*Review* Ashley Wilcox's Waiting on Forever

*Spoiler-Free* REVIEW: Waiting on Forever
by Ashley Wilcox
Published On: April 29th, 2013

*DISCLOSURE: ARC was provided in exchange for a fair and honest review

Waiting on Forever
by Ashley Wilcox
Publication Date: April 29th, 2013

Synopsis:
College.

Parties, sororities and getting drunk.

Oh, yeah. And learning.

This may be true for most college students, but not for Leah Bennett. College life for her includes studying, working, and excelling in school. When it comes to the social ladder, Leah is at the bottom. Popular girls, hot guys and star athletes are of no importance to her, except for one.

Matthew Jacobs.

Matt is the starting wide receiver at SUNY Cortland, the most wanted guy on campus and Leah’s best friend. Although Leah’s feelings toward Matt run deeper than just a friendship, it is something she would never let be seen because the odds of someone like Matthew Jacobs going for someone like Leah Bennett are slim to none.

When Matt starts showing an interest in Leah that goes beyond friendship, she is dumbfounded and doesn’t believe it is possible – until one weekend that changes everything.

Will Matt and Leah’s popularity status get in the way of having a chance at a real relationship?

Or does status mean nothing when it comes to true love?

My Thoughts:

Waiting on Forever is a sweet college love story of nerdy girl meets big man on campus/star football player. The entire story is told from Leah’s POV with the exception of the Prologue and Epilogue told in Matt’s. I love this glimpse into the start and the “end”/new beginnings of their relationship from the male’s perspective. Leah is smart, a bit of a loner, but feisty and confident in herself...for the most part. Matt is handsome, sweet and oh-so-generous. Together, the make quite the pair.

Though this is book two of the series, I hadn’t read the first book and Waiting on Forever works well to read as a stand alone novel.

While I loved the premise of the story, I, personally, felt that the pacing of the story was a bit rushed for me. I loved the fact that Leah and Matt found a lingering connection with each other from the very start, but I felt like I missed a bit of their journey along the way. I wished that I could see the development of their relationship a bit more to support their rapidly intensifying courtship. However, the parts that we do see are endearingly cute and grin-worthy.

I should also mention that along with all that sweet & cute, there is plenty of super steamy and some heartbreak inducing moments as well. The steamy had me fanning myself several times throughout.

With­out say­ing a word or wast­ing an­oth­er sec­ond, he push­es his mouth against mine with an in­cred­ible amount of need and pas­sion. Just as my knees start to give out Matt reach­es be­hind me and cups my butt, pick­ing me up and plac­ing me on the counter. Wrap­ping my arms around his neck I pull him in tighter, re­mov­ing any added space be­tween us. I’ve nev­er done this with any­one be­fore and I’m shocked at how much more of him I’m crav­ing....

I’m not sure how far he’s will­ing to go, but I’ll go as far as he’s will­ing to take me.

One thing that slightly bothered me about the book was the overall negativity that the characters show towards the “sorority girl” archetype. Now, I was never of this particular group of people, and while I can understand and agree with a lot of the bias, I didn’t really feel comfortable by the tone and negative feelings towards these girls as a whole. This is a character choice, and there were certainly many characters within the book for which the negativity is well justified, but I would have liked to see a bit more open mindedness or perhaps, revelations to cause the main characters to see some good in these girls. While this was something that bothered me, it did not greatly detract from the entertainment I garnered on the whole.

The Final Verdict:

Waiting on Forever is a sweet happily ever after story that will provide you with an afternoon of fun. While there were a couple aspects that I felt could have been improved upon, this was an enjoyable book with likeable characters that brought out many smiles from me throughout.

Rating:

About the Author: 
Some may consider me a jack of all trades, but I consider myself well rounded. I’ve waitressed, styled hair, answered phones and, most recently, worked full time as mom to my two beautiful little boys. Then there was this book… Everyone and their brother started talking about this book series titled Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James. I didn’t really pay attention to the craze at first, since I wasn’t a big reader- okay, I didn’t read at all.

But curiosity got the best of me, so I downloaded it to my kindle.

I was immediately hooked. I read the whole series in three days. Yes, three books in three days. I kept finding all these great books that I HAD to read (just ask my credit card!). Then I started hearing voices. Voices that turned into stories; stories that were begging to get out of my head. I started writing them down on scraps of paper. Then I transferred them to my computer. Before I knew it, Planning on Forever was born.

The voices in my head are still talking, so I’m still writing.

Where to purchase & learn more:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Add on Goodreads | Author's Website

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all the best, dear readers!