I loved The Summer Before Forever. The storyline kept me intrigued the entire time and the characters were so relatable.

Sweet and cute story.

The discalculia aspect was interesting and I enjoyed the explanations and how that affected Landon. The attempted assault Chloe experienced was also interesting, though I feel like she may have gotten over it a bit quicker than made sense.

I like the dynamics between all of the characters, including Jenna and Cynthia.

All in all, a nice and sweet read with a bit of sexy thrown in. Perfect to read on the beach or by the pool.

4 Stars
3 Heat

The Summer Before Forever is the first book in the before forever series by author Melissa Chambers. The books are all interconnected standalones. I have read and really enjoyed both of the books in the series, but my favorite book was the first one. I just loved Chloe. She was by far my favorite character. It was so great watching her summer transformation. It didn’t feel cheesy or forced; it felt natural. And it was a ton of fun.

In The Summer Before Forever, Chloe goes to spend the summer with her dad, his fiance and her soon to be new step-brother, Landon. I really, really loved Landon at the start of the story and at the end of the story. He got to be a bit much for me at about the 75% mark because I thought he was acting a little crazy, but I get it- Chloe is pretty awesome. But he won be back over again very quickly. Chloe is pretty much dreading the summer because things have been tense between her and her dad, so she brings her best friend Jenna along. Jenna is the main character of the second book in the series, Falling for Forever. And she is a larger than life personality. She cracks me up. I loved seeing her as Chloe’s best friend first before I saw her in her own story. She is a lot, but it is so clear that she would do anything for her friends. Chloe and Jenna are an odd pair, but I really love their friendship.

The Summer Before Forever was a feel good read from start to finish. I love that Melissa Chambers picked a learning disability that I had never heard of before. I learned a lot about Dyscalculia, which is a learning disorder that affects the way numbers are processed in the brain. I found this to be a fascinating pick, not only academically, but also for things in Landon’s every day life, not to mention how it affected his ability to play football at a college level. Melissa Chambers clearly did a lot of research to make everything seem realistic, and she brought up many points that I hadn’t even considered. I actually really loved that aspect of Landon and how it all played out.

And finally, let’s talk about the romance in The Summer Before Forever. I freakin’ love Chloe and Landon. looooove them! I loved how Landon was fascinated by Chloe right from the very start, and he was unwavering. I liked how Chloe was a bit reserved, but her progression with Landon was super adorable and heartfelt. This book, and this series, is the perfect summer read. Pick it up for a beach day, a pool day, or even a rainy day in bed. Just read the Before Forever series. It will put a smile on your face.

I read Falling for Forever immediately after reading the first book in this series, The Summer Before Forever, and I liked Falling for Forever even more! (Note that Falling for Forever can read just fine as a standalone.) Jenna was introduced in the first book, and I was not a fan of hers at all- she was so full of herself! But I do love a series that can change my mind about a character, and Chambers definitely did that with this book. I loved the premise of this story and loved that there was a talent competition in the plot- I have no musical talent AT ALL myself but love reading about singers and musicians. Jenna and Miles had great chemistry and I enjoyed the believable banter between them. Overall a great read!

Chloe and her BFF, Jenna, are driving down to Florida to stay the summer with Chloe’s dad. The man is getting married and that includes not only a new step-mother by a new step-brother. Chloe was hoping he would be some artsy guy that would love weird music. She ended up with the All American boy, and a gorgeous one at that. Now she has to find some common ground with her soon to be new family and try to spend some quality time with her estranged dad. All while attempting not to flirt with her hot-soon-to-be-new-step-brother Landon. Yeah many things, but what doesn’t help is that Chloe is harboring a secret that has been weighing her down. She is scared to talk about it with anyone and is in complete fear of allowing anyone know the scar she now harbors emotionally and mentally.

To help Chloe, Jenna creates a list of 10 things that Chloe needs to accomplish before the end of summer. The list consist of…

1. Go up and talk to a boy at a party
2. Wear a bikini to the beach
3. Take a self-defense class.
4. Sing Karaoke
5. Send a plate of food back at a restaurant
6. Express your true feelings to someone
7. Have a real conversation with your dad.
8. Say no to something you would otherwise say yes to out of convenience of non-confrontation
9. Stand up to someone
10. Kiss a boy you like.

This list gives Chloe the hebejebez, but with the help of Jenna, Landon and Cynthia (soon to be step mom), the list gets checked off slowly.

