Sarah Tuten (Children's Literature)
Macy begins her summer by telling her boyfriend, Jason, "goodbye" as he leaves to spend the next two months at Brain Camp. Jason is perfect in every way and makes Macy feel she has to be perfect too. She knows he challenges her, but she feels she needs this to avoid dealing with the death of her father. Her mother believes that the stress of her job keeps her from mourning his death. After receiving an e-mail from Macy ending in "I love you" Jason considers their relationship a distraction for him. He replies, explaining that they should take a break. When Macy decides to take a catering job, everything changes. She meets a fearless girl who informs her that it is impossible to be perfect. She also meets a guy who shows her how to remember her dad. Her mom observes these changes but does not see how much happier Macy is. If only Macy could get through to her mom, she would see that facing up to their loss is hard but necessary. I feel that Dessen does an incredible job of identifying the difficulties that come with losing someone. She points out how a person can react to a tragedy in many ways and how not reacting to the past can damage one's future. This book suggests that hope can follow loss. This novel captivates its readers by allowing them to get involved by placing themselves in the story. Although it will appeal most strongly to females, everyone can enjoy the entertaining elements throughout the narrative. 2004, Viking, $16.99. Ages 12 up.

Jeanna Sciarrotta (Children's Literature)
While Jason, Macy’s boyfriend, is away at Brain camp for the summer, she plans to spend her days taking over his boring library information desk job and waiting for him to return. To an outsider, Macy lives a life propelled by routine, organization, and “I’m fines.” Her father died in the recent past, but she and her mother have dealt with it and moved on in a way that includes a clean sweep of the house and an unspoken pact not to talk about anything involving the incident. Secretly, however, Macy finds herself clinging to hidden stashes of her father’s gadgets and the packages from his favorite mail order company that mysteriously keep showing up at the house. When Macy finds herself taking a job at Wish Catering after Delia hosts one of Macy’s mom’s gatherings, her summer takes on a whole new meaning. Through her relationships with the members of Wish--Delia, Kristy, Monica, and most of all Bert--Macy comes to realize that things are not as fine as her mother wants them to seem. It is not until a forgotten birthday present from Macy’s father is discovered that her past is linked with her new life and she finally understands what her father left for her. Dessen does not let her fans down with The Truth About Forever, which is just as captivating and moving as her numerous other adult novels. 2004, Penguin Group, $16.99. Ages 14 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 7))
Macy declined Dad's early-morning invitation to jog, changed her mind, and ran out to catch him, only to see him die of a heart attack before her eyes. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt, she sets about guaranteeing that every aspect of her life is controlled, perfect, safe-from her academically ambitious but unaffectionate boyfriend, to her tidiness, to her boring summer job at the library information desk. When Macy's cautious self-discipline collides with Wish Catering, its offbeat staff, and its wacky crisis management, readers can pretty much predict the outcome. Macy will be teased out of her cocoon and grief by a new job with the caterer and new friends (including romantic hunk Wes) into their messy, lively, creative world. The plot is too conventional, some secondary characters are stock, the storm that brings everyone together at the end is too handy, but the Wish team is lovable, the romance clicks, and readers will be entertained. 2004, Viking, 320p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 12 to 14. © 2004 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, May 2004 (Vol. 38, No. 3))
Each one of Dessen's previous YA novels has been named an ALA Best Book for YAs, and this one probably will be as well. I reviewed This Lullaby, Dessen's last novel, and loved it--The Truth About Forever shares some of the strengths of that book. Macy, the narrator, is smart and sensitive. Since the death of her beloved father a few years ago, her life and even her personality have changed: she has given up running (she was a champion) and has retreated into a rigid personality, trying to please her equally distraught mother who is a driven businesswoman. Macy has chosen a boyfriend, Jason, who can do no wrong--a genius with a lot of ambition. But now, this summer, Jason is going away for a few months and Macy is poised for change again. The change comes with a group of caterers hired for one of Macy's mother's events, and this group of people becomes the core of the story (this is a long story, with plenty of room for numerous characters.) The catering company is called Wish, and each member of the crew helps Macy relax and come alive, especially Wes, a sculptor who moonlights with his aunt, who owns Wish. Wes takes care of his younger brother, and everyone is still mourning the death of Wes's mother who was co-owner of Wish. Wes and Macy are friends throughout most of this story, confidants who understand something essential about each other. Certainly both know how devastating the death of a parent is. At almost 400 pages, readers have a chance to really live with these characters, enjoying many details of their daily lives--the wacky stresses of catering, the psychology of grief, complicated mother-daughter relationships, and evolving love between two intelligent, capable young people. The truth about forever? "It was always changing, it was what everything was really all about. It was twenty minutes, or a hundred years, or just this instant, or any instant I wished would last, and last." Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2004, Random House, Viking, 382p., $16.99. Ages 12 to 18.

Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July 2004 (Vol. 57, No. 11))
Macy responds to the death of her father by erecting a fine-just-fine shield over all of the aspects of her life that she can control--she finds a perfect boyfriend (rigid, uptight, utterly devoid of emotion but really smart and focused), gets the perfect job (taking over for the uptight boyfriend at the library information desk while he's off at Brain Camp) and becomes the perfect daughter (in her room by eight studying her SAT prep guide every night). Such an effort is destined to fail, obviously, and as her attempts at perfection begin to show signs of strain, she finds herself attracted to the disorganized, frenetic world of the Wish catering company, a small group of amiable neighbors and relatives (with an enigmatic hottie thrown in, of course) who embrace chaos not as a problem that needs to be controlled and overcome but as a productive philosophy of life. Dessen's strength is her ability to fully realize a character's inner and outer worlds; Macy's grief is palpable, and her slow thaw is believably rendered. However, the metaphors that accompany her transformation are contrived and obvious, the romance that nearly misses is nothing new to this genre, and the coincidental nature of the conclusion (where a gift that her father bought her before he died shows up just when she is wanting a sign, and just happens to be a sculpture made by the very boy she is wondering about) is beyond credible. In fact, the final scene where the new boyfriend repeats Macy's father's last words to her, but in a happier context, is so buttoned-down and laced-up Freudian that it could be considered therapeutic discourse on grief-work rather than plotting. Johnson's Key to the Golden Firebird, reviewed below, is a more satisfying book about mourning one's father, but those who are already Dessen fans will no doubt want to pick this up. Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2004, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2004, Viking, 374p, $16.99. Grades 7-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2004)
After her father's death, runner Macy Queen tries to conform to the expectations of her distant mother and perfectionist boyfriend. A summer catering job introduces Macy to some well-drawn peripheral characters, while providing the impetus for self-exploration and eventual communication with her family. This meandering tale explores different approaches to grief but is marred by a predictable ending. Category: Older Fiction. 2004, Viking, 382pp, $16.99. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 4: Recommended, with minor flaws.

Andrea Haas (The Kutztown University Book Review, Spring 2005)
Macy is overcome in grief from her dad’s death, but keeps it all inside. Her mother and over accomplishing boyfriend expect too much from her and want her to be perfect, if there even is such a thing. Her whole life is based around doing what others want and expect out of her, working at a job that she hates, and studying a SAT wordbook every night for next year. That is not a great life style. She doesn’t do anything that she wants to do and has no fun in her life. But that all changes when she joins Wish, a catering company. She makes great friends, gets to work at a fun job, falls in love, and learns lessons on life in the process. Sarah Dessen has given us another excellent book that should be read by girls everywhere. It is happy, sad, encouraging, and life changing. It is not a hard read, but will keep readers engaged for hours on end thrown into the life and world of Macy Queen, the perfectionist, runner, and main character of this story. The Truth About Forever is a great book and readers, girls especially, can get a lot out of it. The lessons that readers can get out of it can really be useful in life. It teaches that no one is perfect and to be yourself, and that a hole in the ground can teach you a lot. Category: Contemporary Fiction. 2004, Viking, $16.99. Ages 12 to 16.

Jenny Ingram (VOYA, June 2004 (Vol. 27, No. 2))
Eighteen months after her father's unexpected death, sixteen-year-old Macy faces a sensible summer working at the library and studying for the SATs. When things fall apart at one of her mother's catered promotional events, Macy ends up helping in the kitchen and meets the ragtag Wish Catering crew. As she continues to work with them, Macy notices that their messy lives are more fulfilling than her stifling one. She connects with Wes, a member of the catering staff whose mother has died, and through him, she finally learns to grieve for her father. Macy's overworked mother disapproves of her new friends and thinks that Macy has lost sight of her goals, but eventually she too learns to stop avoiding her grief and appreciates Wes and his companions. Again Dessen creates a fantastic group of characters, including the oddballs of which she is so fond. Her portrayal of teenage life is accurate, friendship and romance are well developed and keep the pages turning, and the small revengeful triumphs along the way are satisfying. The story comes together without seeming contrived, and characters learn from their mistakes without blatantly exposing a moral. Dessen has not forgotten how teenage life is, and she is a master at writing for youth. As usual libraries will be unable to keep this book on the shelf for long. VOYA CODES: 4Q 5P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2004, Viking/Penguin Putnam, 320p., $16.99. Ages 11 to 18.

Kristen Moreland, Teen Reviewer (VOYA, June 2004 (Vol. 27, No. 2))
Dessen does a good job of making the characters seem real by the way they talk and the way they react to things. This book starts out slowly but then picks up speed. Dessen stresses an important theme in the book: Forever is always changing and you have to keep moving forward in life. I think that many teenage girls will be able to relate to it. VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P M J S (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2004, Viking/Penguin Putnam, 320p., $16.99. Ages 11 to 18.