The Forever Girl brings together a group of family friends for a wedding. This story brings all the romance, angst, drama and love that comes with having a family on the outs with each other over time. Jill Shalvis with her writing style immerses you in the characters feelings while leaving you with a feeling of happiness at the end of the story.

Hello

Apologies for the late notice, but I have decided not to review this title. While I am certain it's obvious by now, I wanted to also clear this off NetGalley, so it's not showing as open for either of us.

I look forward to continuing to work with you in 2023 and beyond.

Laura

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Love the cover. A cute romance women's fiction novel. Highly recommend

I really love Jill Shalvis's take on small-town romance with a touch of Women's Fiction. She knows how to write the heroines journey. Thank you for letting me read and review this book

I tried, gave up. Just couldn’t get into another book in The Wildstone Series. I picked up each book and tried. I am a long, long time fan of Jill Shalvis and something just didn’t click. I see the other reviews so I just admit, not every book or series is for everyone. Read and come up with your own thoughts.

The Forever Girl was... just okay. Shalvis books fall into the "women's fiction" category for me -- not enough spice to call it a romance, but hits certain emotional notes that you would expect. One of the things that Shalvis does best is focus on the female friendships and relationships in her books -- I often care more about those than the central romance (here: between Maze and Walker). However, all the characters are lovely, and you're not going to have to deal with anything too pressing when you read this book (an escape is nice!).

Something about this didn’t work for me in the way Shalvis ensemble books usually do. It felt like there was too much of one subplot and not enough of the rest.

I loved this book. At first I didn't like Maze very much. I couldn't get into her at all. As the book progressed I started to like her even more. Her sense of independence is something to admire. All the toughness melted away to her gooey center. Great addition to my collection from Jill Shalvis.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review and Shalvis never fails me. I love it!

I always read Jill Shalvis as her books come out and always review on Goodreads and Amazon. I always forget to review here! I loved this book and anything she writes!

Wildstone is back… with some serious emotional trauma. Any fan of Jill Shalvis knows she has a terrifying skill at breaking the readers’ heart even as she builds you up to experience the deepest love story imaginable. Her Wildstone series, though unconventional and different from her previous series, is no less filled with love and emotion. Most series are most tightly connected, primarily through character connections, but to my recollection the only connection so far in this series has been the actual setting, the city of Wildstone, with minimal character crossover. Instead each story has had two couples connecting and finding their way to an HEA, giving us double the happiness and love. This newest addition, begins with a bit more of a heavy trauma and backstory, setting the stage for the much deeper emotional drama to come, but in all I found that I laughed plenty and was happy to have the coupes find love. Just to prevent spoilers, I will stick with describing Maze as her story is the primary one, but I will say that one of her sisters-of-the-heart also finds love and her HEA in this novel. Maze is returning home after a long separation, brought about by her own fears and insecurities, but instigated by the marriage of her best friend from childhood Cat. Unfortunately she knows that her first love Walker will also be there and she is not really ready to deal with him. The loss of their relationship and the love she thought they had broke her as a young woman, but she is still not prepared for his impact on her. Walker has returned for the wedding and has his own ulterior motive when it comes to Maze, but seeing her and being stuck in a house with her for a week is awakening some long-dead feelings her has been denying. Can either of them lower their walls enough to have a chance at a happiness that has been just out of reach their entire lives or will their loneliness continue as they split again for good this time? Walker and Maze were definitely both tough nuts to crack, but as we get to know them, learning about their painful pasts and the mistakes they both made as young idiots, it becomes abundantly clear that they are made for one another. I enjoyed watching them dancing around their emotions until they finally decided to drop their guards and let one another in, even at the risk of pain, so that they could find that HEA they had been chasing. The passion and draw was always there between them, even when they were both reminiscing to their youth, and you couldn’t imagine two people more connected physically or emotionally. I am glad both of these couples found their happy ending and that their little family found a way to come back together and stay together despite their rockiness of the week the spent together and the trauma they lived. Another masterpiece of the healing power of love, Jill!

I received this book complimentary from NetGalley but all opinions are my own.
Oh this was super sweet. It took very long to get to the denouement but the story was well-written and well-paced enough to make it worth it. I would definitely read another Shalvis creation. The characters were full and rich and well-rounded. I really liked Maze and Walker (fun note: one of my childhood crushes was named Walker!) and the family was perfect. I just loved this story. It was pretty accurate to my experiences as well. I don’t want to spoil too much but the foster system is as messed as described in the book very briefly. How the foster system experiences played out in the characters was really interesting. I really liked this one.

Maze doesn’t think she belongs to her family. When she comes back to Wildstone for a wedding she has to face all of her fears. ARC from NetGalley.

This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Forever Girl (Wildstone #6). By Jill Shalvis. 2021. William Morrow Paperbacks (ARC eBook).

The Forever Girl is about strengthening family and second chances. I found it to have an engaging mix of humor, steam and heartstring tugs. “Siblings” Walker, Maze and Heather return to Wildstone to see their sister Caitlin get married. Added into the rollercoaster ride is Heather’s young daughter, Sammie, Maze’s plus one, Jace, and the fiance, Dillion, his pugs, Roly and Poly and his overbearing mom. Overall, a fun escape!

