Wouldn’t it be nice to have second chances to live our lives? This was a very interesting take on death and I couldn’t put the book down. It deals with a boyfriend and girlfriend who lose each other due to a tragic death but they get a second chance with extenuating circumstances. It also shows how the living can get a second chance also. I thought one thing that stood out is that we really don’t know what someone is going through until we stand in their shoes.

I would recommend this book for high school students to read. I think it would be an excellent book for the class to read because it lends itself to such great discussions. Topics would include death, second chances, angels, friendships, empathy, memories, souls, instincts, pets, and relationships with parents.

This was the book that You Reached Sam wanted to be. It's an emotional gut-punch that mostly succeeds in telling the story it sets out to tell with a wonderful handling of grief, teenage love, and family bonds.

Hart and Ruby are childhood friends-turned-romantic soul mates, preparing to take on their senior year together before they graduate and travel the world. But then Hart dies in a tragic boating accident at work, leaving Ruby and his friends behind to pick up the pieces. Except, Ruby can't move on. And neither can Hart, and through some literal angelic intervention, he's given a second chance at life - in the body of dying local bad boy Jameson. But there are rules: he can't tell anyone the truth of who he is, and every day he spends in his new body results in the loss of more and more of his old memories. Can Hart and Ruby overcome the obstacles between them and find their way back to each other?

The emotion built into this story is real and it is powerful. I actively spent a large portion of my reading bawling into my phone. The depictions of grief, both of Ruby in her loss of Hart and her inability to move on, and in Hart and his fear of losing his old life while he adapts to his new one, are painful in their intensity. You genuinely find yourself rooting for both characters and their relationship to work out. The characterization is solid and the story itself plugs along at a steady pace, making for a good, reliable read.

Genuinely the only thing that kept this from being a solid 5 star book was the lack of connection I felt with the secondary characters. While Ruby's family was interesting, everyone else felt underdeveloped, including one character (who I am omitting the details about for spoiler reasons) who actually gets their own narrative chapters. A bit more development there and this would have been an easy 5 star read.

4 stars!!

I really enjoyed this book. It was different and unique and utterly heartbreaking. This book had me in an absolute chokehold.

I actually did not care for this book. I tried to make it through, but was unable to finish it. Although I do like fantasy, this was just a little bit too scattered, and I was not able to be drawn into the plot or the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP/ Penguin Young Readers Group/ Razorbill for sharing this amazing book's eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Do you believe in the power of love? I do.

This book is emotional, romantic, magical, and heartwarming. Also, that cover? So beautiful and amazing. This book is easy to read despite of its sensitive topics (grief and death), chapters are short, and fast pace. This book also gives mysteries and surprising twists that makes me keep reading because I really want to know what will happen to Hart and Ruby.

There's also a touch of fantasy like angels and tarot reading.

Hart and Ruby are both lovable individuals and I love their relationships. Other characters are strong too.

I love it and I can't recommend this book enough.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and Peguin Young Readers Group, and Razorbill for allowing me to read this book.

Firstly, I thought this book was extremely lovely and I would have enjoyed a lot more if I didn't read it at the time I did. I really struggled to read this book because of the current events in my life. I definetly plan on picking this up when I'm in a much better headspace.

Heartbreaking!

Hart and Ruby, both 17 and Latinx, are a couple of teens living in El Celio, California who are deeply and truly in love and they see a wonderful future ahead of them. Ruby wants to travel the world and Hart is a natural musician. Ruby has this ominous feeling that something terrible is going to happen. When tragedy strikes, everything changes and unusual complications arise. An Angel allows Hart’s spirit to occupy another teenager’s body but with the conditions that he can’t tell people who he is and that his memories of his past will fade a bit each day until they’re completely gone. This is pure torture to Hart, especially when he sees how sad Ruby is. Will Ruby be able to move on?

