Rating: 4 stars
Buy Links:  Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novel

That’s right. I know you’ve got the song in your head now, too. It’s been stuck on repeat in my brain for days now, especially while I was reading this book. And just like the beautiful ballad, this book is amazingly sweet and professes a love that is not only strong, but everlasting and unconditional.

Randy Williams would never forget the day Greg Scott recruited him to play a game of soccer after school. It’s the same day that Randy discovered that the boy he had been pining for was also pining for him. The beginning of Randy and Greg’s senior year in high school was spent sneaking kisses behind closed doors where they were supposedly only study partners. They planned their future after high school together into their college years and beyond.

After Greg’s father confesses to an affair and bankrupting the family, Greg is broken. Not only has his family fallen apart, but now his plans for his future with Randy have to change. Greg has family obligations that he can’t fulfill in his small Tennessee hometown. Making the decision to join the Marines seemed like his only option. Explaining everything to Randy was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but Randy stuck by his side and promised to wait for him.

The day that Greg is scheduled to leave, tragedy strikes Randy’s family, changing his and Greg’s lives forever. Distraught and left alone with no family and no Greg,  Randy leaves his hometown, changing his identity along the way.

Years later, Greg still hopes to one day find Randy, knowing in his heart that there is no one else for him, but as hard as he tries, he can’t find a hint of the man. It’s like he disappeared. As the years pass by, both men are faced with trials and fears – new lovers, the HIV epidemic, September 11^th, war – but neither man has ever forgotten or stopped loving the other. When Greg does finally catch up with Randy, things have changed, but Greg vows to prove to Randy no matter what that his love is forever Randy’s, faithfully.

This book is wonderfully bittersweet. I’ll admit besides being by a wonderful author, I was attracted to this book for the title. It’s a story full of emotion – fear, sadness, passion, and…love seems like too weak a word. It’s a story that tugs at the heartstrings and doesn’t let go. And I loved every bit of it.

I am a huge music fan of all shades and sizes and love to pick out author’s interpretation of lyrics in stories. And as you know, if you know this song, the song itself is a beautiful declaration of undying, unshakable love. So is the book.

A pair of star-crossed lovers, Greg and Randy face decades of misunderstanding and circumstance that keep them apart. I love these two. I love their unfailing love. They move on with their lives. They even experience other relationships, but always in the back of their mind, they have hope to one day find each other. I love the growth of both characters as well – Randy especially. Randy lives his life on shaky ground – moving from one thing to the next, staying in a stagnant relationship, taking care of a sick but unfaithful partner. He can’t seem to catch a break. My heart broke for him several times throughout this book. I just wanted something in his life to go right, for once. Greg grows up to be a strong, stable, and responsible man, strong enough to support Randy and his shaky ground. He’s so accommodating and accepting. I absolutely adore them both. They are perfectly matched even after decades apart, truly a wonderful couple.

I don’t read a lot of HIV/AIDS stories. In my everyday life, having worked in the medical field for over ten years, I’ve seen the reality of the disease – the ups and downs. It’s a hard reality for me to face in real life, so I find it hard to face in fiction as well. That being said, the way this author handles the disease – the fears, the conditions, the treatments, and the future – it’s absolutely beautiful. This is a story that gives hope where there was once thought to be none. It gives hope to a very real, very possible future. It’s an outstanding story.

I adored the beginning of this book – the meeting, the experimenting, the growth of young love. It was sweet and angsty and everything a young, inexperienced couple should be, full of hope and ideals and romanticism. It’s also a wonderfully emotional book, a book that will bring you to tears before you realize it. That being said, the second half of the story is slower and doesn’t flow as well. A lot of time and development is skipped. Several years of growth are passed over with a “two years later” or “eight years later.” It seems that the author hit on a few major events in Greg’s and Randy’s live,s but I can’t help but feel that there was so much that readers missed out on.

Even so, this is a wonderful tear-jerker of a book – angsty, emotional, and beautiful. If you are sitting down to read it, make sure you have some tissue nearby. It’s a beautiful interpretation to a classic song of eternal love. I truly enjoyed Forever Yours Faithfully and look forward to whatever Sarah York has up her sleeves next.

Cover: I love this beautiful cover by Zathryn Priest. It portrays the emotion of a long lost love that is this book and song. It’s simple, elegant, and perfect.