ARC Review – Forever This Time (Echo Lake #1) by Maggie McGinnis

Forever This Time was a complicated story packed with emotion but there were many moments of fun, hilarity, hope and a whole lot of love. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures 

Description:
Forever This Time is the story of Josie Kendrew, who returns to her tiny Vermont hometown after ten years’ absence when her father has a stroke, and Ethan Miller, her jilted high school sweetheart, who’s taken her place as the CFO of the Kendrew family business: running Snowflake Village—a “Santa’s Village”—style amusement park.

Josie, now a successful therapist with a Boston practice, isn’t sure how she feels about being back in Echo Lake. In some ways, things have changed a lot; Ethan’s got an MBA, seems to have something going with Molly, her childhood best friend, and he even owns the beautiful Victorian they’d always talked about buying together. But in other ways, the place is exactly the same, with reminders of the heartbreak that drove Josie away lurking around every corner. When Josie’s “Little Sister” Avery died of cancer at the age of ten, the grief nearly destroyed her, and ultimately inspired her choice of career. It also caused a hurt so deep she knew she couldn’t stay in Echo Lake, surrounded by memories. And she’s not going to stay now; as soon as her dad’s health improves, she’s headed right back to Boston, to her therapy practice and her quiet apartment. To her lonely, safe life.

As for Ethan, he’s not all that pleased to see the woman he once loved. It took a long time to pick up the pieces Josie left behind, he’s proud of the work he’s done to bring Snowflake Village into the 21st century, and he’s worried that if Josie finds out about his project to honor Avery’s memory, she’ll get the wrong idea. He’s not planning to make it easy for Josie to come back, and he’s not going to pretend that all is forgiven. They can’t just pick up where they left off… right?

Review copy provided for an honest review

Sometimes you get way more out of a romance than you expected and that is the case with Forever This Time by Maggie McGinnis. I’ve read this author in the past and enjoyed her work so I expected a well written, enjoyable, fun, sweet romance and I got all of that but I also got an intense and emotional journey between two people changed by two incidents that left them both reeling as teenagers. This was a complicated story packed with emotion but there were many moments of fun, hilarity, hope and a whole lot of love.

Josie left her hometown and her family’s business after high school and hasn’t looked back escaping the dysfunction of her family and leaving behind the man she loved when she saw him offering the same type of life she wanted to escape. When her father has a stroke, she returns home to find that while some things have stayed the same, others have changed drastically.

Josie was such a complicated heroine, I liked her but at times she was just so standoffish that she made it hard to really understand her. As her story unraveled it became clear that her childhood and teen years were not stellar, but I also admired her for how much she gave to a very special young girl named Avery. I don’t like the way she left town or the people she hurt, but I could sympathize with her and understand why she did what he felt she had to do. It was interesting watching her meld back into small town life and into life at Snowflake Village her family’s Christmas themed park. As she came to realize just how many people had helped her as a teen without her even realizing it, the ice wall she’d built around herself began to melt and it was interesting to watch her see life a whole new way. While her being back affected Ethan probably the most, he really did his best to be civil and it was obvious they were both having problems containing their feelings towards one another from the start.

Ethan impressed me with the way he handle Josie’s return and while he did have a bit of fun at her expense with the “jobs” he assigned her at Snowflake Village, I really don’t think he did it to be mean; it was more self preservation and I think he was secretly hoping that Josie would begin to remember the magic of the park. I loved that there was so much more to Ethan than met the eye and that he didn’t share a big part of his life with Josie because he wanted her to want him for him and not for the things he’d done.

Every interaction between these two was important from the confrontational ones, to the sweet ones, to the angry ones to their walks down memory lane. They shared a past that was riddled with so much good, but there was also a lot of disappointment and pain and Josie had suffered so much that she did the only thing she felt she could and left. I hurt for these two young people who endured so much, but seeing them as adults I can’t help but think that those incidents made them stronger, made them better people and made them capable of forgiving and reaching for the love they both so desperately wanted.

I enjoyed most of the secondary characters immensely with the exception of Josie’s ex-best friend Molly who just came off as mean, angry and a bit self centered. I get that she was hurt by Josie’s disappearance but talk about living in the past, I just really had a hard time with many of her actions in this story.

Despite its moments of grief and sadness this story was truly an uplifting story and while there was no doubt Josie and Ethan still had feelings for one another, I liked that it took time for them to repair their relationship and move forward. A heartwarming and delightful story Forever This Moment is another fantastic offering from author Maggie McGinnis and a great start to a new series.

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