Likes/dislikes: The intensity of suspense about what’s going to happen to the characters kept me riveted. I love the cute relationship between Hart and Ruby. I like how the author keeps the reader hoping throughout the story.
Language: R for 152 swears and 6 f-words.
Mature Content: PG-13 for passionate kissing.
Violence: PG for drowning and non-bloody fighting.
Ethnicity: Ruby and Hart are Latinx, and Jameson is white.

Surpresa é uma palavra interessante para descrever minha reação com esse livro como um todo. Não só pelo plot em si que começa parecendo só mais um clichê mas na verdade se aprofunda tanto, quanto, também, pela densidade de emoções dos protagonistas e a forma com que a autora resolveu trabalhar tudo.

De uma expectativa clichê de "garoto morre e ressurge no corpo de outro e tem que reconquistar sua namorada", Always Isn't Forever vai além para até mesmo os personagens secundários. De cara, Hart, nosso mocinho, cativa pela intensidade de suas emoções para com Ruby e seu jeito descontraído, mas responsável, de levar a vida. Sua paixão e ligação com a música, assim como seu amor sincero por Ruby, são coisas que movem a leitura e que, mesmo nos momentos mais monótonos ou no meio de um ou outro detalhe que eu não curti aqui e ali, me fizeram insistir na leitura e mais ainda devorá-la nos últimos vinte capítulos (de um total de 66).

Também gostei da Ruby, ainda que não tenha sido tão cativada por ela quanto fui pelo Hart, mas gostei da representatividade latina em torno deles. Lourdes foi outra personagem que, sem esperar muito, me cativou e da qual gostei das poucas participações narrando alguns capítulos também. Bacana como, ainda, o próprio Jameson, com quem o Hart troca de lugar, teve um peso muito único na história e a autora se preocupou em trabalhar o rapaz para além da fachada de "problemático" apenas. Isso me surpreendeu, foi como um toque de empatia muito delicado e acertado de J. C. Cervantes.

Esse combo junto com a forma com que tudo se desenrola em torno do plot do Hart foi bem interessante de se ver. Admito que eu esperava um ou outro detalhe diferente em alguns momentos, mas não porque a autora não soube trabalhar, mas sim fazer de um jeito dela, o que teve lá seus méritos. A ligação e reação dos protagonistas à música e afins foi um tópico bem presente e que dá todo um charme e emoção a mais na leitura, especialmente pela forma como tudo inicialmente se dá no acidente que o Hart sofre, até o modo como ele e a Ruby vão lidar separadamente com essas questões até sem perceber. Nesse ponto, inclusive, a história por vezes não foca muito no romance, já que a carga dramática vai se sobressair na maior parte dela, mas isso acabou sendo positivo de modo que trabalhou o casal de uma forma sensível como a situação, inusitada que só ela, bem exigia mesmo. Não tem hot também, outro bônus particular para mim, mas enfim.

Foi sem dúvidas uma leitura que se mostrou algo diferente do que eu esperava, felizmente de um jeito bom, e ainda que tenha tido um ou outro detalhes que não curti tanto, o todo da leitura ainda valeu. Talvez eu só esperasse também um final um pouquinho diferente do que a autora escolheu, mas mesmo ele foi coerente ainda com tudo até ali e foi bem bonito, então, afinal, foi uma leitura de saldo positivo. Recomendo para quem gosta dessa mistura de drama com um quê sobrenatural, e de muitas emoções.

High school seniors Hart Augusto and Ruby Armenta have known each other since they were kids,. Hart and Ruby go to a party then leaves so Hart can give her a surprise. It’s a sailboat for them that he has named it Ladybug. They take it out and Hart ends up saving a boy from drowning but Hart drowns himself. Months later Ruby is still grieving and hasn’t moved on. Hart has woke up to find the angel Lourdes has intervened to give him a second chance to live again. He finds out that he will go in a body that is near death. He asks Lourdes for a body that s near Ruby’s age in the town that he and Ruby lived in. He gets his wish but doesn’t realize that it won’t be his body and the rule of not trying to get in touch with Ruby. Hart says okay but secretly hopes to get to tell Ruby what has happened to him before he forgets who he was. The body is a football player Jameson Romanelli, their classmate who’s in a coma following a motorcycle accident. Hart is unable to tell anyone who he really is and will gradually forget his former life. Can he convince Ruby he is back? Will they fall in love?

