I couldn’t help but notice The Forever Girl storming the blogosphere and getting excellent reviews. I also follow Rebecca on Twitter and was impressed by her marketing campaign, so of course I had to see what all the fuss was about for myself.
First off, this is a beautifully written book. Hamilton’s descriptions of Sophia’s Wiccan rituals brought the story to life and I was fascinated reading all the passages involving spells.
So, on to the story: 22 year Goth girl and Wiccan Sophia Parsons sticks out in her small Rocky Mountain town in Colorado. No one’s hiring history teachers in this economy so she waits tables at a local café where everyone in town can stare at her strange clothes and whisper behind her back. Her mother is a nut and belongs to a church that sounds more like an occult than any legitimate religious organisation. The head of the church, Mrs. Franklin wants Sophia out of the house she inherited from her grandfather and uses threats and condemnation as an incentive to force Sophia to leave. In the midst of this, Sophia is trying her best to live with the whispering voices in her head and she discovers that Cruors (vampire-like beings) and other elemental creatures exist.
I initially thought this was a YA novel (a genre I read a lot) so I was pleasantly surprised to spend time with a slightly older protagonist. Sophie is a very down-to-earth and normal young woman, someone I could relate to for the most part, despite her getting caught up in a mysterious and dangerous supernatural world. I did, however find Charles’ and Sophia’s relationship at the start to be a strange one. They’re adults and discuss moving in together, having spent every day in each other’s company for months, yet all they have shared are a few kisses. I found this hard to believe given the fact that Charles has been around for a few hundred years and Sophia is a recent college grad. This is the one element of the story that made me feel I was reading a YA novel about teenagers.
Sophia’s independent nature laced with vulnerability kept me turning the pages. She lives alone in her grandfather’s house and remains strong and determined despite the abuse from the deranged Mrs. Franklin and threat from the powerful, supernatural Council. I liked the mythology of The Forever Girl. Vampires are called Cruors in this story, and there are different kinds of elemental beings and half breeds. Her family line can be traced back to the time of the Salem Witch trials, and gradually Sophia and those around her come to realise that she may also have some witch blood in her.
I loved the author’s writing style. Every detail, every description painted Sophia’s world in vibrant colours and I was with her every step of the way. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next book in the series. ****
Check it out on Amazon HERE
Has anyone read The Forever Girl? What do you think of the book cover? I adore it!!
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Emma's Ramblings on Supernatural Fiction 
I have read The Forever Girl and I loved it! I found the mythology intriguing and the characters interesting. I am looking forward to other books by Rebecca Hamilton, as well. I loved her voice, and enjoyed following Sophia through the story.
The cover is beautiful! It was what first attracted me to the book.
Hi Christie. The cover just reels you in straight away.
I’m also looking forward to seeing what Sophia and Charles get up to next.
Thanks for the review! This is another book on my tbr list. I love the cover!
Hi Megan, it was on my TBR for the last few months. I swear I’ll never get through all the books on that list! Guess I should be glad I have so many lovely stories ahead of me.
awesome review:) Will add to my TBR list
Yay, hope you like it Michelle.
This sounds interesting. Did you say she practices Wicca? If so how much of a role does it play in the book? I love anything Wicca related 🙂
A big role. Sophia is a Wiccan first and foremost. She has an altar, Book of Shadows etc. It’s really interesting to watch her. Read the sample pages on Amazon to see if you’d like it.
Cool thanks! 🙂
It is an amazing book, and the cover art is beautiful. I was a little skeptical of all the hype, but once I read it, I was completely won over. Unfortunately, we’ll be waiting a while to find out what happens with Charles and Sophia since the next book in the series will be Cordovae’s Journey. I’m looking forward to it and Becca’s novella, which comes out this summer.
I’m usually sold on a book if it has a good cover, so of course I had to read this 🙂 Glad you were won over. Is it next year that Cordovae’s Journey will be out? I’ll keep an eye out for her novel in the meantime. Thanks Felicia.
Yes, Cordovae’s Journey should be out January 2013, and Her Sweetest Downfall is the one coming this July. Can’t wait! 😀
Great. I like the title already: “Her Sweetest Downfall”.
I have this lovely book waiting in line on my kindle, I can’t wait to get to it! Thanks for the review share!
We all have so many Kindle books lined up, it’s hard to get to them all! And you’re welcome for the review.
This books looks great. Thanks for the review. I’m putting it on my TBR list.
Hope you like it Trish
Hey, what’s Avril Lavigne doing on the cover – looks so much like her, doesn’t it?
She does like very much like Avril in her early days 🙂
You and your reviews! Looks like I have another Emma recommendation to add to my TBR pile. I totally trust your reviews since the past books I’ve read that you liked, I totally liked. 😉
That’s great. I’d hate it if people went off and bought the books and didn’t like them. Maybe this will keep you going until the next Tegan book comes out Tameri!!
I’m reviewing this book on my blog soon. I was like suuuper excited to see this blog post because I’m probably ~1 day away from beginning to read it. Sounds like a 4-starrer for you? Mmmm hope it’s a 5-starrer for me (aiming high lol).
Let’s hope. Looking forward to reading what you thought of it. Enjoy Rebecca.
I didn’t end up finishing this novel, unfortunately. It was good at places but never grabbed me. More so, there were parts that annoyed me too much to read for too long of a time without crushing my eReader. At 80% through I finally stopped.
Clearly, though, I’m one of the 7% of readers who thoughts this book was average.
What parts annoyed you? Everyone has different taste.
Have you noticed Rebecca has changed the cover? I went to Amazon and it’s different for some reason …
It was months ago now, but I think it was aspects weren’t believable. You know when you read a book and think, “why did they just throw themselves on harm? They didn’t have to almost kill themselves or do that really stupid thing.” That was this book. In the end the good bits were drowned in my sheer frustration.
I did and I prefer the first cover. The one aspect of the book that didn’t ring true with me was the physical or lack of a physical relationship between Sophie and Charles. They seemed to have a teen love going on but even teens are more active than those 2 🙂