Forever, Interrupted

By: Taylor Jenkins Reid

“No matter how strong you are, no matter how smart you are or tough you can be, the world will find a way to break you. And when it does, the only thing you can do is hold on.”

I’m a sucker for a book that can break my heart and break me, and that’s exactly what this book did. Elsie met Ben at a pizza joint and they had a whirlwind romance. They dated for 6 months and got married. Nine days later, Ben is killed in a bike accident. Now, Elsie has to face Susan, her mother in law that she never met.

Reid interweaves how Ben and Elsie fell in love with Elsie and Susan’s grief. My heart was ripped out of my chest, and it wasn’t even when Ben died. It was how Elsie and Susan formed an unlikely relationship and leaned on each other to help get through this terrible time in both of their lives.

Everyone handles grief differently, and I think this book does a wonderful job of exploring that. Elsie had only known Ben for 6 months, Susan had him for 27 years, but is anyone’s loss greater because of the length of time they’ve known and loved someone? This is brought up a lot in this book and it really makes the reader think.

Reid also provides Elsie’s every thought and feeling. It is because of that it is easy to to connect with her, even if you have never lost a spouse. It’s easy to understand her feelings and her behavior’s.

This is one of Reid’s earlier books. It is absolutely fantastic, but you can also see how much she has grown as a writer. This isn’t my fav, but I did really like it.

Give this book a try, you can find it here.