The first chapters in this novel are slow but starts to speed up because the chapters are short. The novel is a romance which includes tragedy, grieving, second chances and hope. It shows that there are true soulmates and something more. I liked the engaging book. I could not help the feelings it arose in Mr ( good). The novel is more than romance. I’d say more but I selfishly want you to read this novel .

I just want to say this, the first like 30 percent was amazing and made me have to put the book down because it was really sad and heartfelt. Then Hart kept having chapters and I realized where the story was heading and it became so unbelievable and weird that it stole the magic from the beginning. This novel took a complete 180 from where it would have been good but it wasn't. This just didn't click well with me. Pretty good writing and I did enjoy some parts but the story just fell apart on me.

Hart and Ruby have been friends since childhood, and they’ve been in love since forever, but then Hart dies tragically. Ruby us devastated, of course, but tries to move on, tries to heal. Hart, on the other hand, is offered a second chance at life, but he’ll have to return in the body of someone Ruby has hated for years - and he’ll be forbidden from telling her who he really is. Can he win her back? How can he convince her to see past the person she thinks she knows (the kid she hates) to the real him when he can’t even tell her or explain?

Also, he’s going to slowly forget that he’s Hart, and all his memories of Ruby, so he has to hurry.

This was a short but powerful YA romance. I read it in a day. I liked the way it was written and it was a sweet story,l. While I didn’t cry (though I think many will), it definitely hit me in the heart/gut quite a few times. I mean, love that survives (or tries to survive/overcome) death?

The supernatural elements were pretty cool (even if a bit cheesy) and I enjoyed finding out if they would find their way back to each other. A little predictable but I’m not mad about it.

Lots of sensitive topics like grief and death and depression.

When Hart tragically dies in a boat accident, Ruby is devastated. He was her whole world, and she knew something was going to happen. Months after the accident, she is still struggling every day. Then Jameson starts portraying a weird interest her. Little does she know that it is actually Hart, whose soul has returned to Jameson's body. He thinks this will be the easy and smooth way out, but nothing is as it seems. Will Ruby and Hart get their reunion, or will all their struggling be for nothing in the end?

I really enjoyed this book. The book was easy to read, and relatable in terms of environment and thoughts and feelings. The author succeeded in bringing these two people close to me, and I thought of this book when I was not reading it. The book would have been even better if the other characters would have gotten more personality, and if they would have had a bigger place in the story. But, all in all a great read and I would definitely recommend it!

Always Isn't Forever written by J.C. Cervantes was so <b>heart breaking, yet so beautiful</b>. If you have read You've Reached Sam written by Dustin Thao, you are going to <b>LOVE</b> this one, it's basically the same concept as You've Reached Sam. I ugly sobbed so many times while reading this book. There's <b>no better feeling than screaming at a character to get their head out of their ass while having tears streaming down your face</b>. Always Isn't Forever was romantic, emotional, and so heartfelt. The cover is so beautiful, but when I read the synopsis I knew this was going to be a five star read, but oh my gosh, when I actually started reading this book I was a complete mess. I can't recommend this book enough, <b>if you do decide to read Always Isn't Forever make sure you have a baggy outfit on, your hair is in a messy bun, you have a bag of chips next to you, you have at least three boxes of tissues on deck because you won't want to stop reading once you start</b>. I was instantly hooked from the very first page all the way until the very end. I have never read a book by J.C. Cervantes before, but after loving this one so much, I will definitely be reading everything she writes in the future. This is the type of book that will stay with you forever, and I can already feel that happening with this one.

