Jill Shalvis writes realistic plotlines and characters. I really loved the family dynamic of this story. And the relationship between Walker and Maze, battling the fears of their childhoods to finally understand and love each other, wow!
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers and Jill Shalvis for the book.

I am a fan of this author’s writing and other stories. But I will say that this wasn’t one of my favorites. The blurb and story idea intrigued but as I started reading it just didn’t suck me in. This is one I just couldn’t get through as much as I wanted. I encourage others to give it a read because while it wasn’t for me, it could be an amazing read for someone else.

Forever and a day....
Jill Shalvis once again tugs at your heart strings and takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. In The Forever Girl we meet Caitlin, Heather, Maze and Walker who were all thrown together by Caitlin’s family taking them in through the foster system. Many know that system alone is not the best for many children and Jill does a great job at exploring the emotions, situations, hope and love that can come from creating your own family. This book is part of the Wildstone Series but since they’re all stand alone books, you aren’t left with a cliffhanger. I love Jill Shalvis books and despite receiving this as an ARC from the publisher, I would have bought this book anyway! I highly recommend this book!

I've read the first three books in this series but I don't recall meeting the cast of characters this book follows but I did fall in love with them all. From Mayhem Maze who I ached for over all her insecurities to the tough and mysterious Walker and even Heather's adorable little girl grabbed my heart. Each character is so complex and has their own issues that you can't help but feel for them all. I loved this book and cannot wait to read about the other siblings' stories.

I read a preview of the first chapter of this book and knew I wanted to read it as soon as it was available. What a teaser- I was sucked into the story so quickly by the emotional reunion of the 4 main characters in the cemetery! Maze, Walker, Heather and Cat meet yearly to celebrate Michael’s birthday in the cemetery; Maze, Walker and Heather were foster children that lived with Cat and Michael’s family for one year, until tragedy struck. What we know: during that time, they developed lasting bonds, but that something happened that left Michael dead and they were separated. Maze and Walker are avoiding each other, and we are left with the knowledge that something happened 4 years prior in Vegas that has put a wedge between them.

After that disastrous reunion, 3 years later Walker,, Heather, and Maze return to Wildstone to attend Cat’s wedding. Things have not been the same since their last meeting, and all does not seem well between Cat and Dillon, her fiancé only days before the wedding. Will they make it down the altar?

This book is part of the Wildstone series, but it is a complete standalone and you will not feel you are missing anything if you pick the story up here. This one was a big winner for me - I loved it from the start through to the end. The characters all have their issues, but it is clear that they all love each other, warts and all. They are a fun group, and the complications of getting Cat through the days leading up to her wedding kept things moving in the story. The thing I really think sets Jill Shalvis books apart from the rest are the quirky characters and how their stories are interwoven - the “love” in the story is not just romantic love. It is familial love, the love between friends, and the ties that bind people together.

Another heartfelt and fun 5 star read from the Wildstone series! I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

True friendships last forever despite distance or the years spent apart. In 'The Forever Girl' Jill Shalvis pens a tale of foster friends that become a surrogate family. When tragedy forces them apart, it tears the foundation that made Maze feel secure. Left reeling from the guilt and separation, they forged new lives. When their fearless leader Caitlin calls them home for her wedding, will they mend the cracks in their friendship?

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the early read in exchange for an honest review. #TheForeverGirl will delight her Wildstone series readers as Shalvis expertly weaves in the past to present why the friends are guarding secrets. The only problem with finishing the book, it will feel like 'forever' waiting for her next novel!

I love reading Jill Shalvis's books. It so much fun reading them because of her sense of humor of each of the m. I loved this one. It was funny, heart warming, and tear jerking. i don't have a complaint. I think there should be a sequel to it because I would love to see where the characters end up.

The Forever Girl explores the relationship between three women and one man who once lived as siblings. Caitlin was the child of the couple who took in the others as fosters. The story centers around the group gathering before Caitlin’s wedding. Secrets are uncovered, fears exposed, some dreams recognized as others fade. Author Jill Shalvis peels the layers of her characters’ personalities slowly drawing her readers completely into the story, while showing there’s more than one kind of second chance. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this story by Jill Shalvis. Having not realized this was part of a series I hadn't read any of the prior books. This fact made no difference as The Forever Girl reads as a complete stand alone. The writing of Shalvis in the 3rd person perspective lent itself to allowing me to fully immersed in the world of Maze, Walker, Cat, Heather and their hilarious antics. The sense of family, even if not by blood, is strong with this zany, motley crew and that thread keeps the trajectory of the story moving at a great, entertaining pace.

The over arcing romance of the book is a slow burn, second chance where two people fight their own demons to understand the closeness and intimacy of their want for each other. It was a great romance, indeed. But, for me, the best of the book was the friendships. These people have been through a lot of pain and when they're finally reunited after being apart, ultimately the love of friendship and how your friends are just as much your family, is the really moving and heart warming aspect of the book.

The Forever Girl is a great women's fiction read. It's easy to read, simple to fall in love with, and perfect for a lazy day of reading.

Walker and Maze are characters that have a dark painful past. Walker was put up for adoption at 2, Maze as a teenager. They were put in the same foster home and immediately connected. When a tragedy happened Heather, Maze, Cat and Walker remained close but became more distant as well. They each always met at the same time each year.

Maze and Walker are complex characters that I wish we could have gotten to know better and learn more about. While they didn't see each other for 3 years, it seemed awfully easy for them to fall back together, despite their igniting chemistry. Cat seemed like she had everything together, until we start seeing conversations between her and Dillon, her fiancé. I enjoyed the book, these characters, and the story, but I didn't think it was the best one of the series or even as good as the last one. I say this as a fan of Jill Shalvis!

I will read anything by Jill Shalvis but I was not inspired by this book. I can freely admit I did not finish it and was put off by the storyline.

I loved this book by Jill Shalvis. The story was thought out and well written. The unusual characters and their story lines were intriguing, and kept me turning the pages. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC copy.

When a group of former foster siblings meets for the first time after a disagreement three years earlier, fireworks are sure to fly. Cat gathers all of her parents’ former foster siblings together for her wedding. Once everyone is there, here fiancé spills the beans that Cat actually tricked them into arriving a week early, so that fences could be mended during the week before the wedding.

Fences are mended pretty quickly between Cat, Maze, and Heather. However, things are less sanguine between Maze and Walker. Unbeknownst to the others, Maze and Walker secretly married during a drunken night in Vegas a few years earlier. Believing that Walker considered their marriage to have been a mistake, Maze left him without an explanation. She felt like Walker deserted her, and Walker believed that Maze had deserted him. They both carry a lot of baggage from having been abandoned as children and from being shuffled around in the foster system.

Can these two find their happily ever after with the help or interference of their well intentioned family/friends?

The Forever Girl is a fun look at a group of dysfunctional friends trying to get through life and figure out how to best support each other. I love the characterization and the interactions between the different relationships. This was a group that I didn't want to leave at the end of the book.

This is (what I imagine) may be the start of a new series for Shalvis. I have to admit, the beginning prologue was confusing for me because all the main characters were introduced at one time and a big back story was known by them all but not the reader. It took me a while to "get" what was going on.
The main thrust of the story is one of the characters CAITLIN is getting married and she wants all her foster sisters and brother there for the wedding, but they've all been disconnected since a big fight occurred in the prologue. She tricks them into coming to her wedding and then the story really starts.
The two characters most written about are Maze and Walker. This is their love story.
There are a great many twists and turns and a few really big secrets each of the siblings are holding onto in this book and they are effectively dealt with along the way.
WHile Shalvis has moved to writing more woman's fiction than straight romance, love is still alive and well in this book.
Thank you to Netgalley for a sneak peek. The title is perfect for the story that's told here.

Although, I usually can never put down a Jill Shalvis's book; it took me a moment to really enjoy this story. I didn't start loving the book or the characters until half way through the book. However, because Jill does romance well, she delivered at the end with a great happy ending.

These are the books helping me through the past several months. I can alway count on Jill Shalvis to deliver some laughs! This book had plenty!

Beautiful story of friendship, life and secrets. A reunion takes place due to a wedding and we see these wonderful characters come to life. A great story and a romantic one as well.

Touching story of relationships, past and present, that has many layers, each waiting to be exposed for good or bad.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

We are tugged, and not gently by any stretch of the imagination, into a war between a group of unorthodox siblings in what was a unique family unit. Two birth children plus three fosters make up this amazing group that learned what love and family was all about. The three fosters had been dragged through the system with the scars to prove it. I was so shaken when one of the foster kids reminisced about his entry into the Walsh family at sixteen. It was the first time in all his life that he had unpacked. May not sound significant but to a boy who changed houses, not homes, from two turned over to the system unpacking was an uncommon ritual. It meant staying. Which was equally foreign.

It’s moments like that when you again realize that Jill Shalvis has created not only amazing characters but a world. For Heather, Maze and Walker their world kick started when the Walsh’s took them in. Made them a family. Gave them friends and support. But as in real life stuff happens and the universe often tips. These kids didn’t have enough of a foundation to hold on tight and when we meet them in THE FOREVER GIRL they are adults dealing once again with resettling their tipped world.

Compelling tale that unfolds slowly exposing the events that have shaped them starting at very young ages and now as adults since they still carry the wounds. Harsh memories are difficult to just erase. What you hope for are new happy ones that can blur or at least relegate them to deep recesses of the mind.

THE FOREVER GIRL is told from the perspective of Maze and Walker who kept several things secret from their group. They know each other very well but have unanswered questions about how they got to this point and where to go from here.

People look for a chance to belong. Sometimes to a group, a family. Or just to one special person. Walker wants to belong to someone. Someone who would not turn away. To Walker Maze was that person, only he couldn’t prevent her from running from him, from their friendship. She was that important. But the problem was with Maze. She didn’t feel as if she was important to anyone. In fact she felt almost a burden, a person looking in, not a true valued member. Coming to a Walsh family wedding could be the most important time for both Maze and Walker.

As with any Jill Shalvis book THE FOREVER GIRL is hard to put down. You are exquisitely drawn into the lives of these characters. All of them have an amazing role to play in this tale. When you open THE FOREVER GIRL you enter a world only imaginably created by Jill Shalvis. It is that good and well worth the price of admission. THE FOREVER GIRL is due out early 2021. Put it on your must read list.