Forever My Lady

Jeff Rivera manages to find that balance between crafting a book that men will read because it takes into account the struggles some have had in their lives, and it has just enough romance and suspense that women will appreciate. It's not easy to write a book that will bring both sexes together for a discussion, but Jeff has managed to do it. Great job.

When Forever My Lady opens, Dio is preparing to interrupt the wedding of his true love Jennifer--with a gun. Then we back up a year to find out how he got to that point. Dio is a 17-year-old gang member whose life changes when Jennifer ends up in the hospital with several gunshot wounds and Dio ends up in a prison boot camp. Most of the story takes place at the boot camp, as Dio goes from surly and uncooperative to making friends and becoming competitive and determined to succeed. Through it all, his desire for a better life with Jennifer is his driving force. The descriptions of his life in the boot camp are interspersed with memories and letters to and from Jennifer, and as the book progresses, you can see his growth both in the things he does and in the way he writes about them. Boot camp was very vivid, particularly at the beginning, when it was all new to Dio. And it was very familiar. I kept thinking "and I volunteered for this?" (I went through army basic training--boot camp.) Dio's emotions and motivations were very clear, and right there on the page. I was moved to tears at several points, particularly when as an adult--or simply a reader, seeing things from the outside--I could see what was going to happen, but knew that given his personality and emotions, there was no way to avoid the upcoming pain or heartache. Huge kudos to Jeff Rivera for treating Dio and Jennifer's emotions with the seriousness they deserved. So often, a teenage love affair is treated like puppy love, when that time of life is when emotions tend to be most intense. Plus, given these characters' backgrounds, they were certainly not children. My only complaint is that the ending was just a little quick and easy. Maybe it needed to be that way, to fit with the beginning, and after all, Dio did do his soul-searching earlier. But it's not a big complaint--I love the way it ended, I'd just have liked the ending to be a couple of pages longer, is all. I'll definitely be watching for Jeff Rivera's future books.

This is such a great book. I couldn't put it down and read it in one and a half days. Being a playwright myself, I am very sensitive to dialogue and the dialogue of the characters in this book is honest and real and true. The writer also doesn't waste time giving us unimportant info to set up scenes ...he goes straight to the heart of the story and keeps you there until the end. You actually feel the character's emotions immediately. Excellent book. I highly recommend it.

When seventeen-year-old Dio Rodriguez first arrives in prison boot camp, all he wants is to do his time and get out as soon as possible. But his training officer, Jackson, won't let him slide. Unable to see his girlfriend, who is in the hospital severely injured from a drive-by shooting, Dio is frantic, but helpless. He manages to correspond with her in letters, but can feel her becoming more and more distant. Then they find out she's pregnant and he knows things will be okay. He'll get out, turn his life around and make a home for himself and his family. But will he? She's heard his promises before and has dreams of her own. She has a life and he's stuck in boot camp until he graduates. Can he turn his life around and achieve his own dreams? Forever My Lady is a fast-paced coming of age novel set in the barrio and in prison boot camp. Jeff Rivera has done a wonderful job bringing his teenagers to life. From Dio to the cruel Grossaint, to the skinny rich-kid loner, Simon, each has a story. Parental guidance is advised, but I think it should be a must read for any teen, especially those exposed to gang activity.

I recently read Jeff Rivera's book "Forever My Lady." A few paragraphs into the novel and I was hooked. Once you start to read you won't want to put the book down. But just what makes this novel so powerful? Realism... The characters, Dio and Jennifer, and very real. Any brown person can relate the characters to somebody who is in their own lives; possibly themselves. I know how it feels for people to take one look at you and think they know who you are. That is the problem that has plagued Dio his whole life. No matter how Dio looks or what he has done in his life, he is a human being with real emotion and ambition. He is only a product of his environment. Jeff Rivera portrays a man who would be called a "gang member" or "terrorist" by the American media as a man...not an animal. BUY THIS BOOK! You won't be disappointed.