seriously romantic: falling for forever by melissa chambers

we met jenna in the summer before forever, she's chloe's best friend with an outsize personality and a heart of gold. she's a bit of a star, having placed 8th in a talent show competition, and plans to head off to l.a. and take the world by storm. but she's made a deal with her dad, that she'll stay for senior year if he can get her into a local magnet school for artists and performers. she's convinced it won't happen. but then it does.

miles cleveland hates her. she stole his spot in the talent competition. and she's just one of those pop princess types that are too thin and too pretty and stomp on guys like him. she's already stomped on him once, who's to say she won't do it again. except jenna isn't mean-spirited. she's unfailingly friendly and her sunny, open nature is actually the real deal. and when she does realize who he is, and why he has every right to hate her. she's genuinely sorry.

the thing is there is this crazy talent competition at their school. and the winner gets a $50,000 prize. both jenna and miles need that money. they have plans. dreams for the future. and in falling for forever, the problem is that even though they are at odds with each other, being together makes sense.

for one thing, when they kiss it's like they can't stop kissing. it's intense and romantic and crazy. and they argue about music all the time, but they also complement each other perfectly. they both are so gifted musically in different ways, and they both have a real shot at winning the competition. and they both want it so badly.

i loved the way music and performance played such an important role in jenna and miles' story. and even though they spend a lot of the time in conflict with one another, the fact that their love is strong enough, maybe even stronger because of it makes all the arguing worthwhile.

i also really loved all the friendships in this novel. it's not just one particular grouping of characters that works, it's the whole group. they fight and make up and get angry and still support each other, love each other every step of the way. having friends you can be real with is a gift, i have friends like that, and i know it is a gift. so it's nice to see friendship like that in fiction.

**falling for forever will publish july 3, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled teen) in exchange for my honest review.