I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

So…it wasn't my favourite Gayle Forman novel.

We Are Inevitable is the story of Aaron Stein. He is an old soul in a young body. He has seen things and dealt with things that no one should have to at his age. Drugs, losing a family member, the breakdown of his parents marriage and he is just trying to hold it all together. Parallel to this, Aiden is trying to keep the family bookstore afloat.

A lot for any one person to be dealing with.

So all of this I am okay with. There was the additional romance story line which again was nice but I felt that both stories were fighting for poll position. I did not know which story I was rooting for. I felt pulled but not necessarily in a good way.

It was a nice story but I think after reading some of Gayle Forman's other books I personally was expecting more.

We Are Inevitable by Gayle Forman is available now.

For more information regarding Gayle Forman (@gayleforman) please visit her Twitter page.

For more information regarding Simon & Schuster Children's (@SimonKIDS) please visit www.simonanschuster.com/kids.

Once again apologies for the delay in getting a review wrote!

Sadly this one just wasn't for me, it felt a bit repetitive in some aspects and I didn't really enjoy the characters as much as what I wanted.

I think because I disliked a character so much it just kind of declined for me, II'm a very character driven person for my books so I think it's a me and not the book situation.

There is so much in this book that I loved. The literary references, and book loving characters. The bookstore being a central part of the plot.
I loved the mental health rep, and the talk of addiction.
I liked that the things that happened in Aaron's life impacted multiple aspects of the story, from his personality and the way he interacts with people, to his family situation and even his love of Books.
It was a very quick pager Turner of a read, with an amazing supporting cast of characters.
The only reason this is a 4 star for me, is because I would have liked to of seen things fleshed out more. I wanted to get to know Hannah and Chad and the Luberjacks more. I felt there could have been more to explore with them.
Overall though, this was an enjoyable read, and when my only negative is wanting more of the characters and story. I think that's as positive as a negative can be.

I put off reading this for ages but I’m trying to get my netgalley feedback score up to 100% so I finally tried it. Well, I was right to leave it for ages. I loved a lot of Gayle Foreman’s earlier stuff (If I stay etc) but this one didn’t grab me at all. I decided to DNF at 32%. Not for me & I wouldn’t recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this in return for an honest review.

I don't know how to start this. There were parts that I loved and parts that I didn't.

I absolutely LOVED the bookshop plot and sympathised with Aaron's situation however he is a jerk- for somewhat understandable reasons.

No one can make me cry quite like Gayle Forman, especially her earlier work of If I Stay and its sequels. Reading her novels over the years has always been a moving experience and We Are Inevitable was no exception.

I love Gayle Forman, and think she’s such a great YA author. Not my absolute favourite of her books, but still a lovely YA book.

I read the first few chapters of this book and I thought of DNFing. No, really. I wasn't interested and the main character came off like the whiniest and least interesting main character. But I didn't want to DNF a book so early in the year, so I continued, and bing bong - I ended up enjoying it more than I had anticipated.

We are inevitable is about community. And family, and friendship, and how having the right people around you can be so greatly healing. Its also a story about the love of books and how stories can be helpful. Aaron, our MC, is working in a struggling bookstore with his naive and innocent old dad. Wanting to give up on the failing bookshop, he inevitably goes behind his father's back to sell the building off. But when he meets an old acquaintance and a fun, happening band, Aaron finds himself in the middle of a journey contrary to what he had intended. With his new mate Chad, and the group of workers fixing the bookshop, and a new love Hannah, Aaron seems to like it all. Even music, which he had so casually claimed to not like. And as they all keep working to better the bookshop, the secret of Aaron's misdeed keeps looming on top of them to destroy the happiness any moment.

Honestly, there were so many parts in this book that I did not like, and at the same time, there were so many that I did like. And Aaron fell in the first category. He was a difficult character to sympathise with and so many of his thoughts were so dismissive, so offensive. I did not like him at all. Gosh. But he is ultimately a flawed character and I guess I did warm up to his development at the end. It wasn't the best but he learnt his lesson and that was good.

Chad and Aaron's dad were honestly my favorite. So wholesome and so freaking adorable, both of them. I loved the way Chad was so powerful and thoughtful in his own presence, and his disability wasn't made the only characteristic part of him. I loved that. And Aaron's dad was so sweet and honestly deserved better aah. I did not honestly like Hannah and Aaron's relationship. Their really wasn't much of a chemistry to go on with so I was glad of the way it happened with them at the end. I liked the route the author took and it was actually so much more realistic. Aaron could be a douchebag a lot of the times damn.