When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect books to snuggle up with on any day.

Mazie has had many heartbreaking experiences in her, and walker had a tough childhood, 2 foster kids with rough beginnings All their friends had just as difficult childhood as they have, as well as a tragic loss. Walker,Heather, Katlynn, and Mazie love each other fiercely and support each other to find their best lives.

I have got to stop reading teasers for the next book before I write my review for the book I just finished. I’m emotionally wrung out from a couple of pages and DESPERATE for more information about Love for Beginners.

The Forever Girl was bloody good but it was also pretty sad. Maze, the troublemaker, Caitlin, the bossy boots, Heather, the terrible secret keeper, and Walker, the Bond … a wee bit James Bond and a lot, bonding agent keeping them all connected. These guys are not blood-related, but they are still family. They have survived a terrible accident and are connected because of the loss of someone they loved. Unfortunately, their survival is also a weighty burden and sometimes they need space to deal with their grief. With Caitlin’s wedding in the town where some of their fondest memories are, they must come together again. Maybe this time they can get past their hurt and learn to forgive each other and themselves for surviving.

Sometimes, I find it hard to connect with emotionally unavailable heroines. In this case, though, I completely understood Maze, connected with her, and found myself agreeing with some of her choices. I understood her frustration when the wrong decisions of her youth seemed to taint her future. I felt the burden of her guilt and wished I could lighten her load. I think protecting her heart was the right decision to make until Maze learnt to love herself and accept help from those who love her. It’s time for Maze to stop being emotionally unavailable and accept and give love to her family … especially the one man who has always held her heart.

Walker has had a lot of people walk away from him. Sometimes, he keeps following just to make sure they don’t need him. Other times he lets them walk away and hopes they will come back. Honestly, for Walker, he can count on one hand the people he wants in his life. Two, are the only parents who matter to him. Two, are the sisters of his heart, and he will always have their backs. One, is the woman who broke his heart … but, "the heart wants what it wants". Walker has kept an eye on his woman but he also let her walk away hoping she’d come back. Now, it’s time for both Walker and Maze to stop running away from love.

Geez, I love the way Jill Shalvis makes me cry. Crazy, I know. She just manages to pull my heartstrings enough to get my emotions up but not too much that a kind word or loving gesture can’t fix it. It has been a long time since I’ve sat down and read a book for a couple of hours straight. I could have finished The Forever Girl last night but I knew that I’d be up until the cows come home trying to write my review. So, I kept an hour’s worth of reading left so I could write my review after a good night’s sleep. It was bloody hard to put it down though but, I was determined to not write gobbledygook. Not sure I accomplished it, but I gave it my best shot. 😉

Wildstone is the kind of series where you don’t have to read each instalment one straight after the other. They are not interconnected except for where they are set. So, if you haven’t tried a Jill Shalvis yet, The Forever Girl could be a good place to start … or, you could start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. I'm a huge fan of this author and I highly recommend all of Jill Shalvis' books.

Meet Maze. She finds herself back in her Wildstone for her friend Caitlin’s wedding. There is so much history in that place for her; pain, happiness, sorrow, love, fear, joy, friendship and good memories coupled with some bad ones. The wedding draws in people from her past as well. Once upon a time Maze, Heather and Walker were a part of Caitlin’s family, when her parents took them in as foster children. A tragedy had split them all up and they had gone their separate ways, but now they were all back together, confronting their feelings and their pasts. One particular person of interest to Maze, was Walker. There had been an instant connection between them which they tried to pursue in adulthood, but it had failed miserably and it left them jaded. Now at the wedding, they were face to face again. The question was were all the feelings still there and was a relationship worth pursuing?

I really enjoyed this story. I found it to be a little slow for my liking at first, but I stuck with it and I am so glad I did. It was such a charming story with a small town cozy feeling. I felt connected to Maze and Walker and was rooting for them to work out their issues and be together. I haven’t read any other books in this series but definitely want to start at the beginning and read through all the other books now.

It took me some time to get to this and it has since been released but I do want to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

This series was so good! I blazed through it back to back, and I really hope there are more!!!! These stories are all so unique and heartfelt, they just feel good to read.

When I say I hope that Jill Shalvis continues the Wildstone series into perpetuity, it is no exaggeration. While they all seem to have similar tropes and themes, they are each so nuanced and real and heartwarming and life affirming - I actually hesitate to read them because I know that I will gobble them up and then what will I do? The notion of a "found family" is done so well here: Caitlin's family fostered Maze, Heather, and Walker collectively at one point in their lives and then an accident led to not only a tragic death but also resulted in Maze, Heather, and Walker being displaced once again. So while the romance is real and lovely, the story about these siblings of the heart reclaiming their family and rededicating themselves to each other is the real highlight. Jill Shalvis manages to balance a tightrope between romance and women's fiction in a way that I find irresistible and unmatched. 5 out 5 wine glasses.