Overall Grade: A

Tropes: best friend’s sister; workplace romance; surprise baby; small town romance; one night to get over it; age gap

It’s a travesty if you haven’t read Karla Sorensen yet. It’s something that should be rectified as soon as possible. I’d love to tell you to drop everything and grab her most recent book, Forever Starts Tonight, but that’s a terrible place to begin. Instead, jump into the Wilder clan with The Plan and move into her Wilder series, landing on this most recent story. I will tell you right now that you will NOT put this series down once you begin. Sorensen has written a set of books that pick off parts of your soul little by little, replacing it with their decadent stories. After finishing Forever Starts Tonight, there are two main reasons why people should read Karla Sorensen.

1. Her story pacing is impeccable—that’s a capital “I” impeccable. The two books before Forever Starts Tonight, Head Over Heels and Promise Me This, were two of the slowest burns I’ve read from her (especially Promise Me This—Ian made Sorensen’s readers work for their patience). As I read those former books, the pacing was precisely what was required to develop Sorensen’s character arcs. Setting up the issues of their pasts and helping them move past it even though their attraction and chemistry could potentially derail that work is where Sorensen’s superpower exists. This is also the case with Forever Starts Tonight. While this isn’t a slow burn like the previous books in the series, there is character work to be done, causing Jax and Poppy to work hard at finding their HEA. Every moment of this story is carefully drawn and quartered. The intentionality behind Sorensen’s progression is the heartbeat of Forever Starts Tonight, which compels her readers through the story. If you think this is indicative of this newest book, it is not. It is a cornerstone of Sorensen’s storytelling and why she has a rabid reader fanbase.
2. Besides her story pacing, her ability to craft compelling characters is another strength. Sorensen writes emotionally messy characters, but not in a way that levels heaps of angst on her readers. Instead, she reminds us about the humanity of her characters and shows us a pathway through our challenges. In Forever Starts Tonight, I connected with Jax, her MMC, a man of few words but big hidden emotions. Jax has a long journey ahead of him from her Prologue. The difficult situation of his upbringing shades his present, and it takes the joy and intuitive nature of Poppy to unwind complex feelings. Sorensen makes her characters do the hard work of unraveling feelings and putting voice to them. She writes them in a way that makes them real and palpable for her readers. When Jax finally gets to a moment when he can accept himself for Poppy, their character development transitions away from uptight tension to a nuanced, impassioned love affair.  Through Sorensen’s writing, we become emotionally invested because we see ourselves in her characters’ struggles, which helps us recognize and/or resolve our own emotional issues. 

I introduced my elderly mom to Karla Sorensen over a year ago, and she has become one of her favorites. She recently devoured the Wilder Family series (the first two books), and she looked at me and said, “how does she write such amazing stories with such loveable characters?” I could only smile and say because I imagine Karla Sorensen knows life and people, and she makes us fall in love with both when she writes stories such as Forever Starts Tonight. 

Now, excuse me while I run to Amazon to purchase this story for my mom…she has some reading to do…just like you.

In love and romance,

Professor A