Title: Forever Julia
Publication Date: May 1, 2015
Publisher: Great Plains Publications
Author: Jodi Carmichael
Synopsis: Six months ago, Julia's life
was perfect. Then her dad died. Now she lives with her grieving mother and sick
grandmother in a puny apartment above their bookstore. After a dark bout of
depression, Julia is fragile, and mourns both her father and her old life. But
she has one thing to be happy about: Jeremy, the most popular boy at school,
has chosen her. Jeremy's love for Julia is passionate, even obsessive. As she
grows closer to Jeremy, Julia pushes her disapproving friends and family away.
But Jeremy only becomes more controlling and Julia has to decide what lines
cannot be crossed.
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Review: I could tell going into this book that it was probably going to be a tough read. It is never easy to read about difficult life situations, but they tend to make for beautifully written books. Despite knowing that the book was going to be sad, and perhaps even a little bit depressing, I was also quite eager to read it. I have not read anything by Carmichael before, and I did think that the synopsis was well written. When I received the email with the blog tour invitation, I knew that it was a book that I would want to read. Sure, it might not be enjoyable in a standard way, but I had no doubt that it would be a good read.
The main character, Julia, is pretty easy to relate to. She has lost her father, her mother is struggling to keep them afloat, and Julia is in a pretty dark place in her life at the moment. I do believe that we have all had one point or another when we have been in a bad place and have had to get out of it; I did think that it was interesting to get to experience these things with the main character. Despite the situation, I think that Julia handled things quite better than a lot of people would. Sure, she made bad decisions, but that seems pretty believable in the given situation.
Julia was not the only well-written character, however. Annika, Julia's best friend was a great character as well. She had her own great, strong personality and was not afraid to be herself. She was also a loyal friend, but did not stand down when she felt strongly about something. Their friendship was realistic because Annika could see what was happening in Julia's relationship, and it did lead to some issues between the friends. Jeremy, of course, was not a character I liked at all. I know it was supposed to be this way, and Carmichael did a wonderful job of making me hate him. He could be charming when he wanted to be, but it changed quickly. Then he became obsessive and controlling, and overall just a horrible person to be in a relationship with.
Abuse is something that happens far too often, and it does not seem to get nearly as much attention as it should in order to help people that had suffered from it themselves. We should talk about it more, and we definitely should be reading more stories like this to allow us to see just how bad these things can be. While this was a difficult book to read, it was also beautifully done and eye-opening. It left me feeling so many different emotions, and I still have not stopped thinking about it. I highly recommend this read for everyone.
The main character, Julia, is pretty easy to relate to. She has lost her father, her mother is struggling to keep them afloat, and Julia is in a pretty dark place in her life at the moment. I do believe that we have all had one point or another when we have been in a bad place and have had to get out of it; I did think that it was interesting to get to experience these things with the main character. Despite the situation, I think that Julia handled things quite better than a lot of people would. Sure, she made bad decisions, but that seems pretty believable in the given situation.
Julia was not the only well-written character, however. Annika, Julia's best friend was a great character as well. She had her own great, strong personality and was not afraid to be herself. She was also a loyal friend, but did not stand down when she felt strongly about something. Their friendship was realistic because Annika could see what was happening in Julia's relationship, and it did lead to some issues between the friends. Jeremy, of course, was not a character I liked at all. I know it was supposed to be this way, and Carmichael did a wonderful job of making me hate him. He could be charming when he wanted to be, but it changed quickly. Then he became obsessive and controlling, and overall just a horrible person to be in a relationship with.
Abuse is something that happens far too often, and it does not seem to get nearly as much attention as it should in order to help people that had suffered from it themselves. We should talk about it more, and we definitely should be reading more stories like this to allow us to see just how bad these things can be. While this was a difficult book to read, it was also beautifully done and eye-opening. It left me feeling so many different emotions, and I still have not stopped thinking about it. I highly recommend this read for everyone.
Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
ABOUT JODI CARMICHAEL:
JODI CARMICHAEL lives in Winnipeg where she can often be
found dancing in the living room with her two wildly imaginative daughters, her
patient and supportive husband, and a scruffy Border Terrier named Zoe. Jodi’s
previous book for young readers, Spaghetti Is NOT A Finger Food, won numerous
awards and has been a multi-week Bestseller.
Visit Jodi Carmichael at www.jodicarmicael.com.
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Thank you Tiffany for such a beautiful review. At times, Forever Julia was extremely difficult to write, but I knew Julia's story was too important not to tell. I do hope readers will learn from Julia's situation and recognize the danger signs so they can avoid or quickly get out of an abusive relationship.
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