"Forever, Interrupted"

Taylor Jenkins Reid is from Acton, Massachusetts. She graduated from Emerson College in Boston in 2005. She worked in entertainment and education before becoming a writer, and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Alex, and their dog, Rabbit.

Reid applied the Page 69 Test to her first novel, Forever, Interrupted, and reported the following:

Forever, Interrupted follows two storylines: The first is the story of how a woman, Elsie, reacts when she loses her newlywed husband, Ben, and has to meet her mother-in-law for the first time at the hospital. The second, is the story of how Elsie came to marry Ben in the first place. Page 69 falls during the second storyline, at the end of Elsie and Ben’s first date.

They have spent an entire day together and are infatuated with each other. Elsie and Ben decide that they are going to sleep next to each other, but Elsie tells Ben she absolutely will not sleep with him on their first date. Elsie’s best friend, Ana, is desperate for information on who this new guy is and keeps texting to find out info.

It was pitch dark as our eyes slowly adjusted, and then there was a buzz and small flash of light. It was my phone.

“He’s still there?” Ana had texted.

I turned off my phone.

“Ana, I presume,” Ben said, and I confirmed. “She must be wondering who the hell I am.”

“She’ll know soon enough,” I said. He put his finger under my chin and lifted my head toward his. I kissed him. Then I kissed him again. I kissed him harder. Within seconds our hands, arms, and pieces of clothing went flying. His skin felt warm and soft, but his body felt sturdy.

“Oh!” I said. “The parking meter. Did you put enough money in? What if you get a ticket?”

He pulled me back to him. “I’ll take the ticket,” he said. “I don’t want to stop touching you.”

As we rolled around each other, I somehow kept to my word. I did not sleep with him that night. I wanted to. It was difficult not to. Both of our bodies pleaded with me to change my mind, but I didn’t. I’m not sure how I didn’t. But I didn’t.

Admittedly, this is perhaps one of the steamier moments in the book. The rest of it is a bit more...clothed. But I do think it’s emblematic of the book as a whole. The story is full of happy, joyful, exciting times juxtaposed with dark, challenging ones. This just happens to be one of the more lighthearted scenes in the story.

On Page 69, we see two people begin to fall in love. And ultimately, that’s what is at the very heart of Forever, Interrupted: those precious moments when you let go and fall in love.

Learn more about the book and author at Taylor Jenkins Reid's website.

--Marshal Zeringue