Hello again! In this post I will be reviewing the book Forever After All by Catharina Maura. I copied and pasted the book's description from Goodreads below so that you can get an idea of what it's about if you haven't read it already.
Desperate and out of options, Elena Rousseau walks into a gentlemen’s club, ready to sell her body in a last attempt to save her mother’s life.
She didn’t expect Alexander Kennedy to be there, and she certainly didn’t expect him to propose a marriage of convenience instead.
Marrying Alexander means knowingly becoming a tool in his revenge plan.
But what choice does she have?
Better the devil you know than the one you don’t.
I was intrigued by the plot, because I've never read anything like this before. Overall, the book was entertaining, but it was all drama, drama, drama. It was like reading una novela instead of watching it. For some reason, I expected a different writing style. Lately, I've been surprised by the writing style of modern authors a lot. It's like I expect the writing to be more mature and dare I say, classy? The Catharina Maura and the author of The Perfect Marriage both have writing styles that are very juvenile/immature, at least in the way that they're characters talk to each other. You'd think the characters are middle schoolers at some parts of the book. Once I got past the writing style, I processed the story. I also skipped over the spicy scenes, so if anything important happened during those scenes I've got no idea.
Like I said, the plot was new to me, I've never read romances like this, or marriage of convenience books. I must say, I'm hooked. I loved the high stakes plot, the way Elena wanted to save her mom above all else. Elena was a strong character despite the circumstances. She reminded me of Cinderella in a way, with an evil stepfamily, and remaining kind throughout the whole thing. She worked three jobs to keep her mom alive, and her desperation led her to a "gentlemen's" club. That's where Alex came in. Alex was not my favorite male character to be honest mainly because of the way he treated people from the working class. He was at times demanding and rude to people who were just doing their jobs, for example, the register lady when Elena wanted to get her purse fixed. At the same time, I liked the rude way he dealt with Elena's stepfamily, they deserved it. Alex needed to marry Elena to get the position his grandpa had, and Elena needed him to pay for her mom's hospital bills, which is how they ended up married. They seemed to get along fine, and Alex's family completely adored her. Elena started to fall for him, but Alex was to busy pining over his ex-Jennifer to realize he loved Elena. Jennifer was horrible, she was on the same page with Elena's stepfamily to let her mom die, and for Elena to go to that "club". I don't understand why women don't help women, it's unforgivable for Jennifer, Jade, and the stepsister to plot like that against Elena. There was a huge plot twist, where Elena found out her mom was being kept in a coma on purpose, because her dad wanted to keep all the wealth for Jade (who he had always cheated with) and the two adult kids they had together. In the end, they ended up in jail, but what bothered me was that Jennifer stayed free. I'm pretty sure she knew about the crimes and went along with it, which makes her an accomplice.
Now, let's talk about the romance. Alex and Elena had a little of a toxic relationship, with Alex showing dangerous signs of possessiveness. At the same time, Elena was almost a door mat at some points, but I'm not judging her too harshly since her mom's life was in Alex's hands. Alex wanted to use Elena to get back at his ex and to get the job he wanted, but to be fair he did tell Elena all of that. I also want to give him credit for always sticking up for Elena when she was bullied by her evil family. He always put them in their place. However, Alex is supposed to be thirty. He doesn't act like it, and can come off as immature, especially when it comes to love. I mean, I'm a young student, and even I would handle his love life better. When Elena left him, he obsessed over her, and stalked her with her mom's permission. He literally sat outside just to catch a glimpse of her every morning and night. Elena stood her ground for I think it was 3 months (I can't remember, I read like three more books after this one) and then they started a healthier relationship. They dated and then married for real.
Overall, an easy one day read for when it's raining outside and you want some drama.
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