sophia’s romantic interest is Charles. I found their relationship very uninteresting. I was not able to experience the buildup of their relationship. All of a sudden they were in love with really no development. Sophia’s close friend is Ivory. I have to say Ivory is a bizarre character. Her relationship with Sophia was really unexpected and, to me, didn’t really fit with the story. It wasn’t uncomfortable; I just felt it was out-of-place. I had a very hard time connecting with these characters. To me, there was a real lack of character depth and development. Sophia’s attachment to these characters wasn’t really fleshed out enough. There was many times where I was scratching my head wondering why?
Sophia’s family issues were only, I felt, marginally touched upon. You don’t actually meet her father who Sophia seems to have a good relationship. It took me almost the entire book to figure out that her parents were still married. The way it was described I thought Sophia came from a broken home. It was really hard to grasp the family dynamic. Why did Sophia turn to the Wiccan practices? Was it due to her family pain or due to otherworldly reasons? More explanation of how the Wiccan religion actually affected Sophia’s life would have been appreciated. I didn’t really get that she was a devoted practicing Wiccan.
I really wanted to like this book, but in the end, I just couldn’t. My main overall problem was that I found the relationships to be under-developed and difficult to relate to. I hope that the next book in the series has more character development and depth.
The story begins with Sophia trying to find your place in her community and life. She is a practicing Wiccan and is constantly harassed by the local fundamental Christians, which includes her mother. On top of the harassment, she constantly is hearing a buzz. To get rid of the buzz, she performs a positive energy ritual to dispel the noise. Instead of helping, the noises change into voices and get worse Sophia’s calls it her “curse.” The importance of her “curse” slowly (and I mean slowly) unveils itself in the story. I’m still unclear about the source of the voices. . My first issue was that it was not explained why the ritual unleashed more power. I had a hard time connecting the dots on why the ritual set certain things into motion. Sometimes I felt that some explanations were dumped on me in a haphazard way and it was difficult to understand how it relates to the overall series story.
There are several characters introduced in this book. Sophia’s romantic interest is Charles. I found their relationship very uninteresting. I was not able to experience the buildup of their relationship. All of a sudden they were in love with really no development. Sophia’s close friend is Ivory. I have to say Ivory is a bizarre character. Her relationship with Sophia was really unexpected and, to me, didn’t really fit with the story. It wasn’t uncomfortable; I just felt it was out-of-place. I had a very hard time connecting with these characters. To me, there was a real lack of character depth and development. Sophia’s attachment to these characters wasn’t really fleshed out enough. There was many times where I was scratching my head wondering why?
Sophia’s family issues were only, I felt, marginally touched upon. You don’t actually meet her father who Sophia seems to have a good relationship. It took me almost the entire book to figure out that her parents were still married. The way it was described I thought Sophia came from a broken home. It was really hard to grasp the family dynamic. Why did Sophia turn to the Wiccan practices? Was it due to her family pain or due to otherworldly reasons? More explanation of how the Wiccan religion actually affected Sophia’s life would have been appreciated. I didn’t really get that she was a devoted practicing Wiccan.
I really wanted to like this book, but in the end, I just couldn’t. My main overall problem was that I found the relationships to be under-developed and difficult to relate to. I hope that the next book in the series has more character development and depth.
phlegyas's review against another edition
3.0
This was not my type of book. I mean, I'm into the supernatural as much as the next guy (assuming that the next guy is into the supernatural), but the whole YA and Fantasy/Romance fusion is not for me.
To put this into perspective, imagine that my favourite series of supernatural/fantasy/urban fiction books are Lukyanenko's Night Watch series.
In any case, the writer, Rebecca, is doing amazingly well with the language. I mean, if you hang out on twitter and follow writers (both indie and otherwise), you're sure to have come across some horrendous writing. I know. Rebecca's not your average twitter writer though. The descriptions of both people (and their relations) and places are amazingly done.
However, I'd say that, besides the general genre -which was definitely not for me- I had issues with the story jumping around at a couple of occasions. It's not bad, certainly not, but I prefer linear stories.
In any case, I believe that people who are into the YA Paranormal Romance genre will enjoy the book more than I did. Again, not that the book itself does not stack up, it's just that it's way out of my interest zone.
Loved the writing though.
To put this into perspective, imagine that my favourite series of supernatural/fantasy/urban fiction books are Lukyanenko's Night Watch series.
In any case, the writer, Rebecca, is doing amazingly well with the language. I mean, if you hang out on twitter and follow writers (both indie and otherwise), you're sure to have come across some horrendous writing. I know. Rebecca's not your average twitter writer though. The descriptions of both people (and their relations) and places are amazingly done.
However, I'd say that, besides the general genre -which was definitely not for me- I had issues with the story jumping around at a couple of occasions. It's not bad, certainly not, but I prefer linear stories.
In any case, I believe that people who are into the YA Paranormal Romance genre will enjoy the book more than I did. Again, not that the book itself does not stack up, it's just that it's way out of my interest zone.
