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Losing Forever
In this novel by Gayle Friesen, normal life for Jes is slipping away. Her mother is getting married again and is totally preoccupied with planning the perfect wedding. And if one fool in love is not enough, Jes's best girlfriend has fallen for a complete jerk. To make matters worse, Jes also has to deal with Angela, her soon-to-be stepsister, who has come to stay for a month before the wedding. A half-crazed mother, a lovesick friend, a perfectly evil stepsister -- could things for Jes get any worse?
248 pages, Paperback
First published July 10, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
dnf
May 13, 2013I don't think it's fair for me to rate this. It's not a DNF because it's bad; it's a DNF because I wasn't connecting with the characters, and that's understandable.
I think I forget, when I trawl the shelves for YA I haven't read, that the category has actually come to mean "this used to be where books for adolescents went, but adolescence now lasts into the college years and they're the ones we're writing for these days". Losing Forever is a true YA novel in the older tradition of writing for adolescents, about adolescents, about the concerns they were likely to have. Nobody is older than her age in this so far, and that is to Friesen's credit.
YA is now a 17-and-up category, but it wasn't always; another book I'm set to review, Hope, would probably be shelved in J (Juvenile) along with half of my beloved McKays. Hope concerns a girl of... I want to say twelve; it's never made entirely clear what age she is. It's written for younger adolescents, who no longer really have a shelf or a voice in the upper echelons of YA fiction. The category now treats its protagonists as, well, young adults -- the category was always misnamed, I think, but it was never so apparent until I'm seeing the gap between "things that would interest tweens" and "things that would interest actual young adults".
So I'm taking the pair of Friesens back to the library mostly untouched, with a new awareness of the changes in the meaning of adolescence since I hit puberty, all of fifteen years ago.
I think I forget, when I trawl the shelves for YA I haven't read, that the category has actually come to mean "this used to be where books for adolescents went, but adolescence now lasts into the college years and they're the ones we're writing for these days". Losing Forever is a true YA novel in the older tradition of writing for adolescents, about adolescents, about the concerns they were likely to have. Nobody is older than her age in this so far, and that is to Friesen's credit.
YA is now a 17-and-up category, but it wasn't always; another book I'm set to review, Hope, would probably be shelved in J (Juvenile) along with half of my beloved McKays. Hope concerns a girl of... I want to say twelve; it's never made entirely clear what age she is. It's written for younger adolescents, who no longer really have a shelf or a voice in the upper echelons of YA fiction. The category now treats its protagonists as, well, young adults -- the category was always misnamed, I think, but it was never so apparent until I'm seeing the gap between "things that would interest tweens" and "things that would interest actual young adults".
So I'm taking the pair of Friesens back to the library mostly untouched, with a new awareness of the changes in the meaning of adolescence since I hit puberty, all of fifteen years ago.
September 24, 2009
This book is about a girl named Jessica who is dealing with so much,because her mom is getting remarried, she just met her new stepsister and her best friend has a boyfriend. Jes feels she has no one to talk to. She is having a difficult time accepting these things but there is nothing she can do. Towards the middle of the book she finds out the truth that the reason her parents divorced wasn't because of the death of her little sister but because her dad had an affair. All this clashes down on Jes, that she ran away to her dad's cabin where she could be alone to think (before her dad or mom went looking for her) But finally she talked to other best friend's mom and realized that she needed to accept all the changes in her life and to just move forward.
What i liked about this book, was that all the advice that was given to Jes,i have heard in real life, and so then i was able to relate better to the character. What i didn't really like was kinda the ending. It was good, but i just needed a little more detail so i could get a glimpse about how Jes dealt with all her problems and how she was doing in life.
What i liked about this book, was that all the advice that was given to Jes,i have heard in real life, and so then i was able to relate better to the character. What i didn't really like was kinda the ending. It was good, but i just needed a little more detail so i could get a glimpse about how Jes dealt with all her problems and how she was doing in life.