Landon is your all around American Boy, he knows it and everyone tells him so. However, he has a massive secret that he refuses to tell anyone. Those that do know try to help him (a.k.a. Fix him) and it never ends up well. Have you heard of dyslexia? That is with reading. Landon has what is called dyscalculia which deals with numbers and math. He struggles with concepts that would seem normal, such as counting money, simple adding and subtracting. Landon has a tutor and he schools football team changes the way they call out plays to words and nicknames instead of numbers to help Landon. It is a struggle that he has been dealing with all his life. His father thinks its an excuse. Because of the Landon's learning disability he doesn't feel comfortable going to a school for football. Football has numbers as a large part of the game, and he doesn't believe that a school will change the way they do plays to compensate for his dyscalculia. He has resorted in attending school in Florida instead of pursuing his dream of going to Georgia Tech for football. When his mom decided to remarry he gains a stepdad and stepsister. So this summer they are suppose to bond and become a family. After meeting Chloe, Landon knows he is in deep trouble. The gorgeous girl that comes to his house is someone he does NOT want to be his sister. He rather be kissing and holding her. Their forbidden attraction cause problems during the summer. They have to sneak around and get cover stories to keep up their "relationship." Once everything hits the fan, it may be too late for these two.

I honest to goodness LOVED this story. I loved Chloe so much. She is your typical girl next door beauty, but shy and keeps to herself. She had to deal with a lot of crap with her dad and the horrific situation that happened to her prior to summer break. Jenna was added great comic relief. At times I didn't like her very much, but I can see how her and Chloe were bestfriends and balanced one another out.

While reading this book I felt that Chloe and Landon were each other’s heroes. They were strong in some aspects of their lives and other parts not so much. They balanced one another out so beautifully. I know I will read this book again and again. It was just that good. There was no way to put it down.

It is book 1 in the Before Forever duo. It alternates POV’s between Landon and Chloe.

I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Parental Info: Sex, some drinking, neglectful parents, attempted rape discussion, rape discussion, step sibling attraction, (some) active profanity

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
Melissa Chambers is a new-to-me author. I was instantly hooked from page one. The writing style was fluid, quick-paced, relevant, and, for the most part, sounded like older teenagers in action/reaction/dialogue. I was also thankful for the strong presence of parental supervision. Too many YA novels feature parentless/abandoned teens as a means to give them unfettered access to each other to propel the romance. While this is a split/blended family, as in real life, that doesn't mean the children raise themselves. So I was happy for the strong presence of family on the pages.

Chloe had something terrifying and life altering happen with a boy she had a crush on. Using the excuse to spend time with her absentee father, his new fiancée and her son, in preparation for their upcoming nuptials, Chloe runs away from her problems by getting out of town, with her BFF in tow. Chloe is level-headed, experiencing true-to-life guilt and shame, and feelings of abandonment from her introverted father.

With the bad experience haunting her, Chloe's trust in herself and the male gender has been broken, but nevertheless, she feels drawn to the protective, comforting vibe of her new soon-to-be stepbrother, Landon.

Landon has a secret of his own, one in which he doesn't want to feel any pity. He has a learning disability dealing with math in general, which affects every portion of his life. As he struggles, he wants to keep this portion of himself separate, not wishing to be pitied or helped. Landon is a solid character – smart, giving, kind, protective, and flawed to make him very real.

Together, Chloe and Landon are good role models for teens to read, making mistakes along the way, yet owning up to them and suffering any consequences without blaming others.

The side cast is a bit of an enigma, with the couple the focus. Chloe's BFF, Jenna, she could be a hard pill to swallow, but nonetheless loyal – I feel like I didn't get to know her personality, just what is on the outside in a shallow way, making her sound vapid, which I doubt she is. If you're only shown the outside package, it's hard to discover the inside worth. While the father doesn't have much scene-time, it's obvious his introverted personality is the wedge, not a lack of love. The new stepmother and mother, while not shown much, added a healthy support system.

Overall, this step-sibling romance was written well, highly entertaining, with a good moral and strong role models, featuring the aftermath of an attack as well as the very real struggle of living with a learning disability.

My only complaint, Landon's attachment issues with Chloe near the 80% mark made me uncomfortable, as it was unhealthy. This was addressed, but not quite as strongly as I wish, especially in a way for teens to absorb the difference between unhealthy obsession and a healthy friendship. This also goes for Monica as well, but she does own up to the toxicity.

I highly recommend this young adult novel to teens and those young at heart, and look forward to both more from this author and in this series.

