Ever by Jessa Russo

Title: Ever
Author: Jessa Russo
Book #1 (Ever Trilogy)
Format- ebook
Published- October 1st 2012
Publisher- Curiosity Quills
Pages: 295
Source- NetGalley

Overview: 
Ever's been in love with the same boy since as long as she could remember. The traditional girl next door/boy next door situation. It's not like she ever told Frankie of her love for him and it doesn't really matter now because it's too late. You see Frankie is dead. Not only is he dead but he hangs around the house where she can always be reminded of the big what if in her life.

It's been two years and there's suddenly a new neighbor in Frankie's house. Not just any new neighbor but a hot new boy that likes to wear black and boots just like her. A real heartthrob. But what about Frankie? But what about Frankie? She needs to get on with her life. She never could have Frankie anyways. But when the new relationship starts growing Frankie is adamant that he's no good. He says it with meaning like he's keeping something from her and it may mean that both important guys in her life now might be keeping secrets. So who to trust?

Review:
First of all the cover: beautiful, whimsical, and a little haunting. Exactly the reason I picked up the book. So basically Ever's life just plain sucks. Her crush since forever is living with her but she can't touch him or hold him. He's just thin air. So she pines for him which isn't so unrealistic given the situation but she's ever so distraught about it all. It is quite depressing having him live in your house always out of reach. What the weird thing was that her parents and alive best friend (Jessie - the pink queen) could see him. What's up with that? Definitely different. It always was a bit of trouble because he always had to hide when new people came over especially with the new guy next door.

The new guy's name is Toby which I found so adorable but compared to his demeanor it made no sense. He initially did some things that made my stalker radar blare. And boy do I like crazy people in books so I got excited! This book does have a lot of drama which of course I love and it had a lot of layers of mystery to it. New people showed up to add to the mystery and growing questions in my mind. What I didn't really like about Ever was that she didn't think to ask questions about Toby. She talked on and on about herself and it took Jessie to spell it out for her. Do you really like talking about yourself that much? You know about yourself enough, question the guy! It took her a couple of dates (maybe the second) to realize how old he was which was scary especially since she has no idea who this person is! She convinced her parents so easily too that his age was okay. How are you any way that lucky!? Her parents were weird in the sense that they actually liked each other a lot and liked spending time together so I guess it makes sense they would have that abnormal response.

So. Much. Kissing. She dated this guy for a week and she lets him take control of everything. Letting her heart get away from her. I didn't really mind as much as I have with other books on the way she acted throughout the book. The plot and storyline was so amazing that I just went with it. I really don't think everyone would like this book though. I just happened to not mind with this book but others I have. Books where everything about the book is about touching each other and making out... I won't mention any names. But there was so much going on in this book, so much mystery, and DRAMA! That it wasn't as big of a deal. There was just one moment where I was like NO. You crossed a line. I really don't want to know about you having sex... come on.

Her and Frankie... hmmm... I didn't really see the connection there. They hardly talked with each other for her to be so in love with him. She did meet Toby right away in the book but the book didn't really establish a connection with Frankie and her that I can recognize as something that slipped by her. She did have these nightmares and he was there but that was it. It's not all about the physical even if he can't touch her. I wanted to see them actually having normal conversations from time to time but in the book she was ignoring him all the time so I missed out on that.

Sigh... Jessie, Jessie, Jessie. You go through a lot in this book. She's the pick queen in my mind. She doesn't wear anything other than pink clothes! Her car is even pink. Now I can appreciate the differences of personalities between her and Ever. Ever with her dark clothes and sad look but you can't possibly tell me that wearing pink all the time is better than wearing black. Pink means happy and bubbly which was Jessie but there comes a point in your life where you are not all happy go lucky and you need some black or at least get some red girl! Oh yeah... Ever apparently loves leggings but it was mentioned only like once. Odd thing to write on here but it just struck me as strange. And please ever don't call your shirt a wife beater... there are other words or clothes for that matter. Anyways Jessie is extremely loyal and gets even more riled up for Ever and her problems than she does for hers. I loved this intense loyalty she had, Ever should have reciprocated more. Well, she did have more going on with her life but still. Jessie deserved more than she got.

In the end I would hope that Ever becomes smarter about her choices and starts to take action in her life so she doesn't become a victim or naive. All that happened in this book - the twists and the turns make this book worth reading it and again the drama. All depending on you. I see some potential. I'm trying to make heads or tails of that MEGA cliffhanger that Russo left me with as well as some questions about some things not sought out in the book (hopefully) yet. I would like to see where it goes and hope that Jessie gets some happiness (Yes, I really do like her a lot). Hopefully this trilogy will have even more surprises for me and other readers to discover and unravel with more pretty covers too please!