November 2, 2017
Have you ever wondered what it was like to have a so called “evil” stepsister? Well, Jes is living the life of a teenage girl who has to deal with many different friendships, including one with her own stepsister, Angela now. Her full name is Jessica Joy and she doesn’t like that because people always think she is so happy and they make up mean jokes about her name. She doesn’t feel she is the person who people think she is. Her and her mom usually stay at her moms house but she went on a trip with her father into the woods by a lake. Also Jes’s best friend Sam has had a crush on her for a while, but when Angela comes along, Sams starts to like her and he doesn’t pay much attention to Jes. Jes’s mom is also upset that her daughter doesn’t want her to get married and is upset that she doesn’t like Angela.
A quote that I found to be a flashback was “I tried to blank out my mind so there’d be nothing left to do but sleep, but it was like somebody kept pressing the rewind button. I hadn’t said more than a couple of words to Angela, but I could still see her perfectly, standing in the kitchen behind Cal. The two of them, they were the future. Mom’s future” (Friesen 32). This explains how Jes remembers seeing her new life begin. Granted that Jes’s mom and Cal get married, Jes will begin a new chapter of her life. That is to say, if they do get married, they would most likely be in Jes’s family forever and her mom would have to get used to them because Cal was mainly her moms future more than he was hers. For one thing, Jes would have a new sister and she hasn’t even said more than a few words to her.
I didn’t necessarily like this book, but I didn’t hate it. I wasn’t sure if I liked it because they were mainly in the same place and there were the same characters all throughout the book. Almost everything happened so fast in the beginning, therefore there was nothing exciting to look forward to. Although this wasn’t my favorite book, I would recommend it to someone who likes drama, love, and heartbreaks. Nothing really surprised me and the ending was pretty predictable, judging by the picture on the front and the title. It was different from other books I’ve read because of the setting and the plot. So overall, I would not be interested in reading this book again.
A quote that I found to be a flashback was “I tried to blank out my mind so there’d be nothing left to do but sleep, but it was like somebody kept pressing the rewind button. I hadn’t said more than a couple of words to Angela, but I could still see her perfectly, standing in the kitchen behind Cal. The two of them, they were the future. Mom’s future” (Friesen 32). This explains how Jes remembers seeing her new life begin. Granted that Jes’s mom and Cal get married, Jes will begin a new chapter of her life. That is to say, if they do get married, they would most likely be in Jes’s family forever and her mom would have to get used to them because Cal was mainly her moms future more than he was hers. For one thing, Jes would have a new sister and she hasn’t even said more than a few words to her.
I didn’t necessarily like this book, but I didn’t hate it. I wasn’t sure if I liked it because they were mainly in the same place and there were the same characters all throughout the book. Almost everything happened so fast in the beginning, therefore there was nothing exciting to look forward to. Although this wasn’t my favorite book, I would recommend it to someone who likes drama, love, and heartbreaks. Nothing really surprised me and the ending was pretty predictable, judging by the picture on the front and the title. It was different from other books I’ve read because of the setting and the plot. So overall, I would not be interested in reading this book again.
August 28, 2020
This book made me angry
March 7, 2023
was such a good short book that shows so many good lessons in life
January 18, 2025
Such an inspiring book that many people can relate to. Beautifully written. 11 out of 10.
February 6, 2017
re-reading childhood books.
3.5 stars.
3.5 stars.
January 17, 2014
This is my 2nd time reading this book. It's been 8 or 9 years since I've read it, (which was when I was in middle school).
This book brought out nostalgic. I only remember bits and pieces of it, and now when I read it again, it came back to me, and also there were a few things I missed.
First of all this book was about a girl named Jessica (Jes for short) who was going through these big changes in her lives as in family and friends. Her parents were divorced, and she had a baby sister who had past away. Since the divorce she was staying with her mom. Well it turns out her mom met a guy, and they were together for a few year and decides to get married. So with a new Dad coming to the picture, so was also introduced to a new "sister." Also one of her best friends has got a boyfriend, so she's head over heels, and Jes wasn't all much happy for that.
**Spoilers**
I totally forgot that she had a deceased sister. Jes was always good with little kids; she would babysit a girl named Lucy and would play with her friend's little brother Danny. I thought she would've been a real good big sister.
After her sister's death, you could tell it was one of the reason's her parents fell apart with their marriage, which is unfortunate for Jes being that the parents still need to also consider they still have another daughter that is with them.