Young adult age-range: 14+ due to darker content and sexual situations. However, I do feel there is a good moral to the story, one in which teens would benefit reading.

landon and chloe are perfect for each other. except the whole future step-sibling thing is weird. and chloe''s got hang-ups. so does landon. but it's summer, the summer before forever. and their parents aren't married yet. and maybe it's time they just enjoyed things without worrying so much about the consequences.

this young adult romance is so sweet. not overly so, as it's dealing with some real issues. chloe was nearly raped by her long time crush last semester and her strained relationship with her father isn't helped by his inability to communicate. then there's landon who is dealing with a severe learning disability, dyscalculia, which is an inability to process numbers or number patterns. he's trying to pass a remedial math course to finalize his high school graduation. a test he needs to pass in order to assure his scholarship to college, even though he's going on a wrestling program that he actually isn't interested in. his first love is football, but he thinks the accommodations they make for him in his small private school won't fly when he's at a division I program. the kicker being that he is actually good enough to go to a division I school.

landon makes chloe feel safe and respected. he makes her feel good about herself. and since so many of her issues stem from lack of confidence, being with him emboldens her in a way that allows her to grow as a person. with landon chloe is her best self.

and landon is so dreamy. he is struggling with his future, because he is afraid to go after what he really wants. and he also really wants to make chloe's dreams come true. so much so that when he puts her ahead of everything, they need to take a moment to breathe. it hurts him that it comes at a time when he wants to be there for her. she's dealing with the fall out from her assault and she's pulled away from him for valid reasons.

but as they figure things out, and figure out whether or not what they have is strong enough to last beyond summer. and beyond her dad marrying his mom, because it's a little bit weird and awkward. and also special and sweet and real. and maybe the combination of everything sounds crazy, but it's also what works for them.

I loved every second of this story. Chloe and Landon were so interesting, and very relatable. Their situation was interesting and unique enough to keep me reading, but believable enough to completely enthrall me. Can't wait for more!

Soon-to-be step-siblings fall in love when spending their summer vacation together at their respective parents home in Florida. Both main characters have difficulties to overcome. After a near sexual assault, Chloe is rightly traumatized and skittish around the opposite gender, while Landon has a somewhat debilitating learning disorder that he rarely shares with others. While falling for each other, they help each other overcome stigmas and fear.

After previously choosing not to read this title, I was bolstered by some positive reviews when I had a second opportunity. Unfortunately, while not being a terrible book, there were some things I didn't care for. 1.) While I really liked Landon, I felt that Chloe needed some more development or "oomph" to her character. To me, she lacked personality that would have drawn me to her. 2.) Not usually an issue with me, but I didn't care for the dual first-person POV's. I liked having the two perspectives, but first person didn't work well here. 3.) I'm not always bothered by insta-love if it makes sense to the story and with teens, insta-love is sometimes a given. In The Summer Before Forever, within a matter of a few weeks, Landon and Chloe fell in love and slept together (non-explicit.) While I don't particularly care for sex in YA books, I really didn't like how fast everything progressed in this one. It didn't really feel right for the story or characters.

In spite of the three issues, there were also some redeeming qualities to the story. I liked how the sexual assault issue and Landon's discalculia was handled - sensitive and empowering. If Landon and Chloe's relationship had progressed more moderately rather than the speed it had, I would have cared for their romance more. While not a completely unenjoyable book, at times it felt too unrealistic. (I voluntarily read a review copy of The Summer Before Forever. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.)

Do you ever just read a book and not know how to express how wonderful it is? That's how I feel right now. But I am going to try.

First of all, I'd like to thank Netgalley for supplying me with an e-copy of this wonderful book which I now need to find in hard copy. I admit that I was slightly weary about reading this one since it is a romance between two people who will end up being stepsiblings - but I did ship Jake and Claire on Degrassi so I suppose this isn't as weird - given that I have stepsiblings of my own. However, they are apart of my family and have been since I was six years old.

Back to the book, I liked that Melissa Chambers added dyscalculia into the plotline. I'd never heard of it before and it was pretty interesting learning about the learning disability and how people cope with having it. I also enjoyed Chloe's character especially since I was able to connect with her very easily given that we are similar.
I hope these two are mentioned in the sequel, I would love to here more about how their romance is working out and how Landon's doing with college.

PLEASE make this happen, Melissa!

