This book... wow. If the cover wasn't enough to get your heart started I don't know what else to tell you. It was a great read and I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this DRC.
Young star-crossed lovers and death. Ruby and Hart were great characters, though the premise just wasn’t for me.


#AlwaysIsn’tForever #NetGalley

Reviewed for inclusion on the Texas Library Association's Tayshas List. While I thought the premise of this book was interesting, it felt overly long and the ending wasn't quite convincing enough for me.

Always Isn't Forever by J C Cervantes is a book that really touched my heart. It was like no other book I've read before. It was tender and sad yet hopeful and enduring. I recommend it.

After hart dies to early he gets another chance in the body of the star QB.
He must try to figure out how to be a new person and get the girl he loves back.
I felt like this book dragged on. Maybe it was because I listened to it

Oh wow what an emotional ride 🤧 the grief of losing the love of your life is inevitable. The struggle to move on from your loved one is also hard of course, and I could feel it how Ruby was struggling to live her life without Hart. That was really sad.

The story was sweet but it actually make me wonder, if hart was given the second chance as Jameson, then how about Jameson? I wish there’s some spin-off story about Jameson though.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group for giving me the chance to review Always Isn’t Forever.

THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING. Its easily one of my favorite romance books i ever read. It has everything you want, romance, mystery, sadness, happiness it willl filll you withh sooo many emotionns!!

All the characters were lovable. Ruby and Hart have my heart!! The connection betweeen them and how they are slightly different but still soo goood togetherrr!!

I reallly love Hart so much and how he is so in love with Ruby even in his death, his soul is still searching for her. How he endured the pain of seeing her and not being able to tell her who he really isss because he cant play with the universe system!! likeee my heart is wrenchinggg!!

Rubyy iss gorgeouss and I cant imagine being in her place, she endured so much pain with Hart’s death and how she just didnt want to love again because she still cant get over her memories with Hart! Its soo heart breaking but still so beautiful!!😫

This book was well written and I liked every part of it and i never felt bored! And LOURDES omggg she is certainly an angel!! I loved her so much and i enjoyed her POV.

Also, I loved how the writer included “elle’s” part (iykyk) I think this was so beautiful. And everything in this book is surprising and will get you so emotional😭❤️

I won’t stop recommending this book!

Thank You NetGalley and Penguin Group for sending me an ARC of this book for an honest review.

This was nice, sweet contemporary romance. The writing was a little weak and the parts of the plot just felt a little too convenient which made the story feel unauthentic. But I mostly got what I came for/was expecting out of the book.

Another star-crossed lovers story and this one was an emotional ride.

The idea is amazing, as it is very heartbreaking. The love of you life dying, then coming back in another body to fight for your love, for your happy ever after. Ugh. I can cry about those two little babies. They deserve the world.
The love aspects of this story are amazingly and beautifully written - it reminds me a little of "You've Reached Sam". Both are amazing books for ugly crying about purehearted fictional characters deserving more than what life gave them.
The characters, Ruby and Hart, were astonishingly well written. I loved how stubborn and concentrated on his only goal - being with Ruby, loving her - Hart is. The fading memories had me tearing up and the tense atmosphere had me biting my nails.

The plot is amazing, the characters are amazing, their love is the purest, most beautiful thing. And I cried a lot, so thank you.

5/5 stars

This book was such a great interpretation and discussion around grief and how it’s like to lose someone who was your whole world and who you loved and wanted to have an entire future with. It’s also a beautiful story about love and how strong that can be, especially as a young adult where it’s all encompassing.

I loved seeing Hart and Ruby’s love transcended reality and the how it carried the entire book. My heart hurt the entire time, trying to see them come back to one another and to see them fall in love with each other all over again. I absolutely loved following their journey and I will be picking up more from this author in the future.

Happily Ever After happens when we least expect it, and sometimes not even how we want. When Hart dies in a tragic accident, the love that Ruby and him share doesn't go away with it. Ruby, who loved Hart her whole life, and Hart were the image of true destined love. How can a person move on when that is taken from her? This is a sweet and touching story of how love can come through when you least expect it.

This is a sweet YA love story. The journey that we follow with Ruby and Hart/Jameson has you hoping that the story will end on a positive spin because it is such a sad story. I found myself feeling bad for Jameson and wishing there was a Jameson and Elle story.

It was an interesting set up content wise, but was missing some connections on the emotional and understanding level (at least for me).

Ruby and Hart are described as this great "conquer it all" love and the according words are there, still i felt like something was lacking. Ironically when Jameson (or his body) came into the mix the connection was getting better and you could feel more sparks. Although there were some plot holes (why is Jameson soul gone but his body can be occupied by someone else? or Hart's rather rapid change of mind to let Ruby go), it was a nice read.

3 out of 5 stars

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- i did dnf this book, as i didn't enjoy the characters, nor did i feel invested in their relationship or development. if a novel focuses on characters and their relationship, i have to feel invested, and i didn't feel that connection.

Hart is the cautious one, Ruby is the risk-taker. They are the perfect match! When tragedy happens and Ruby struggles - Hart is gone, and she doesn't know how to cope with this. However, Hart is given another chance to live inside the body of a bad boy classmate (Jameson) that is in a coma. The story is told from dual point of views, so it helps to understand what each character is going through. It was a good read!

I loved You've Reached Sam and when I saw that it was in the blurb, I was very excited to read this. It lived up to my expectations and I really enjoyed this book. If you need a quick read with all the emotions, please consider picking this up!

I didn't absolutely fall for this story. It was ok but I didn't connect enough with what was happening. It had a decent pace to it.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book.

I sadly had to dnf this one. I was super excited because of they way it was advertised but this book is nothing like you’ve reached Sam!

I struggled a lot to even slightly care about any of the characters and this whole angel thing was so weird to me.
Personally I don‘t like this whole switching bodies thing and I wouldn’t have requested an arc if I would have known tbh.

If I did not like Always Isn't Forever as much as I had hoped to, I blame that entirely on my (advanced) age. For me personally, it could have used a little more darkness to go with its supernatural premise, adapted to the YA audience of course, but this novel remains surprisingly optimistic in the face of death, grief, and social injustice. Maybe even overly so?

There could have been so much more conflict, too, since childhood sweethearts Hart and Ruby are already established from the beginning, but I understand that Cervantes chose a more wholesome path to guide her young readers along. Some of the contemporary markers in this book definitely aren't going to age well, as any mention of current technology or teenage slang is going to at some point. I would love a more adult (not sexed up!) version of this.

Still a little bummed about the meagre ending though...

such a cute story, I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and netgalley for this review copy.