Loved the writing though.
carobcbg's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't dislike it, but given the ratings here on GOODREADS and a recent recommendation from one of my go-to romance book blogs, I was definitely expecting more. Don't get me wrong, this is a great twist to your run-of-the-mill Vampires and Shapeshifters teen angst novel and the plot wasn't too bad. Ultimately though, the main characters left me... bleh. They had potential, but in my opinion they were not well written or developed enough to immerse me in their journey. I was reading a good story, but I wasn't feeling it.
meshacups's review against another edition
2.0
Why was this so boring?
Why do authors insist on writing main characters that have no agency in their own story? The teaser for the second book was better than the entirety of this one.
Why do authors insist on writing main characters that have no agency in their own story? The teaser for the second book was better than the entirety of this one.
arryiae's review against another edition
2.0
First and foremost I would like to thank the lovely Rebecca Hamilton for this gift. The forever girl is a story about a girl (Sophia) who for her whole life has been accused of something she believes she is not, until one day she meets Charles.
I didn’t know combining witches, vampires and wolves could work. Let’s first go to the things I liked about this story. I really liked it that Hamilton was able to combine vampires, witches and vampires in one novel. Also I liked it that the story did not solely focused on Charles and Sophia’s love story. It did not dwell on how the guy or the girl fell in love with each other but instead it incorporated the love story inside the world building. Another thing I liked about this story is the world itself. At first, the story reminded me of Charmed because of Hamilton’s use of the Book of Shadows, but as the story unraveled we were brought in a world that is so rich and good. I was also interested in the creatures Hamilton used in the story. The Vampires were not actually vampires but they are just vampire-like so technically they are not vampires, which made me wonder what they really are. I’ve read other novels that tackled a similar creature namely, Strigoi, Hamilton and Mead’s takes were very different from each other that I wondered what creature is closer to the original myth.
Anyways, I also liked the lead characters Charles and Sophia. I really liked the way that Sophia Is not your typical damsel in distress female lead character. I really liked it that she thinks a lot despite of Charles persistently saying for her to chill out. Charles is also another likeable character, he’s not your perfect guy because he gets mad and all that and not always the gentle guy which makes them both more real, which made me enjoy their relationship and how they got together.
Next, let’s go with the things that I think bothered me about the story. The thing that I bothered me the most about the story is how the information about the world was set for you. It felt like it was a random setting of information. Something was set-up from the beginning then you get side tracked with new information about the world. It made me feel like the setup was for the wrong thing. It’s like I was ready for something to happen but what happens is not what I expected but I was not surprised because there was something that was revealed but for something else that was not for the set-up that happened before. I don’t know if it made sense or what but that was I felt while reading.
I really loved the idea and the story but as I was reading I can’t help but feeling that there’s something missing but I was not able to pin point what exactly is missing. Maybe this is the type of book that gets better the second time around just like with The Mortal Instruements.
I didn’t know combining witches, vampires and wolves could work. Let’s first go to the things I liked about this story. I really liked it that Hamilton was able to combine vampires, witches and vampires in one novel. Also I liked it that the story did not solely focused on Charles and Sophia’s love story. It did not dwell on how the guy or the girl fell in love with each other but instead it incorporated the love story inside the world building. Another thing I liked about this story is the world itself. At first, the story reminded me of Charmed because of Hamilton’s use of the Book of Shadows, but as the story unraveled we were brought in a world that is so rich and good. I was also interested in the creatures Hamilton used in the story. The Vampires were not actually vampires but they are just vampire-like so technically they are not vampires, which made me wonder what they really are. I’ve read other novels that tackled a similar creature namely, Strigoi, Hamilton and Mead’s takes were very different from each other that I wondered what creature is closer to the original myth.
Anyways, I also liked the lead characters Charles and Sophia. I really liked the way that Sophia Is not your typical damsel in distress female lead character. I really liked it that she thinks a lot despite of Charles persistently saying for her to chill out. Charles is also another likeable character, he’s not your perfect guy because he gets mad and all that and not always the gentle guy which makes them both more real, which made me enjoy their relationship and how they got together.
Next, let’s go with the things that I think bothered me about the story. The thing that I bothered me the most about the story is how the information about the world was set for you. It felt like it was a random setting of information. Something was set-up from the beginning then you get side tracked with new information about the world. It made me feel like the setup was for the wrong thing. It’s like I was ready for something to happen but what happens is not what I expected but I was not surprised because there was something that was revealed but for something else that was not for the set-up that happened before. I don’t know if it made sense or what but that was I felt while reading.
I really loved the idea and the story but as I was reading I can’t help but feeling that there’s something missing but I was not able to pin point what exactly is missing. Maybe this is the type of book that gets better the second time around just like with The Mortal Instruements.
clairereviews's review against another edition
4.0
With the increase in popularity of all things vampire of late, this was a fresh approach and had thoroughly engaging and likeable characters.
A nice, easy read. 4/5.
A nice, easy read. 4/5.