I really enjoyed this book. As somebody that has the same learning challenges as Landon I loved how that was depicted. I have never a read novel that addressed that learning issue. It was so well done. I also really liked the romance and the harder topics that were addressed. It was a fun read but it had some serious heart. I love the focus on self adventure especially for landon. I did enjoy the romance and was happy with how the romance turned out. My favorite part was the exploring of disability and the harder issues that effected chloe. I hope we get more books in this series soon!

“The Summer Before Forever” was not what I expected. We follow Chloe and Landon, who are meeting each other at about 17 as soon-to-be step-siblings. Chloe has had a strained relationship with her father since the divorce (he’s a bit introverted), but she is spending the summer with him, his new fiancé, his fiance’s son, and her BFF, Jenna. Jenna is a minor celebrity, having gained some fame on a singing/talent show- and she’s an absolute hoot/fun character. It’s hard to see why she and Chloe are friends, since they are so different, but she’s such an enjoyable character, she really grows on you.

Chloe is still reeling from a traumatic event that happened before the book began. We learn pretty quickly that it was an attempted rape (luckily it was stopped by someone nearby), but the trauma has been hanging onto her. Chloe spends the summer healing from that event, slowly opening up to others and beginning to understand that she was not at fault/regaining her confidence. Jenna creates a list to help her, and they tick off the items on the list over the summer. I was a little worried about this list, but the items mostly happen pretty organically, so it works well. It seems to be a helpful tool for Chloe during her recovery. The great thing about this book is that it shows some resources that are available to victims (we see social support, baby steps in moving forward, as well as legal resources), and this sets a good example to teens.

Landon is about to head off to college to wrestle. Even though he loves football and would love to play it at his dream school, his dyscalculia makes it impractical- the team would have to work around his disability, and he just can’t see a D1 team doing so. Besides, the school he is planning to attend is close to his childhood friend, Monica, who helps to tutor him- and also has a massive crush on him of which he seems oddly unaware (although this becomes a big theme and unignorable). Pretty quickly, he and Chloe are drawn to each other, primarily on a physical level, and this develops throughout the summer into something deeper.

The best parts of this book are the inclusion of topics which may impact teens: healing/resources after attempted rape, what consent means, and coping with a learning disability. Some of the other content was less great- there were a couple references to suicide in a joking manner, which I found pretty jarring for a book which was otherwise sensitive, and also a lot of concentration on/discussion about/seeming importance of physical appearance/physical attraction (to the point of objectification). There is also the inclusion of the teenage drama around their relationship that I’ve come to expect in similar books, and it’s alright/not too overpowering. I think it is better for older teens, mainly due to the content that I mention. I do have some mixed feelings about the book. Overall, I think it has some strong content that makes it worth a read.

Please note that I received a copy of the book from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I will admit that I read a lot and when I find a book I truly love I have to share it. This is the first book from Melissa Chambers that I have read and I highly recommend it! I found this book to be full of love, hope, friendships, ups and downs. Chambers creates a world that is easy to get lost in and after reading her book you will feel as if you are friends with the characters. The plot line and settings adds a lot to the overall story making the characters feel very real and believable. I will not go into too much detail because I do not want to give away too much. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this amazing book.

Adorable YA romance! This was the perfect young adult summer read.
I couldn't put it down!

ok. i will admit i was a little unsure about this book once i realized it was a girl and her soon-to-be stepbrother falling in love.

i will also admit that i ended up reading this book in one sitting and stayed up til about 4 in the morning to get it finished despite knowing i had a 10+ hour shift 6 hours later.

i really am a sucker for a good butterflies in the stomach love story.

in the summer before forever by melissa chambers we get to meet some really amazing characters. chloe (sweet, modest, and a bit troubled) packs her best friend – Jenna (reality tv famous, outgoing, and the perfect storm to chloe’s calm) into her car and heads to her father’s new home with his new fiance and soon to be new son for the summer.

chloe’s relationship experience is non-existent. the only guy she ever really liked ended up making her fairly certain she wouldn’t be able to have a relationship or trust a boy – ever. landon – the future stepbrother – is charming and smart but has a pretty big secret of his own. you can feel the unspoken connection between these two characters immediately. they each have their own back stories that literally have nothing to do with the other but melissa artfully twists their pasts into the current story line in which their pasts are helping to set the stage for a summer neither of them are likely to forget.

i really don’t want to give anything away. at all. you really just need to trust me. this would be a fantastic book for a roadtrip, day at the beach, or rainy afternoon inside! the characters are believable and awesome, the dialogue is realistic, the subject matter is legit. if you’re a fan of a good, fun YA book – look no further.

i got all the feels from this book and enthusiastically give it 4.5/5 stars.