I thought the entire time when the mom was planning the wedding, she wouldn't pay attention to her daughter much; I thought she should've asked or considered her feelings about the new family lifestyle.
Now with the friends, her childhood friend Sam, I thought Jes was waiting too long to think about her feelings for him. Of course she had to reacted when her sister-to-be, Angela started dating him.
I like that there was a climax when she told her friend Dell that her boyfriend cheated with Angela and after when Angela framed Jes making seem that she was shoplifting. I liked the end of the chapter when she finally let go of the past, and accepted a new life with her mom, and also when she dragged Angela to the cliff with the rope they usually play to swing off and dive. Jes finally gave her what was coming once she lives with them and after when Jes finally faced her fear when she was ready to swing on the rope and jumped in the lake.
This book brought out nostalgic. I only remember bits and pieces of it, and now when I read it again, it came back to me, and also there were a few things I missed.
First of all this book was about a girl named Jessica (Jes for short) who was going through these big changes in her lives as in family and friends. Her parents were divorced, and she had a baby sister who had past away. Since the divorce she was staying with her mom. Well it turns out her mom met a guy, and they were together for a few year and decides to get married. So with a new Dad coming to the picture, so was also introduced to a new "sister." Also one of her best friends has got a boyfriend, so she's head over heels, and Jes wasn't all much happy for that.
**Spoilers**
I totally forgot that she had a deceased sister. Jes was always good with little kids; she would babysit a girl named Lucy and would play with her friend's little brother Danny. I thought she would've been a real good big sister.
After her sister's death, you could tell it was one of the reason's her parents fell apart with their marriage, which is unfortunate for Jes being that the parents still need to also consider they still have another daughter that is with them.
I thought the entire time when the mom was planning the wedding, she wouldn't pay attention to her daughter much; I thought she should've asked or considered her feelings about the new family lifestyle.
Now with the friends, her childhood friend Sam, I thought Jes was waiting too long to think about her feelings for him. Of course she had to reacted when her sister-to-be, Angela started dating him.
I like that there was a climax when she told her friend Dell that her boyfriend cheated with Angela and after when Angela framed Jes making seem that she was shoplifting. I liked the end of the chapter when she finally let go of the past, and accepted a new life with her mom, and also when she dragged Angela to the cliff with the rope they usually play to swing off and dive. Jes finally gave her what was coming once she lives with them and after when Jes finally faced her fear when she was ready to swing on the rope and jumped in the lake.
June 2, 2016
Losing Forever- more like Loving Forever! A wonderful book for any book worms looking for a good read during their spare time. For many teenagers like me, life isn't what we expect it to be. Things are always constantly changing and it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen next. This novel revolves around a teenage girl called Jessica, and how she is going through many big changes in her life. Jessica is trying to live her “normal life” while dealing with the death of her baby sister and her parents’ divorce. However, it doesn’t stop from there as she soon learns the real truth behind her parents’ divorce. As well, her mother is engaged to be married again and Jessica meets her future devious stepsister, Angela. Everything in Jessica’s life is pretty much falling apart and she can’t really handle the changes that are happening all at once. As she spends time at her father’s lake cabin, she slowly learns that she has to discover her own ways to dealing with situations that she doesn’t like. This story may seem simple, but I could relate to a lot of the issues presented in Jessica’s evolving life. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book for it has taught me that I am responsible for myself and I have to understand my own feelings when I go through major changes in life. Losing Forever is a really touching story and shows the exploration Jessica goes through to essentially allow herself to grow. If you have time, be sure to pick up this book and start reading!
February 7, 2017
Book overview: the whole novel is talking about a person who called Jes, her normal life. the whole story represents teenagers' all kids of issues. when Jes's mother gets into second marriage, and her stepsister Angela is a boyfriend-stealing.
Personal response to book: i choose this novel its books this book's style is the style that i like. the author use first person to illustrates the child's childhood and all kinds of things that might happen in teenager's time. also, i learned some new vocabulary in this novel, and that helped me to read other books easier. i think my childhood just like what the book says.
