Forever and Always: Returning to the Small Town (4 Stars)

If you’re looking for a quick read, you may want to read Forever and Always by Roxie Clarke. I got an ARC ebook copy of this novella, and the regular ebook version was published on August 29th. I’m not sure if a paperback version is planned. At roughly 77 physical pages, it took me about an hour to read the whole thing. I am a fast reader, so if you’re a bit slower, it might take you a bit longer.

I will admit that novellas in general are not my favorite. While there are exceptions, most of the time, I find that a novella is either a short story that got dragged out or a full-length novel that didn’t reach its potential. This one falls into the second category. It’s really rare for me to feel like a novella deserves 4.5 or 5 stars.

Introduction to the Novella

The basis of the story is that Hunter and Monica were high school sweethearts. After high school, Hunter left their small town to make it big on Broadway. Since that time, Hunter and Monica have broken up and gotten back together several times. At 33, Hunter has realized that making it big at the expense of his relationship with Monica isn’t worth it. While most people think that Hunter is only back for a visit, he has decided to move back home and win back Monica’s affection permanently.

My Thoughts

This is a cute novella. Unfortunately, because it is so short, there’s a lot left out. While we know that Monica and Hunter dated in high school, we really don’t get a lot of the details of their relationship. I felt like this story should have been a novel, which would have allowed for more background information to be integrated into the story without feeling like the background information was pulling us away from the plot.

I don’t think that it’s giving away too much information to say that I felt like Monica’s change of heart concerning Hunter was a bit too abrupt. She’s trying to convince herself that she’s over him in one paragraph and that she can’t really trust him if they were ever to date again. Then maybe two or three paragraphs later, she’s basically ready to marry him. For this to be a 5-star novella for me, I feel like this transition needed to take a bit longer. At the very least, she needs to think through this transition. This could have been handled with about another 1,500 to 2,000 words, so maybe one more chapter tops.

This story is told in alternating chapters with one being from Hunter’s point-of-view and the next being from Monica’s point-of-view. I felt like the transition between the two points of view worked well and never felt too abrupt.

One thing that surprised me about this novella was the level of description. This includes at least one instance of spending a whole paragraph talking about the color of Monica’s clothing. Most other novellas that I’ve read don’t have a lot of description. Honestly, it was a bit much at points considering the things that were left out of the plot.

Is This a Clean Novella?

Many readers would consider this a clean novella. There’s no swearing, sexual content, or violence, although one character does consider punching another character. There are a few points where unmarried characters talk about living together, which goes against some readers’ values. Any characters who have children or who are pregnant did have those children while married. In no way is living together before marriage romanticized.

I guess whether this is a clean novella or not really depends on what you consider a “clean novella.” I would put it on the clean side. Others may find the topic of cohabitation offensive enough that they may choose to not read this novella based on that.