Forever…Love is the story of the life and loves of Mikhail, a Russian immigrant who becomes a successful businessman in America. It’s also the story of Mikhail’s greatest love, Maggie, who becomes the heart of the novel as their paths intertwine throughout their lives.
Given the scant number of pages, it’s not surprising to find that the book seems more like an outline than a finished product. Length is not necessarily a deal-breaker — authors such as Nicholas Sparks have built a career on short, sweet love stories — but Wilcox would need a tighter focus and sharper characters to make this work within such a small space.
Wilcox has written her book as if in a fevered dream. She rushes headlong through the years. Main characters come and go, never to be seen again; years pass as Maggie rushes from one job to another, one house to another, one state to another. If Mikhail has a last name, this reader couldn’t find it. Characters suddenly develop traits never seen before. Mikhail turns from romantic suitor into jealous stalker, breaking into Maggie’s home “on more than one occasion”; the reader discovers on the second-to-last page that Maggie has psychic abilities “inherited from her maternal side of the family.”
By the end of the book, the author’s agenda becomes clear. Aside from Wilcox’s obvious admiration for her feminist character, she also has strong feelings about “forever…love.” When Maggie has to cope with the deaths of her loved ones, she is comforted by her sense that the spirits are still with her. Rather than death as an ending, she looks forward to seeing them again “on the other side.”
