This Could Be Forever by Ebony LaDelle

The quick cut: Two teens that struggle with high familial expectations meet and fall in love the summer before college begins. 

A real review: 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Books for providing the arc for an honest review.

 Family may always be there for you, but that lasting connection can come with strings. The expectations of who they want you to be and what your future looks like can be too much to bear at times. This is true for both Deja and Raja. 

 Deja is the first of her family to go to college and she's got a plan. Studying chemistry and soil science, she wants to start her own natural skin care company and make products like she already does at her family's farm. Raja is struggling to be the person his parents want him to be. His parents want him to major in engineering and settle into an arranged marriage while he wants to own a tattoo shop. These two have big dreams and inescapable expectations when they meet and fall hard. Can they overcome the barriers? 

 I think most people can relate to family expectations and the weight they come with. If this is something you've experienced on some level, this book will likely be a hit for you. If not though, you're unlikely to connect with the plot or characters at the core of this romance. 

 Deja and Raja connect over having plans for their lives that don't align to their families. They have different faiths and futures imagined for themselves. So how do they make a relationship work? Through mutual respect and understanding. That's some high emotional intelligence for two people who are barely out of high school and that's the biggest part I struggled to believe. 

 It did seem like they fell hard fast and just sort of fell on step relationship wise. Do they have struggles? Yes, but mostly from outside forces and not one another. Maybe I'm cynical, but that sort of effortless connection doesn't happen in real life. 

 A cute romance about defying expectations. 

My rating: 4 out of 5