Response to a professional review: In this novel by Gayle Friesen, normal life for Jes is slipping away. Her mother is getting married again and is totally preoccupied with planning the perfect wedding. And if one fool in love is not enough, Jes's best girlfriend has fallen for a complete jerk. To make matters worse, Jes also has to deal with Angela, her soon-to-be stepsister, who has come to stay for a month before the wedding. A half-crazed mother, a lovesick friend, a perfectly evil stepsister --- could things for Jes get any worse?
https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Forever...
My response to this professional review is that kind of similar as what i thought. But this one is more detail, and use some fancy words that to describe characters.
Personal response to book: i choose this novel its books this book's style is the style that i like. the author use first person to illustrates the child's childhood and all kinds of things that might happen in teenager's time. also, i learned some new vocabulary in this novel, and that helped me to read other books easier. i think my childhood just like what the book says.
Response to a professional review: In this novel by Gayle Friesen, normal life for Jes is slipping away. Her mother is getting married again and is totally preoccupied with planning the perfect wedding. And if one fool in love is not enough, Jes's best girlfriend has fallen for a complete jerk. To make matters worse, Jes also has to deal with Angela, her soon-to-be stepsister, who has come to stay for a month before the wedding. A half-crazed mother, a lovesick friend, a perfectly evil stepsister --- could things for Jes get any worse?
https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Forever...
My response to this professional review is that kind of similar as what i thought. But this one is more detail, and use some fancy words that to describe characters.
May 4, 2016
The problem I had with this novel was, like it's title, Losing Forever, I was forever losing this book. Once it fell between the washing machine and the wall, another time I left it in the car wedged between the car seat and the middle hump, another time it was under the boys' backpacks, and another time my son stuck it in my glove compartment. I was frustrated because it was a really good book and I was dying to find out what happened next with Jes and her awful step-sister, Angela. It's a total page-turner. I love Ms. Friesen's writing. I love the way she moves the action forward with such deep meaning. And I love the humour that had me chuckling out loud in the doctor's office, in my bedroom late at night, and in the wee hours of the morning when I should have still been sleeping. I highly recommend this book to anyone - adults, teens, and tweens.
May 20, 2010
Synopsis:losing forever is about a teenage girl who keeps losing everything that she loved. she is losing the rythem of her life.
target audience: teens
primary purpose: entertainment
Medium: Novel
Genre-Setting:fiction
Genre-Plot:Coming of age
Genre-style: Idealism
Criticism:
You will love reading this book because it's full of so much drama and madness. I would definetly give this book a five star because once I started reading it, I couldn't stop I just had to see how things were going to work out even thought the ending was a little disappointing. I think that this book is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. There is so much excitement in there. Eveerything is so exciting about it like when
target audience: teens
primary purpose: entertainment
Medium: Novel
Genre-Setting:fiction
Genre-Plot:Coming of age
Genre-style: Idealism
Criticism:
You will love reading this book because it's full of so much drama and madness. I would definetly give this book a five star because once I started reading it, I couldn't stop I just had to see how things were going to work out even thought the ending was a little disappointing. I think that this book is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. There is so much excitement in there. Eveerything is so exciting about it like when
July 23, 2010
Jessica, a teen living with her mother, has a ton of problems on her shoulders, a divorced mother getting remarried, a new teenage stepsister, a father who is still coming to grips with the divorce, and a best friend who is swooning over his new girlfriend. She comes to terms with these problems after running away to her father’s lake cabin where she explores her issues alone and with advice from the many people who love her. This book deals more with coming of age and discovering who you are (or who you are no longer) than it does with agency, but in the process of her exploration, Jessica is learning that she is responsible for herself. (12 to adult).
March 10, 2010
I loved this story about Jes. Jes' parents are divorced, and her mom is getting remarried. Her soon-to-be stepdad comes with a daughter, a head-turning, pretty, talented daughter (Angela). Angela attracts the boy next door, who is Jes' best friend and until Angela came along, adored Jes. But Angela is more complicated than she seems. Jes struggles with accepting her new family status, coming to terms with her feelings for Sam, and the pains of growing up.
A wonderful coming-of-age story.
A wonderful coming-of-age story.