First off, I would like to thank my big sister, Cecelia for buddy reading this beautiful and emotional book with me. Thank you so much for sobbing with me, BBB. I love you so much💓.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND PENGUIN GROUP FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!

"She has no idea how empty I feel, how most days I feel like i'm bleeding out. How I feel like a shell of who I used to be. How I can't access the simplest things like a good dream or even a smile".

"You think you want to be happy, but you feel too much guilt.... because if you let go of the pain.....then you let go of Hart".

"Hart wants me to be happy. But Hart doesn't get to decide how I grieve, how I rebuild a life without him".

"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.... even if it means breaking open. Even if it means letting go".

<b>What's the point of life anymore when the one person you've shared everything with for practically your whole life is gone in an instant?</b> Hart Augusto and Ruby Armenta are in love. They both have futures and plans, until they don't. Ruby and Hart have been best friends and soul mates since they were little kids, they met when Ruby was out in the garden holding a ladybug, and Hart thought she was strange, but he was instantly drawn to her. Ruby and Hart were supposed to take on senior year together, but all that's gone when one night Hart goes out on a boat, a little kid jumps into the water because he's scared, Hart jumps in the water to save the little boy because that's just the type of person he was, Hart tragically drowns in a boating accident while trying to save this little boy. Hart wrote a song for Ruby, but he could never give it to her due to the boating accident. Ruby is absolutely shattered, she struggles to move on from the person she knows was her forever love. My heart absolutely shattered for Ruby, I just wanted to read into my kindle and give her the biggest hug.

Hart can't seem to let go of Ruby either, but he's dead, so how can that happen? Due to some divine intervention, Hart is offered a second chance. Only it won't be as simple as bringing him back to life, instead Hart's soul is transferred to the body of a local bad boy. Hart's soul is transferred to the body of Jameson. Jameson had a bit too many enemies when he was alive. Jameson lost his life to a drunk driving incident when he crashed his car into a pole. When Hart returns to town as Jameson, he realizes that winning Ruby back will be more challenging than he'd imagined. An angel is thrown into hart's life, he's forbidden from telling Ruby the truth, and with each passing day he spends as Jameson, memories of his life as Hart begin to fade away. Hart is supposed to be living in Jameson's house, but no one actually knows that it's Hart's soul in Jameson's body. Though Ruby still mourns the loss of Hart, she can't deny that something is drawing her to Jameson. As much as Ruby doesn't understand the sudden pull, she knows it can't be ignored. <b>Why does Jameson remind Ruby so much of Hart?</b> Please do yourself a favor and read this book immediately.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Razorbill and Jennifer Cervantes for accepting my ARC request in exchange for honest review

Synopsis: Hart and Ruby has always planned for their future together, until one day Hart drowned in the ocean and everything has never been the same for Ruby ever since. Little did she know, that Hart got a second chance at living by getting his soul into a body of a boy that Ruby has hated all her life, Jameson. Hart tries to prove to Ruby that he's back but day by day, Hart's memories are taken away as he lives as Jameson. Will there be a second chance of happiness for them?

"He told me love doesn't need more than one heart"

Review: I was a big fan of You've Reached Sam and that was one of the few books that made me reached for several tissues beside my bed because as all humans are, we wish for more time for the characters to get their proper closure and goodbyes. I was intrigued with this book because the feeling of longing for someone and wishing them to be happy without you is the greatest kind of love. The book is everything I expected it to be between both Hart and Ruby on how great their love are for each other, but I wish it explored more on the family's side of grieving especially for Hart's dad who suddenly just... vanished. The book focused mainly Ruby's grieving but I was not really attached to her feelings. It gets a little bit better towards the end where I was rooting for them. Overall, this book is great for anyone who's looking for an easy read and for perhaps loving a second chance romance, you should give this a try.