Overall, this book was sweet. It was hopeful and dealt with grief, and how to heal with people around you. It also dealt with the theme of change and opening your mind to newness, to learning. I think at the end, it was a pretty good book. I especially enjoyed and adored the end. It was really sweet.

I honestly don't know how to review this book. There were parts i liked and others I didn't. I sympathised with Aaron and his situation, all the terrible things that happened that turned him into a person who doesn't open up and always questions others intentions.

But that didn't stop me from being irritated with him for most of the book.

I liked the save the bookshop plot and the friends he made a long the way. Chad and Ira were such wholesome characters and i loved the builder guys.

The romance part was bland and uninteresting. And i had to stop myself from shouting at Hannah to run far away from this dude.

In conclusion I'm happy with how the story ended although it was a very lacklustre read.

Ah she's done it again! Another cracker that stole my heart and left me wanting to read her books all over again so I can get lost in her words.
I love Gayles writing. This story had everything I love, books, musical references, some heartache and then the ability to piece everything back together. Aaron was truly lost since certain events in his life and it could only be described as his world was crumbling around him. I know this story was supposed to be about him and Hannah but for me it was Chad that was the star. He pushed Aaron out if his comfort zone, he questioned and challenged him and was thw driving force behind the story. This book made me smile, made me laugh and also made my heart hurt. It dealt with some heavy topics which were handled well and even though there were some hard topics this book still left me smiling.

I've read Gayle's novels for a long time and she always knows how to draw me in and hook me instantly, and make me cry (most of the time) and this one was no different. The issues which she talks about are hard to read at points but they draw you in and hooks you from the start. It was a truly heartbreaking, but enjoyable novel with wonderfully warm characters & story.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

Aaron Stein has found himself stuck in his dead end town after graduation. Where all of his friends have left for college, events in his Senior Year has left him as owner of his family's book store, alone with his father, as his mother travels, mourning the loss of Aaron's brother, Sandy. When he realises that the bookstore is a dying entity, haemorrhaging money, and his father is in even more credit card debt, he decides to sell the store, and his brother's prized vinyl collection. But when he meets Hannah, his whole world view changes. She loves the books he loves, and picks a song for him wince makes him believe it's all inevitable - but is it too late?

Right, I'm going to hold my hands up and say I just didn't like this book. I mean, I didn't hate it, but none of the characters, or the plot, or the feel of the book, excited or engaged me. I did read it in two sittings, so there's a plus, but I was just annoyed with Aaron for most of it, and his and Hannah's 'relationship', was not a good one. I appreciated the way that losing Sandy, and to addiction too, had affected the whole family, but Aaron's way of dealing with it was not a good one. People around him, or who came to be around him, were trying to help, and seemed to really care, but he was awful to them. Chad and the Lumberjacks, honestly, were the only reason this is a 2 stars, rather than a 1 star review. Very disappointing read for me.

Gayle Forman is an author I have had some real hits and misses with. Her previous release, I Have Lost My Way, I completely fell in love with, so I was highly anticipating her newest book. We Are Inevitable follows Aaron who feels he has been left behind in his small town in order to help his father run the family's failing bookstore. He basically hates everything and everyone, but throughout the book finds some unlikely friends and maybe even love. It pains me to say that this book was not for me. I can see it's appeal and definitely think it will be a hit for a lot of people, but it was not my book. I hated Aaron as a main character! He was horrible to everyone around him, so inconsiderate towards his father, and I just didn't care about him at all. That wouldn't have been too much of an issue if this book had more to the plot, but it was very character driven. The failing bookstore plot wasn't anything exciting and the romance was a bit of a fail for me. The side characters and the ending were about the only redeeming qualities for me. However, as I said, I do feel this was very much a case of the book not being for me rather than being a bad book. I would be aware, though, that this book deals with topics such as addiction and substance misuse, and discusses addiction in some not so great ways that made me uncomfortable.

Gayle Forman returns!! This was an aching read, full of sadness, full of fluff, and full of poignant beauty.

We Are Inevitable is centred around Ira and Aaron - father and son - and their rapidly failing bookshop. Where Ira believes books are miracles, all Aaron wants to do is escape - escape the bookstore, the debts and the crappy little town he grew up in.

Without giving away the storyline, this is a book about addiction, grief, blame, self-awareness, the impact of our decisions, community, and above all else, the power of books, music and friendship.

