The Truth About Forever

So while at home I was still fine-just-fine Macy, wiping up sink splatters immediately and ironing my clothes as soon as they got out of the dryer, the nights when I arrived home from catering, I was someone else, a girl with her hair mussed, a stained shirt, smelling of whatever had been spilled or smeared on me. It was like Cinderella in reverse: if I was a princess for my daylight hours, at night I let myself and my composure go, just until the stroke of midnight, when I turned back to princess again, just in time.

I just finished reading THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER for the millionth time, and it still gives me butterflies. Even though the book’s theme is about how nothing can be perfect, I think this book is just that. Perfect. It was the first of Sarah Dessen’s books I read, and it remains my hands-down favorite.

Macy’s summer is shaping up to be predictable. Her boyfriend, Jason, is off at Brain Camp, and she’s taking on his job at the library info desk. She studies SAT word books and makes conversation with her mother about everything but her father’s recent death. Completely under control. Then she takes a job with the Wish Catering crew, and her by-the-book life is thrown into complete chaos. She meets Delia, who revels in the disorganization and imperfections of her catering company; Kristy, with her wild outfits and loving-life attitude; and Wes, artistic, insightful, who doesn’t believe in perfection. Nothing is ever broken to him; everything has the potential to become new again.

Macy and Wes begin playing a game of Truth, answering each other’s questions honestly about everything from their most embarrassing moment to something they wished they could change about themselves. Macy begins to open up and realizes that she’s never going to be perfect, that she needs to start living life instead of fearing it.

Everyone battles with the idea of perfection at some point in their life. This story is one of Sarah’s most relatable, and it shows you don’t need to be perfect to enjoy life. The characters shine in this book, all so vivid and unique. Wes is my favorite YA male character of all time, with his humor and his theories about life. THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER is my favorite young adult novel, and if you are—or have ever been—a teenage girl, read it!