Now & Forever by Susane Colasanti: Review

Now and ForeverTitle: Now & Forever
Author: Susane Colasanti
Publisher: Viking Juvenile 
Buy This Book: Amazon / Book Depository 

What if your boyfriend was the world's biggest rockstar?
Sterling is crazy in love with Ethan. Not only is he the sweetest boy she's ever met, but he's an incredibly talented guitarist, singer, and songwriter. And since forever, he's believed he has what it takes to be a star.
When Ethan becomes an overnight sensation, he's thrown head-first into the glam world of celebrity-and so is Sterling. Before she knows it, she's attending red-carpet premieres, getting free designer clothes, and flying around the country to attend Ethan's monumental sold-out concerts.
It's a dream come true...but whose dream is Sterling living? And what do you do when "forever" comes to an end?

I find it quite amusing that Viking Juvenile is the publisher of this book because juvenile is a word that sums up this book for me. It felt juvenile, and not in a good way. It has content that you would expect from a YA novel but the characters and the writing make it seem like it's aimed at 10 year olds. I should have learnt my lesson from the first book by the author I read, Something Like Fate, which I absolutely hated. But, I thought this sounded good and had potential. I was wrong.

My main and biggest issue with this book, and the one I could not get over as hard as I tried, was that the main character was one of the most annoying characters that I have ever come across. I have never felt so much unexplainable rage for a completely fictional character. I really should have DNFed this one because it wasn't worth my time and it probably did terrible things to my blood pressure. Sterling was just such a ridiculous character, I wish she actually existed so that I could bitch slap the crap out of her. Seriously, my rage is too much to handle when it comes to this girl.

I concur!
Sterling is like the worst grammar Nazi in the world. I feel like the author thought that this would make you connect with her, anyone who's used the internet knows what a Grammar Nazi is. But, that's not how it works out. She takes her to the absolute extreme and I just couldn't stand it. I think most bloggers and readers will admit to hating it when they see a grammatical error or spelling mistake. But, we don't go comment about it in the comments on a blog post or email the author about it because we have probably all made mistakes ourselves. I have checked and double checked a post and been satisfied, only to go back and read it after I have posted it and find a bunch of mistakes I didn't spot. So, I just found Sterling's high and mighty attitude to be utterly pathetic, juvenile and ridiculous. She emails authors to let them know that they made a mistake in one of their books, and moans that the editors must be idiots for not spotting them, she keeps a sharpie on her so she can correct ANY mistake she sees on signs. WHAT THE HELL? GET A LIFE.  She also wants to be a publisher and thinks that she is better than everybody else.

Here's a few quotes:

'As a publisher, I'll have the ability to share quality work that can change the world.'

'I take out the book I'm reading. I've already marked two typos. I'll email the author to let her know about them and any others I find when I finish the book.'


Having to sit and read this for the whole book just really got to me. I just could not like this girl at all. Then there is her relationship with Ethan, another thing I absolutely hated. She just talks about him like he is the most amazing, brilliant thing to happen in the world EVER. Seriously, here are a few quotes:

'He has a unique sound no one else has ever created before.

'Ethan makes the kind of music generations have been waiting for.'

'He was strumming a new chord when he suddenly knew he was meant for insane fame. He was too young to comprehend the scope of his epiphany.'

'Melting.On.The.Floor.'

'Melting.Into.My.Chair.

'Melting.In.The.Foyer'

'Melting.At.Serendipity'


Her gushing about Ethan gets old pretty fast and just really got to me. Also, the constant use of the whole melting thing really bugged me as well. I seemed to absolutely hate nearly everything about this book and it's really hard for me to try and sugar-coat that, so I just won't bother. Ethan, to me, seemed like the most ridiculous romantic male lead ever. He is made out to be absolutely perfect, the author even makes him that way. He's super sweet, loving and treats Sterling so well. But then the author tries to just 180 him and it doesn't make much sense and just seems really silly, at least to me.

For me, the only good part of the book was the end. And that wasn't just because I had finally got to the end and didn't have to read any more. It was because the author didn't go for the stereotypical ending and it wasn't the ending I was expecting either. I enjoyed that aspect of it but it wasn't enough to save this book for me. This was quick to get through but didn't make much of an impact on me at all. 


