Totally Graced: Book Review: Continuing Forever

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

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"Getting kidnapped isn't anything like what sixteen year old Marie had imagined...it's worse. No, she isn't being kept in a cell or tortured, and a ransom note hasn't been sent to her mother. And yes, she is being fed, clothed, and over all pretty well cared for. She even has friends to talk to and dances to attend. But something seems wrong, and when the unthinkable happens, it becomes clear that everything is not okay. Marie and dozens of other teens and adults are being held captive by someone who believes in things Marie has only heard about in books and movies...imaginary worlds, for example. Marie is now certain that her captor is a complete psychopath; one with a lot of power. She and her friends look for ways to escape, but it soon becomes apparent that they have much more pressing and hazardous things to worry about...things even worse than being kidnapped by a psychopath. "

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When my friend Anna announced that she was publishing her first e-book this summer, I was super excited for her- publishing a novel is BEYOND exciting! But when she approached me asking if I'd like a copy of the book in exchange for a review, I was even MORE excited! Reading a new book is always cool, but when it's something that your friend has PUBLISHED, it's 57328971593x cooler.

Continuing Forever is a sci-fi novel that absolutely blew my mind. I'll admit, I'm not typically a huge fan of sci-fi, but this book had me on the edge of my seat. It really held my interest, while in other sci-fi books I typically find myself just waiting for it to end. I absolutely devoured this book, reading it in roughly a day and a half. It was that gripping.

(I also forgot until the very end that it was a trilogy, so I had a bit of a panic moment for a second. That was fun.)

My soul was definitely crushed by this book. I'll warn you- Anna apparently has NO qualms whatsoever with knocking off her characters at the most unexpected moments. You think you like a character? Bam. Dead. Okay, you've moved on, found a new favorite? Say bye-bye two chapters later.

Well, there go all of my emotions.

Trust. Nothing.

I'm not even exaggerating. When I finished, I had to frantically message Anna, freaking out at her for crushing my soul.

^^ Exact reaction.

So, I'm not sure whether you'd consider extreme emotional emotional manipulation to be a pro or a con, but it's a thing, just as a warning.

The one con that I will say with this book is at certain points, you kind of just have to suspend your disbelief, when it comes to specific plot points. Like I said, I'm not someone who's super used to sci-fi, so occasionally I had trouble with just how implausible a few things were. They were really good, I'm just more of a practical person, so I had to put that out of my mind occasionally. That's just a personality thing, though- if you're a huge sci-fi fan, you'll adore this.

I particularly enjoyed the characters in this novel- it definitely made it harder when they died! But there were several characters that I could really connect with, and that made it quite enjoyable to read. If you're like me, more of a character driven person than plot person, you'll enjoy these characters.

Overall, I really liked Continuing Forever- it was a great book, and I'm super proud of Anna for all her hard work! I can't wait to read the next two books. Definitely check out Continuing Forever- you won't regret it!

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