


Mallory is adopted by two kind, wealthy physicians who help her heal, but she’s got a long way to go. One day, everything went wrong and the situation escalated, separating Mallory and Rider when they were both removed from the home. Mallory learned to keep quiet-sounds had awful repercussions. He took the blows, literally and figuratively, so that she would be okay. They held on to each other to survive their childhood, in particular, Rider shielded Mallory as best he could. Mallory Dodge and Rider Stark grew up in a foster home where fear, alcohol, drug use and violence were everyday things they saw and experienced. “He was only six months older than her six years, but he always seemed so much bigger, older than her, because in her eyes, he took up her entire world.” Tender moments accentuate the tragic underpinning from which the protagonists’ lives have been built from-a past riddled with abuse, days paralyzed by fear, and a stubborn sense of unworthiness that has followed two foster kids over the years. With The Problem With Forever, she’s taken her singular style of storytelling to places she’s not yet explored while still delivering a sizzling romance with off-the-charts chemistry.

Armentrout tackles big issues with a moving story about friendship, love, courage and overcoming the kind of past that scars beneath the surface. And as she watches Rider’s life spiral out of control, Mallory must make a choice between staying silent and speaking out–for the people she loves, the life she wants and the truths that need to be heard. Yet the deeper their bond grows, the more it becomes apparent that she’s not the only one grappling with lingering scars from the past. It doesn’t take long for Mallory to realize that the connection she shared with Rider never really faded. But of all the terrifying and exhilarating scenarios she’s imagined, there’s one she never dreamed of–that she’d run into Rider Stark, the friend and protector she hasn’t seen since childhood, on her very first day.

Now, after years of homeschooling with loving adoptive parents, Mallory must face a new milestone–spending her senior year at public high school. And even though it’s been four years since her nightmare ended, she’s beginning to worry that the fear that holds her back will last a lifetime. Growing up, she learned that the best way to survive was to say nothing. For Mallory “Mouse” Dodge, it’s a shield.
