Review: The Next Forever (Pretty Amy #1.5) by Lisa Burstein

 Source: Received a copy for review to participate in blog tour.

Publisher: Entangled Publishing (Ever After)

Release Date: Already Released.
Number of Pages: 96 (ebook)

 Description from Goodreads:

One night in college can change everything…

Away at college, Amy just wants one night alone without her high school sweetheart, Joe. So when he invites her to go to the library, she heads off on her own instead. How she ended up at a house party with the mysterious bad-boy Trevor is another story…

Joe so isn’t going to the library. He needs space from Amy, too, so he’s decided to rush a fraternity, to get back the swagger he had in high school. But it doesn’t take long for the brothers to invite him to the real rush here the beer is flowing and one particular girl has set her eyes on Joe.

Over the course of one wild night, both Amy and Joe will have to decide if their futures belong with two new people, or whether the next forever will have their first loves in it.

 Purchase Links:

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I haven't actually read Pretty Amy yet...so this was my first time reading about Amy and Joe, and I really enjoyed it. I've also already bought myself an ebook of Pretty Amy because reading The Next Forever made me extremely curious to know everything that happened before it.

Having not read Pretty Amy myself, I think that The Next Forever can work as a standalone. I was able to figure out the gist of their past pretty easily and I wasn't lost at all, but I do think that if you read it first, you're going to want to go back and read Pretty Amy...so it might be easier just to start with that one . :P

This novella was a pretty quick read, just under 100 pages according to Goodreads, and it definitely passed pretty quickly. The Next Forever takes place over the span of an evening, and it has a similar pace. In fact, the pacing of the novella was something I really enjoyed. It was almost like it was happening in real time, which was pretty interesting and made me want to keep reading until I finished. :)

Again, I haven't read Pretty Amy, but I still felt like the characters were pretty well established. Obviously, I would've known more about them had I read Pretty Amy first, but I still felt like Lisa Burstein did a pretty good job of making sure the characters were defined. She didn't just rely on the presumption that everyone reading it had already read the first book, and she also didn't overdue it. She didn't go over every single detail of the events in Pretty Amy, so I think when I go back to read it, the bulk of the story will still be pretty new to me, which is good...I was kind of worried that I'd spoil the whole book for myself. :P

Overall, I thought The Next Forever was an awesome novella. It did a great job introducing me to Amy and Joe, and made me eager to go back and read their story in Pretty Amy. :)


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