{"id":70415,"date":"2023-06-03T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=70415"},"modified":"2023-06-03T04:45:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T08:45:40","slug":"arc-review-always-isnt-forever-by-j-c-cervantes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=70415","title":{"rendered":"ARC Review: Always Isn’t Forever by J.C. Cervantes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Always Isn’t Forever by J.C. Cervantes, coming 6 June!<\/b><\/h4>\n

Amazon Pre-order<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n

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Blurb<\/b><\/h4>\n

Best friends and soul mates since they were kids, Hart Augusto and Ruby Armenta were poised to take on senior year together when Hart tragically drowns in a boating accident. Absolutely shattered, Ruby struggles to move on from the person she knows was her forever love.<\/p>\n

Hart can\u2019t let go of Ruby either\u2026. Due to some divine intervention, he\u2019s offered a second chance. Only it won\u2019t be as simple as bringing him back to life\u2014instead, Hart\u2019s soul is transferred to the body of local bad boy.<\/p>\n

When Hart returns to town as Jameson, he realizes that winning Ruby back will be more challenging than he\u2019d imagined. For one, he\u2019s forbidden from telling Ruby the truth. And with each day he spends as Jameson, memories of his life as Hart begin to fade away.<\/p>\n

Though Ruby still mourns Hart, she can\u2019t deny that something is drawing her to Jameson. As much as she doesn\u2019t understand the sudden pull, it can\u2019t be ignored. And why does he remind her so much of Hart? Desperate to see if the connection she feels is real, Ruby begins to open her heart to Jameson\u2014but will their love be enough to bridge the distance between them?<\/p>\n

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Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

3.5 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

I was drawn to this book by the beautiful cover, and when I read the blurb, I knew I had to read it. Such an intriguing concept \u2013 a YA soulmate romance with a touch of supernatural \u2013 but so much more, a story of love, grief, loss, and learning to let go. It\u2019s emotional, but has a happy ending, and it\u2019s a beautiful little read.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long will you love me?\u201d
\n\u201cAlways.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ruby and Hart are childhood best friends-now teenage sweethearts, madly in love, soulmates, and planning on a long and happy life together once they graduate senior year. Until Hart\u2019s sudden and tragic death. Utterly devastated, Ruby is left completely lost, with no idea how to go on with her life.<\/p>\n

She has no idea how empty I feel, how most days I feel like I\u2019m bleeding out. How I feel like a shell of who I used to be. How I can\u2019t access the simplest things like a good dream or even a smile. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a supernatural twist, five months after his death, Hart is given the opportunity to return to his true love\u2013 however, it will be in the body of the high school party boy whose own actions have left him on the brink of death. Hart will come back in Jameson\u2019s body, but he will be unable to talk about who he really is, and his memories will disappear bit by bit, leaving just his soul behind in somebody else\u2019s body. But it gives him the chance to be with his girl again, so he goes for it.<\/p>\n

Ruby and Jameson have always hated each other, but when he leaves the hospital after his near death experience, he\u2019s different. He\u2019s sweet, kind, and very apologetic about his past actions, and Ruby feels drawn to him in ways she doesn\u2019t understand. She has questions, but she\u2019s so mired in her grief for Hart, that she resists the pull she feels to somebody new, preferring to wallow in her pain and memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think you want to be happy, but you feel too much guilt \u2026 because if you let go of the pain\u2026then you let go of Hart.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s an interesting and intriguing journey for both Ruby and Hart. She\u2019s fighting a battle between letting go of what she\u2019s lost, and finding the will to move on. He is struggling to prove who he is, while seeing his friends and loved ones in so much pain, and wondering whether him being there is helping, or just make things worse. But the longer he waits, more of his memories fade, and his time is running out.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d rather let love break me open than never know its depths. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is an emotional read, but there are some really sweet moments too. There\u2019s lots of character growth and big life lessons, and a beautiful love story that made my heart pound. It\u2019s a unique read, and I was questioning what a HEA even looks like for these two, but the author does manage to bring a happy ending, and though it did leave me with some questions, I finished this one with a smile on my face.<\/p>\n

Even if love always ends in goodbye, we have a choice, a choice whether to allow it in, to change us, to drive us toward a better part of ourselves\u2026even if it means breaking open.
\nEven if it means letting go. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Always Isn’t Forever by J.C. Cervantes, coming 6 June! Amazon Pre-order   Blurb Best friends and soul mates since they were kids, Hart Augusto and Ruby Armenta were poised to take on senior year together […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":3.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,9,12],"tags":[59,1482,48,76],"class_list":["post-70415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-romance","category-young-adult","tag-arc","tag-j-c-cervantes","tag-review","tag-standalone"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Always-Isnt-Forever.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-ijJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}