...Bookfanatic

and that's what it felt like reading these stories. Even though it's been 4 years since this series wrapped up and 3 years since i read the final book it was so effortless to slip back into the lives of Evan, Matt, Jim and Griffin along with all their families and friends.

For the most part I'm not a fan of anthologies or collected stories...usually. But I will always makes an exception and happily so when it's something that leaves me smiling and just simply delighted with every word that I've read.

I'm not going to bother with rating each story or going into the details of each story but what I will say is if you haven't read the series than probably best to skip this book until you do. Most of these stories are set around the Christmas season There's not messing with anyone's HEA and there's no big storyline. This is more a case of the author sharing their HEA with us.

Everyone has a different vision of what happily ever after holds and for Evan, Matt, Jim and Griffin happily ever after isn't about fame and fortune but family and love and in 'Forever & Ever' the author takes us through the lives of these men sharing with the reader the good times and yes the bad...but often it's the bad that defines the good and reminds us that we need to appreciate and treasure them and during the worst of times it's their memory that give us the strength to get through the bad. But this time we are treated to the best of the good times...family time, births, weddings, love at it's sweetest and the bad thankfully is the kind of bad that happens to people and often times at the end of it all we realize that rather than the bad it's more of life's way of reminding is to treasure, love and appreciate all the good that we've been given.

There were far more times that made me laugh and smile with delight while shedding tears of happiness than there were moments of tension and truthfully I had no tearful, sad moments.

I think my only regret about this one was that I didn't have the time to re-read the original series and I know that when time permits I'd love to curl up and re-read the original series before once again enjoying the collected stories contained in 'Forever & Ever'.

In 'Truth & Tenderness', book #6 of Tere Michaels' 'Faith, Love & Devotion' series, we said good-bye to this series but here in 'Forever & Ever' it feels more like the characters of 'Faith, Love & Devotion' have come to say good-bye to us and share with us a bit of the 'happy ever after' that they fought so hard to get and for me it was simply perfect and so comforting to know that while the series may have ended these men didn't they lived on and got to enjoy their happily ever after.

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An ARC of 'Forever & Ever': A Collection of Stories'. was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.