Forever Today by Katie J. DouglasMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Cowboys, Catholic psychics, and love come together under a hot Arizona sun in the author’s debut novel. Wyatt is fresh out of high school and leaving for boot camp in October. He is only in Patagonia for the summer. Charlotte is nineteen and running from her past, into the arms of her psychic Aunt Rose, who is also Catholic and well loved by this small town. Neither expects to find love and both have demons to slay in their past and face a hard future. Wyatt has his parents’ divorce in his rearview mirror and basecamp and the Marines in his future. Charlotte has her troubled mother, possibly college and the gift of a psychic. Her dear Aunt Rose is her guide to accepting this hard, yet wonderful gift but knowing pieces of the future is no easy feat. (It reminded me of The Giver by Lois Lowery)
The novel gets off to a very slow start but the writer does an amazing job of putting the reader in Arizona, swimming alongside Wyatt and Charlotte at the lake, watching the town come alive in the evening, and the Mexican American culture of the southern border. The characters are wonderful and endearing, especially Aunt Rose. She is the aunt or grandma that we all have that embarrasses the heck out of us with her blunt words and flirtatious nature, but we love so much and can’t wait to be old so we can get away with what she gets away with. I found the book overloaded with flashbacks that I felt took away from the intensity of Wyatt and Charlotte’s love story and made the story drag but maybe those details set the scene for future books. Either way, the gripping ending will have you waiting for book two.
The language in this book is strong and not suitable for children. I know of very few people who use the word Sh** as much as Aunt Rose.
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Whitney Buckley 