Small Review: Cindy Miles

Release Date: July 1, 2013
Publisher: Point (Scholastic)
Pages: 288
Received: ARC from publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

Summary

From Goodreads:

On a misty cliffside, mystery and romance await. . . .

Ivy Calhoun's life has been turned upside down. Her new stepdad has uprooted Ivy and her mom, bringing them to live in an actual castle in the misty Scottish countryside. There are stone-faced servants and shadowy corridors, and the ancient walls seem full of secrets. Ivy is at once frightened and intrigued.

Especially when she meets Logan, a gorgeous, elusive ghost who has haunted the castle grounds for decades. Ivy is immediately drawn to him . . . but Logan is not the only spirit around. Something dark and deadly is afoot, and soon Ivy finds herself in mortal danger.

Is Logan exactly what he seems? Could his mysterious past be tied to Ivy's present? And can Ivy stop herself from falling in love with him?

Mini Review

Forevermore is exactly the type of book I was hoping it would be. Like Rebel Spirits, Forevermore is the kind of fun summer read you need to just go with and not ask too many questions or expect too much depth.

Main character Ivy is the type of heroine I can get behind. She's smart, fun, and she doesn't spend chapters trying to come to terms with things or whining about her lot in life. There were so many things Ivy could have angsted over (her step-father, her mother moving on after the death of Ivy's father, having to move from the US to Scotland) and yet Ivy never once complained. I could hug her for that alone.

Ghostly romantic lead Logan is wonderfully swoony (and I picture him looking NOTHING like the cover model). He's the kind of guy who leans and lifts one eyebrow. He's chivalrous and kind, but he also knows how to tease a girl in just the right way to make her knees wobble. This is not the kind of book where there's a ton of character depth, but for a brief summer fling, I was totally satisfied.

There's a surprising number of supporting characters and I loved every one of them. I appreciate how, despite the small page count, Cindy Miles still managed to take a little time to flesh out each of Ivy's relationships with her mom, step-father, the groundskeeper and butler, her new friends, the author, and the pack of gorgeous Scottish knights (yeah, you read that last part right). These little scenes added so much enjoyment for me.

Bonus points for setting the book in a Scottish CASTLE, complete with canopy beds, window seats, ruins, a labyrinth, and, of course, a treachery-filled history. I loved every second spent in this place.

The characters were enough to keep me reading, but the plot was pretty engaging, too. The mystery went in a direction I didn't expect and while a lot of things were eventually predictable, I didn't guess them from page one. I wish there had been a little more explanation given for some things, especially considering how rapidly everything wrapped up in the end, but this is a minor quibble.

Cindy Miles is an established adult author with Forevermore being her first foray into YA. I hope she writes more YA, but I liked her writing so much that I'm going to try to track down some of her adult novels. I'm especially interested in Highland Knight, which plays a significant role in Forevermore (that pack of knights...).