Thoroughly enjoyed it and was rooting for Aaron all the way through. I haven't read anything in about 2 months but this book had me gripped from the outset and left me with a big smile on my face.

This book is great fun and a joy to read. A dying bookshop run by a father and son experiencing abandonment and grief unexpectantly finds hope from an unlikely source. Aaron's life hasn't followed the path he had envisaged - college, moving away, settling down - instead he has been trapped by obligations to family since the departure of his mother following the death of his brother. The weight of expectation has squashed all the joy out of him, until a sequence of random events, first meeting Chad, then Hannah sets, off an alteration in outlook and a spark of love that manifests unexpectantly. At its heart We are inevitable is an exploration of love, but in its broadest sense and in all its variety. Surprising and perfectly uncliched with echoes of Nick Hornby or John Green.

It took me some time to get into this (8% of the book to be precise) and then I binged it and finished it on one evening after work! I loved the story, the characters, the message but I am super jealous of Aaron living in and owning a bookshop - that’s the dream!!

I loved Aaron and Hannah’s story, and also enjoyed reading the evolution of Aaron and Chad’s relationship!!

There’s a lot of community spirit, which is really positive and inspiring with the world as it is with Covid!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an early copy !


Listen, I'm still slightly traumatised by Gayle Forman's If I Stay. So I started reading this one with quite a lot of caution, ready to close it and forget all about it if there was some more description of brain matter spattered on the road.

There wasn't, so, that's good.

But also, this was a beautiful book all over. Sure, it was depressing at times (it is, after all, a Gayle Forman's novel), but it was also filled with hope and beautiful characters.
Also, it takes place in a bookshop, so there's that.

In this novel, we meet young Aaron. After his brother's death, he's left alone with his dad, trying to take care of their irremediably failing bookshop. Things aren't looking too good, to say the least, but his life is turned upside down when he meets Chad. A few years older, Chad is paralysed and in a wheelchair ever since an accident.
He's also very funny and full of wisdom. And determined to make Aaron's life better: he takes him to shows, and somehow manages a team of workers (nicknamed the Lumberjacks) to renovate the bookshop.

Throughout the story, I really couldn't help but feel for Aaron. Filled with guilt and unprocessed grief, he's doing his absolute best to take care of his dad, but in the process, he definitely forgot to take care of himself.
With Chad helping him, and with his new (more than a) friend Hannah, he'll slowly deal with his grief and the years of buried anger.
The set of characters are truly wonderful. I absolutely loved Chad, but Ike was a favourite too. They all have a wonderful backstory that actually makes sense, and makes you want to know more about them, and to root for them.

And, ah, the feelings! They're mostly good feelings, but this novel makes you go through all sorts of feelings, and that's truly wonderful. You're sometimes angry, sometimes laughing, there's definitely a bit of crying, and you finish reading the last page with your heart full and a smile on your face.

Definitely a very enjoyable read, and not as depressing as I was expecting it to be!

This book was not what I expected. From the blurb, I expected a romance. What I got was a lot more of a complex story and family, family obligations, view of others, how to live your life/ not sacrifice your life for others, and so much more. I did really enjoy this. However, I wish that it had been pitched as less of a romance and more of a complex story about growth and friendship. I absolutely loved the character of Chad, though I did find Aaron rather irritating.

Headlines:
Melancholy bordering on sad
Injections of hope
Families grieving

I found We Are Inevitable to be an incredabily melancholy read. The main character Aaron was burdened with so many stresses and emotions that a 19 year old shouldn't have that I got why he was the way he was. Still, I needed those bits of hope that were occasionally pieced into the story.

This was a story for booklovers, about a booklover who owned a bookstore. However, even the bookstore had tragedy in its shelves. Aaron's father, Ira was difficult to fathom, his mother a puzzle and his brother created an unresolved bundle of emotion. There were key themes of grief in this book and you need to be ready for that.

There were a number of clever uses of other books, book quotes and how books can soothe and solve within the story and I really appreciated those nuggets. I didn't buy into the romance and the story let me know why that was.

"One of our largest shelves has split down the middle, like the chesnut tree in Jane Eyre. And anyone who's read Jane Eyre knows what that portends."

I found this book a bit of a pacing roller coaster but it still kept my attention. I did feel the emotion of the culmination and that was satisfying. Overall this was a book I liked but didn't love.

There are other triggers in this book that I haven't mentioned, so please look for those on other reviews or DM me for details.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster UK for the review copy.