Evermore

"Good plot"

"Read this for the first time in like middle school, and even still now as a 25 year old I love it. The series never fails to make me happy. And I never fail to want to read it over and over. One of the few series I actually own the entirety of!"

"This is prob gonna be a long review, so TLDR: This book is awful. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone UNLESS: 1) They like reading bad things and do this for fun (like me, ha) or 2) they like unrealistic people, flat stereotypes, insta-love, and cliches. <br/><br/>I originally read this a long time ago in the 7th grade or something because I randomly picked it up to read for my school's SSR. Then I tried to reread it again in around 2016ish after recalling how I didn't like how it was going. Though evidently, it was so bad that I legitimately <i>forgot nearly everything</i> that happened in it. And then, I decided to reread this book again this time around (and attempt to go for the entire series), because I wanted to challenge myself, see how far I can get with reading this trash. I guess that makes me a masochist, but I like reading bad things. Oof. I have a love-hate relationship with this book, because while it's bad, I do love making fun of it. <br/><br/>Anyways, backstory aside, I guess I'll start with the positive things about this book to be fair:<br/>1) It's fairly easy to read. (Though the writing style... Well, I'll get to that.)<br/>2) The plot does get a little interesting towards the end and picks up. <br/>3) <br/>...I can't think of anything else to say about this. It's short????<br/><br/>Now, onto the bad stuff. There's a lot, so I'll try to keep it brief.<br/>1) Ever's psychic power seems so inconsistent. She can read minds, see auras, and predict some stuff, like the winners of a horse race (though she's not capable of predicting the future, I think, which makes it really inconsistent). She also, somehow, can get answers from questions on quizzes by putting her hand on it and is also able to know a book's information just by touching it. Which does not make sense, in my opinion. She is also able to tell what a person's life is like when touching them, which is fair, I guess, but she also can indirectly tell what's going on with other people's lives from touching a person. For example, in the beginning when Haven touched Ever, she was able to tell where Haven's dad was, what her mom's personal trainer was like, and that her brother broke her CD. All of which Haven herself didn't know. I just find that super BS.<br/><br/>2) Damen is just so Perfect and there's literally no flaws to him. He only says he "sucks at love" but uh. Doesn't really seem like a big flaw if you ask me. Also, he only ever seems to be Hot and Perfect. Nothing else to him. He ALSO, apparently, knew Picasso, Shakespeare, Leonardo Da Vinci, and other famous people I don't want to bother to name because it's just so Stupid. In addition, he's put on a huge pedestal and the highschoolers just obsess over him-- which is really unrealistic. (I'll go over this more in detail.)<br/><br/>3) The people in Ever's school are so judgmental of her for no apparent reason. They think she's a freak, even though she's done nothing to show that she is one. Other than the fact that she wears hoodies a lot... Which a lot of girls wear anyways?? She would be seen as a normal, introverted kid, and no one would go out of their way to be ****** towards her.<br/><br/>4) I actually liked Haven in the beginning, but she later became annoying and overly irrational. She had the potential to be an interesting character, but Alyson Noel just had to ruin that, huh. <br/><br/>4.5) Also, Riley is annoying, but she does get more tolerable later on... Towards the end. Kinda funny how the annoying character gets less annoying and a not-so-annoying character gets annoying.<br/><br/>5) Ever and Damen's love is so unrealistic and insta-lovey. I just hate it so much??? They kiss within the first 100 pages of the book, no joke. Not to mention the fact that Ever is only 16 and yet SOMEHOW, she's acting like he's her One True Love... Even though she hardly even knows him. Seriously. She actually says it herself. She also gets annoying and clingy even though they just started dating. God. The relationship drama is also just so stupid. <br/><br/>6) Ever just seems to be so whiny. I know you're supposed to feel for her loss or something, but somehow I just can't feel sorry for her... Though perhaps it's just how she was written. Every time she whined about how everything was *her fault* I just wanted her to shut up. It's like she's angsty just for the sake of being angsty. There are a few instances where she really grated on my nerves:<br/>a) In one part of the book, she was talking about how she moved in her aunt and began to describe IN DETAIL what she got from her aunt. It felt like she was flexing and wanted to show off what she had, which annoyed me to no end. She claimed that all of it was meaningless, but if so, why describe it all in detail?? A "My aunt gave me so many amazing things, but I can't enjoy them and they can't replace my loss" or something along those lines would suffice. Instead, she goes on to talk about how she has a jacuzzi and all these other cool things. Okay, Ever. We get it, you're rich, white, and privileged. Shut up.<br/>b) The way she just talks about her self-deprecation, but does NOTHING to help herself, like seek therapy, is so annoying. For example, the way she described group therapy seemed so conceited and snobbish, like it wasn't worth anybody's time.