This is a perfect example of a clean YA novel. I wanted something different and this seemed like a good choice even though I am not the “target audience” for which this was intended. Problem number 1 is that I remember the movie Heaven Can Wait from when I was a kid. Same beginning premise, but older characters. Mostly a sad book dealing with grief, which was somewhat unexpected but I kept thinking it would take a turn and be more uplifting once the truth starts to leak out. Not so much. Hart and Ruby were ok…and it was sweet they loved each other so much even if we didn’t really see the why or how of it. My real issues with this story were more existential. Hart’s not allowed to keep his memories despite this being an angelic FUBAR because “that’s not how it works”. They need to be taken so he can live this new life. But what is a soul without its memories? And why does he have access to memories that are not his? If our meat suits are what holds our memories….what is the point of a soul? The whole stepping into someone else’s life and forgetting my own seems like an offer I’d refuse.

Due to a recent personal loss, I am temporarily setting Always Isn't Forever aside as I am not in the right headspace to read stories about grief. I do plan to pick the book up at a later date and will update my review then.

Thank you to Netgalley and Razorbill for providing me with a review copy.

The cover for Always isn't Forever is what drew me in, it reminded me of another book I've read - you've reached Sam, a book I adored but also made me cry. I expected the same from Always Isn't Forever, and this did not disappoint on that front. The story is amazing and the love and grief the characters feel really comes off the page. I would highly recommend this one!

Incredible, romantic story about loss, grief, and the power of love helping heal all wounds. I really enjoyed this story very much about Ruby and Hart, a pair of childhood sweethearts to are tragically torn apart from a boating accident. Hart encounters an angel who had mistakenly taken him from his life too soon and to make amends, she places him in the body of another teenage boy, who unfortunately turns out to be someone Ruby can't stand.
So...I had a few thoughts of where I thought this story might go. I thought it would be about Jameson (who's really Hart) trying to win over Ruby, and turn into something like 50 First Dates. Well, it's not. I thought the story was much more romantic than that.
The dilemma is that Hart cannot tell Ruby the truth about what happened to him and who he really is as it would upset the balance of the cosmos. In addition, Hart would eventually transform into Jameson with Jameson's memories. Just with his own soul. Kind of a trippy concept, huh? So timing is of the essence here. Adding a sense of urgency, Hart will slowly have his memories taken away the Lourdes the angel which will complete his transformation into Jameson. Hart is desperate to tell Ruby, give her the message that he loves her and never meant to leave her, which gets very tricky.
Such a romantic story as Hart struggles to hang onto his own memories of his past life, which bit by bit , chunk, but chunk, gets taken away. He struggles desperately to hang onto Ruby, every memory of her that he can, or at the very least, the memory that he loves her even if he can't remember exactly their time together.
This story does bring up a lot of metaphysical issues that I find myself asking as I read. What is a life but a collection of memories? What makes you you besides your body, your memories, things you like, etc? Ultimately for Hart, his love was strong enough to push through the laws of the universe, as well as convince an angel to make sacrifices of her own. Even though the ending may not be totally ideal (which I'm not spoiling) its a lesson that for every gain there's a loss, and for every loss, there's a gain. Just like in the human experience.