June 15, 2010
This book tells the story of a teenaged girl who's dealing with the facct that her mother is reamarrying after her parent's divorce. Jes(the main character) is also struggling with the fact that her new stepsister, who appears to be perfect in every way, is dating her best friend Sam. In one scene, Anglea shoplifts a neckalce by putting it in Jes's bag, and blames Jes for it. Jes soon learns that people aren't always who they seem, and that trust isn't something that can be broken. i enjoyed this book.
February 2, 2012
This book has a great last line (but it only means something if you read the rest of the book -- so no cheating!)
It really grew on me. It's a book about letting go. It has a beautiful message.
I liked the relationships that emerged between the different characters, and how they were all flawed in some way.
I could relate to the book, and I think we all can, because we've all felt jealous at one point, or felt that we're losing someone. All relationships change over time.
Overall, I rate this book: lovely!
It really grew on me. It's a book about letting go. It has a beautiful message.
I liked the relationships that emerged between the different characters, and how they were all flawed in some way.
I could relate to the book, and I think we all can, because we've all felt jealous at one point, or felt that we're losing someone. All relationships change over time.
Overall, I rate this book: lovely!
October 27, 2015
I had read this book in middle school and I loved it then, it related to me so much and put things in perceptive for me at the time. It was so real. Reading it again it has a different meaning in some parts, but still great.
Its about Jes, a girl whose baby sister died at a young age and is trying to find herself after her parents split up and mom plans to remarry. Her whole life is spinning out of control and to top it off she now has to share her room with a sister she never wanted, and not just any sister a perfect one that is stealing her room, friend, and crush.
Its about Jes, a girl whose baby sister died at a young age and is trying to find herself after her parents split up and mom plans to remarry. Her whole life is spinning out of control and to top it off she now has to share her room with a sister she never wanted, and not just any sister a perfect one that is stealing her room, friend, and crush.
June 21, 2016
Once upon a time this was one of my favorite books. I was just as afraid of change as Jes, the main character of the book, is. Losing Forever is well-written and moving, but Jes's teenager attitude throughout the book is pretty hard to swallow. I wonder if I would feel the same if I reread Order of the Phoenix with a 15-year-old rage-filled Harry Potter, formerly my favorite book in the series. Sometimes teenagers are well-written. And sometimes they are overbearing like in Losing Forever, which is why I'm now giving this book two stars.
September 7, 2012
I remember reading this when I was 11 or 12, and it was the book that inspired me to start writing. I'm not really sure how it stands now, I haven't read it since middle school, but I've been trying to remember what book it was based on the little scenes from it that have stuck in my head over the years.
August 14, 2008
A wonderful book for teen girls about growing up and accepting change in one's life. I loved the rleationship between her and her best male friend as they grow into teens and start seeing each other differently.
December 22, 2009
Friesen's story of a life displaced by a mother's new love and a new instant family will find many readers that can identify. The ending is neatly tied up, not like real life, but hey, we all need neatly tied up stories once in awhile!
June 15, 2010
This was a very good book. I like the characters and how they all had conflicting thoughts, fears and dreams. These differing veiws made for an intriguing book and quite a few scuffles just like the tiff over shoplifting and the screaming rows over Marshall. REad to find out more!
December 23, 2014
Good book.
Touched many aspects of life that readers can relate to.
I can't say it has opened my eyes to what Jes learned, because I figured it out on my own, but to read it from someone else's words makes it count for more.
Touched many aspects of life that readers can relate to.
I can't say it has opened my eyes to what Jes learned, because I figured it out on my own, but to read it from someone else's words makes it count for more.
September 25, 2007
this book was just to sad for me....
July 23, 2008
I LOVE THIS BOOK! IT IS MY NEW FAVORITE.
July 29, 2008
suspencfull :)
August 19, 2008
In the midst of it. So far it's pretty good! Does anyone know the reading lexile? 'Cuz I wanna read it for reading counts. =D
July 31, 2009
Good, but more for the middle-school palette.
February 12, 2011
This book was amazing! It had such a great ending, but it left you off at a cliff hanger- literally!
April 20, 2011
Yes, she did have "Losing Forever"
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews