I recently read Taylor Jenkins Reid's backlist and was impressed by how much her writing has evolved over the years. "Forever, Interrupted" is her debut novel, and while it's good, it's not her best work. The story follows Elsie Porter who meets Ben unexpectedly at a pizza place, and they instantly fall in love and elope within the first 6 months of meeting. Unfortunately, Ben dies a few days later while riding his bike, and the story alternates between their love story and Elsie trying to overcome her grief.

Honestly, I don't love a book without a happy ending. Sure, it was happy in the sense that Elsie came to terms with her grief, and she and her mother-in-law found common ground, but I want the couple to end up together at the end, so that's just my preference. I also felt like the instant love was a little cringy, even though I know it happens in real life; it just felt off to me. Despite that, I still enjoyed the book and experienced a fair amount of emotional turmoil while reading it. I would definitely recommend this book to other romance lovers.

3.75 Stars

I liked this one much better than her first book - I read it in a single airplane ride and I love that you never know exactly how her books are going to turn out.

This book was requested when I was young and requested more books than I could possibly read. Sadly, I no longer have access to this book and my tastes have changed. Thus I will not be able to give feedback on this title.

3.5 stars
A perfectly satisfying book about the before and after effects of a soulmate relationship between Elsie and Ben that ends in the tragic death of Ben just after they get married. They had only been together six months, and Ben had never told his mother about Elsie or their relationship. This is a story of two women as they process their grief in different ways, with Elsie's struggles with missing Ben and yet feeling guilty because they hadn't been together that long.
I found the descriptions of grieving to be very realistic and touching. The characters are well drawn and the reader gets to know Ben through flashbacks.
Although this is a touching story in some ways, I just didn't feel like it quite went deep enough. I didn't get enough of a sense of who Elsie was apart from Ben and her rocky relationship with her parents was very odd (do people *really* act the way her parents do? I just cannot fathom it). Even her relationship with her best friend Anna just didn't quite go into the depth that I thought it should for this type of novel.
Like I said, it's a perfectly satisfying novel. It's not the best book about losing someone but it does have some positives and is a worthwhile read.