0.5/5 Butterflies

The surprising end earned this book a .5 rating. Other than that, I honestly couldn't find one redeemable part of this book. I couldn't stand the characters, Sterling is one of the worst protagonists I have ever seen. Ethan does a complete 180 as a person and I just didn't buy it. She made him too perfect and then too much of a dick. This just wasn't for me at all, it seems like a very immature story with very immature characters. 



*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.

14 comments:

  1. Well crap, I actually really wanted to read this one but I seriously do not now. I am sorry I bought it even. :(

    Great honest review. Sterling would annoy the heck out of me and I am thankful for the heads up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, you might end up loving it but I just couldn't deal with with Sterling as a character. She's so irritating and the things she comes out with made me want to hit her.

      Delete
  2. 1 billion bonus points for using a Scrubs gif!! <3

    I've always wanted to read something by this author but still haven't managed to get around to it. This MC does sound super annoying so maybe I'll skip this one ;)

    Mands @ The Bookish Manicurist

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I LOVE SCRUBS <3 She is so annoying so I definitely recommend skipping it ;)

      Delete
  3. Well, I'm definitely skipping this one. Unlikeable main character and annoying romance…uh, no thank you. And you're right about catching errors, I'm the same way. It does bother me, but I would never comment about it or e-mail because we've all had it happen. And it's not like we're some big publishing company with tons of editors on staff. ~Pam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know. Her high and mighty attitude about it just really bothered me. Her character just didn't work for me at all, couldn't like her even a little.

      Delete
  4. Hahahaha. I'm laughing so much at this review, it's made my night! I liked the cover of this book and wasn't sure about the blurb but thought I'd give it a go and when I spotted your review I settled in for a good read... not what I was expecting but quite hilarious :) Feel safe I can give this one a miss, I was getting a bit annoyed at the one-liner's you had included let alone reading a few pages!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It gets old pretty fast, especially the whole Melting.At.Blah.Blah.Blah. I was like Melting.Your.Face.With.My.Mind. Blergh, not what I was expecting at all and I definitely won't be reading any of the authors other books after this.

      Delete
  5. This such a sassy review, I love it so much! All of the GIFs just made me crack up and the when I saw all the things you were saying about the horrible characters I was just had a ‘wow, who writes that moment’.

    A sick part of me wants to know what author want’s to be emailed about type’s which is what Susane Colasanti is pretty much saying is okay when she writes a character like Sterling.

    Thanks for the great review! I now know not to come near this without a ten foot pole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I honestly felt like I was punishing myself by finishing this book. I don't see why any writer would want to write a character like Sterling as their main character. She had no redeemable qualities at all.

      Delete
  6. Ugh. That's all I feel towards this book now. I, too, thought that the premise was promising, but I now know that I'm never going to waste my time with this book - I'm very sorry that it let you down, Charnell! I (obviously) haven't read the book, but hearing the way you talk about the writing style and the characters (especially Sterling), makes me just know that I won't enjoy this book. Thank you for the magnificent review and for the excellent use of GIF's. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, thank you! I know this one falls into the FAR TOO HARSH territory and maybe even a tad bit of author bashing (I hope not!). But I just couldn't find any redeemable qualities in Sterling or this book. I didn't have many positive things to say about it. I really wish I had avoided this one now, so I am more than pleased that I seem to be saving others from it.

      Delete
  7. Wow. Even reading this post made me hate the main character. And going that over the top with typos? I mean, come on now. We're all human and we make mistakes, we're not perfect. A few typo here and there helps remind us that authors are people too--that even if they are the BEST writer in the world, they aren't perfect. Sure, they can be embarrassing and too many is a bad thing, but one every once in a while. Sheesh. I couldn't read this book, so thanks for the warning!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are more than welcome! I just can't understand why you would want a character like that as your main character, she didn't have even one redeemable quality.

      Delete

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, it always makes my day! Because of time restraints, this is now an award free zone but thanks so much for considering me! Feel free to leave a link to your own blog and I will come visit.