<br/><br/>7) A lot of the characters seem so superficial, flat, and unrealistic. I already talked about how Ever's classmates judge her for no apparent reason. Stacia, one of Ever's antagonizers, seems to be bad just for the sake of being bad. Drina, another antagonist, also seems overly evil and is such a cliche to the point it seems laughable (though she does have motivation, so I'll give some props). Ever's old friends, Brandon and Rachel, withdrew from her after her accident, which feels quite stupid, given that it feels like Noel just put that in to make Ever a loner. Friends don't act like that, and clearly they're fake friends for the sake of being fake. As for Ever's current friends and family, Miles is a stereotypical gay guy (but he's the most likable), and Haven seems to instantly dislike Ever when she gets the attention of Damen, which I thought was really baseless. Sabine seems to just exist, and she doesn't do much to help Ever feel better (though she does offer to get Ever in therapy). She's not around much to the point where it feels kind of negligent.<br/><br/>8) Ever, for someone who gets judged a lot, also judges a lot of people too. For example, she judges Ava, who wants to do nothing but help her, and she judges Drina. Yes, Drina turned out to be an awful bitch anyways, but she didn't even know Drina when she first started judging her. She also judged this guy Sabine was dating just because he still lived with his mom, as if that was some Unforgivable and bad thing. People aren't perfect, and as long if Sabine loves him, then why would it even matter?? <spoiler>(Eventually she dumps him though, 'cause dating flawed people is unacceptable I guess.)</spoiler> Anywho, there are probably more instances where Ever judges people, but I just don't remember.<br/><br/><spoiler>9) Drina's villain monologue. Need I say more?</spoiler><br/><br/>10) Ever, as a whole, is so annoying and irrational. She makes stupid decisions, she's super clingy, and not even relatable. When she's not thinking about Damen, she's angsting and whining. Not sure how people were able to read through this **** without wanting her to shut up, to be honest. She's a really unbearable protag.<br/><br/>I might be missing some other major flaws, but anyways. Here are some smaller nitpicks I had with the book:<br/>1) The writing style. I swear to god, I've started to utterly <i>despise</i> the phrase "I press my lips together" and any variation of it. Your lips are already pressed together. Is her mouth open all the time??? Also, a lot of the sentences start with the word "and." While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it's done excessively. Seriously, who edited this novel???<br/><br/>2) Alyson Noel seems to be completely out of touch with high school life. Here are some examples:<br/>a) For some reason Ever is allowed to wear a hood up in class. It’s part of a standard high school dress code that no hats/hoods are permitted to be worn in class.<br/>b) Kind of a small nitpick, but Noel described a part where the students wore flip flops. I also don’t think that’s part of the dress code (I might be wrong though. Still, not many people wear flip flops to school. Source: I grew up in California. I know what high school is like there.)<br/>c) The high school teacher leaves his room open and lets his students come in when he himself isn’t there. That’s not what happens in a normal school-- if a teacher is late, the door is left locked and the students are left outside to wait.<br/>d) High school teacher introduces the Hot New Guy Damen in class. That never happens. If there’s a new student then they’re never introduced.<br/>e) Why is everyone calling Damen sexy??? They’re in high school, no one really gives a damn about the new kid even if they’re hot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen high schoolers called other students sexy either?? That’s just too weird. <br/>f) "Omigod??" "Chichi???" what the fu<br/><br/>3) Additionally, Noel, who says to have lived in California, seems to make it into a flat stereotype:<br/>a) She seems to idealize it as an always warm place where everybody surfs. I live in California and lived here my entire life. It's winter right now and I'm cold. Also, I can't surf.<br/>b) There’s a part where Noel writes “Haven’s just learned that the quickest way to stand out in a town full of Juicy-clad blondes is to dress like the Princess of Darkness.” Bruh. They live in California, specifically South California, which I personally know is a VERY diverse place. Not everyone is blonde, not everyone wears Juicy. If anything, Ever’s style of clothes (which is just a hoodie and jeans I guess?) is more normal than a bunch of people wearing name-brand clothes.<br/>c) She mentions California surf speak. Totally tubular bro. Watch me catch this gnarly wave. Nah man we totally talk like this bro. Also we surf everyday and if we don't pass our surf test on our 16th birthday, we get executed. F<br/>d) seriously just stop romanticizing california it's not special and it's expensive to live here. also we're currently on fire so. ????????????????<br/><br/>4) Ever's attitude towards Ava specifically is so ******* annoying. She makes me want to bash her head in a wall. She accuses Ava of being crazy, even though Ava PROVES she is psychic. She accuses Ava for ruining her life, when all she did was try to offer help. Her relationship with Ava is essentially this:<br/>Ava: I want to help you and your sister, I’ll be here to help if you need anything<br/>Ever: UGH STOP RUINING MY LIFE!!! YOU’RE MAKING ME FEEL ****** AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!!<br/>Yeah, just blame someone who's not the source of your own personal problems. Shut up.<br/><br/>Aaaand... Those are all my nitpicks (I think). <br/><br/>I've probably forgot to mention a lot of stuff in general, but anyways. I think I've got a basic gist of my thoughts and how I feel about this novel. It made me angry so many times.... BUT LET'S KEEP THE PAIN TRAIN GOIN'. ONE BOOK DOWN, FIVE MORE TO GO!!!"