Always isn’t forever is a story about these really cute, made-for-each-other childhood sweethearts called Ruby and Hart. Ruby loves troubles and Hart loves to list all the ways things can go wrong. Ruby wants to explore every hidden corner of the world with Hart on their boat- Ladybug and Hart wants to keep writing love songs for his Ruby. They are opposites but as legend goes, opposites tend to attract. Everything is perfect in their love story. Except for one thing. What happens to true love when death arrives on the door?
Hart was determined to get money from working extra on his boss’ party to buy a boat for Ruby on which they plan to travel the world. Ruby didn’t want him to go, and so he shouldn’t have because when the storm hit the boat, Hart didn’t get a chance to tell Ruby goodbye.
Or did he….?
Maybe not quite in the way he expected. Hart’s soul is sent in the body of Jameson Romanelli, the high school bad boy and football champion, and as if being in the body of Jameson Romanelli, who Ruby hates with a passion, wasn’t punishment enough, Hart is also not allowed to tell anyone in the living world that it is HIM in Jameson Romanelli’s body. Not even Ruby. So, he better figure out how he tells Ruby a final goodbye, and fast, because with each night he goes to sleep, he’s forgetting who he is…who Hart is. Time is ticking.
The moment I read this blurb, I wanted to read this book, and then I finally got to it, and boy, was it a ride? Let’s find out.
Obviously, as you can read, the book deals with some heavy topics such as death, grieving, and obviously depression, so please be careful before you pick this book up. If you do not feel comfortable reading about these topics, please don’t.
Although, one thing that I really loved about this book was how the author kept the story humorous throughout the story. One would expect that a book like this which covers sensitive topics like death would also have dark humour but actually, no. I loved how despite such an emotional and heavy topic as its theme, the story had such a light humour till the end. I was literally crying one second and laughing another. Overall, the story had a very feel-good vibe to it which was the last thing I had expected from a book like this. But it was good, just not something you get to see a lot.
I also loved the characters a lot. And their humour, especially. My favourite was Lourdes but I liked her more for her personality more than her humour.
Another thing that I really wanted to discuss while I was reading this book was that this book contains mentions of supernatural cosmic powers, angels, fates, auras, tarot readings and spiritual stuff like that, because I don’t know about you all but I absolutely love spiritual and astrological stuff like this. I know that a lot of people don’t believe in these things but I JUST LOVE IT. If you are someone like me, please comment down below. I would love to know that I’m not the only one who loves reading and writing and learning more about supernatural, cosmic, angelic powers that are way beyond our imagination (giggles).
Okay, anyway, back to the topic.
I do have some complaints too. Now, don’t get me wrong. I was totally loving this book till the end and I was THIS close to giving it 5 out of 5 stars butttttttttt…….the end didn’t do it for me.
Let me explain. Usually, I love a book where the characters have a desire, a quest that they want to/have to complete in order to get what they want to achieve but as they progress through the story, something changes, the character themselves change and they learn a couple of lessons that they had no idea about before this journey. I mean, to me, that’s the whole point of the story- how the characters changed by the end of the story, or else, there was no point in writing the story.
Now with this book, I was given to understand that this couple- Ruby and Hart were inseparable in the beginning and that they believed that they couldn’t live without each other but things changed, their fates changed, and by the end, I kinda had expected them to learn something from their journey…
And you know what, they did. They were learning the so-called “lesson” and me? I was loving the book. It was at this point when I told myself that I’m gonna stay way past my bed time to finish this book because this is gooood.
BUT THEN
The characters ended at the same place they had started. The. Same. Place.
Like, what just happened? And like I said the story was overall very feel-good viby but this was WAY TOO GOOD to be true, fairytaly-unrealistic-happy ending like. If this was the five-year-old me, she would have definitely loved this story through and through. And, yes. I did like story, in general. But the end. The writer in me didn’t really like the end. It was way too unrealistic in my opinion, even though, let’s be honest, coming back to life in another person’s body isn’t very realistic either…
But the point isn’t even about this being unrealistic. It was the fact that the characters ended up just the way they started. Nothing really changed other than their circumstances. The characters didn’t learn anything. So, like what was the story even about? What was the point of anything at all?
Maybe this is just something that some would call a personal/subjective opinion of mine, so I won’t stop you from reading it. Because honestly, I loved the book, just not the end and I definitely would love to come back to this book to reread it sometime. Because let’s be honest, I was living for the light humour and the good-vibes! And it definitely helped me get out of my routine rut that I was stuck in for a while.
Overall, I would give this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars because of the end. The rest was top class amazing! This book just got published in June, so please go, BUY IT NOW.
I would like to thank the author, the publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest opinion. Thank you so much for reading!