Forever Hold Your Peace by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

Standalone Women’s Fiction

Thank you Dreamscape and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this early. This post contains affiliate links.

Being of the age where my kids may start getting married, Forever Hold Your Peace by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke sounded like a fun, relatable read about the parents of a young engaged couple and more importantly, it sounded different than what I’ve been reading. It lived up to that for me as I enjoyed the read for the most part.

June is kind of the main character in this story (I think?), but there are multiple players. I liked June a lot. She’s a bookstore owner, tends to be late, and was very relatable. June’s daughter, Olivia, just graduated college and went to Positano for the summer. She just called her mom to announce her engagement to Zach, a man she never even told her mother about and who she just met 6 weeks ago. June is divorced but friendly with her ex and they both try to be positive for Olivia but it isn’t easy.

Coincidentally, Zach lives 30 minutes away in California and his parents have an amicable divorce as well. Olivia and Zach are excited to get all 4 parents together to meet and discuss the wedding that they want to happen pretty soon, so they set up a brunch. When June walked in the restaurant and saw Zach’s mom, she turned around and ran out. It was her ex best friend Amy from 26 years ago who she could never forgive.

As the wedding planning commences these two women (especially Amy) turned into momzillas. Their petty disagreements threatened to ruin the kids wedding over and over. Family relationships were tested, secrets came out, and even June’s relationship with her own mother was tested. Someone also has a secret that may blow everything to bits.

Overall I enjoyed Forever Hold Your Peace. Somewhere in the middle it got a little long-winded and off-track but it came back strong.

Likes:

June was very relatable.
The storyline was very unique to me.
We had 2 stories in one, Olivia and Zach and the parents.
I really liked the way Olivia and Zack were portrayed. Often young characters seem a little cringe.

Dislikes:

It got a little slow in the middle.
It was not as light and fun as I expected.
The way the couple met and the big secret were just a little strange. I’m not sure what Troy expected to happen..

The Narration:

Nan McNamara was a good narrator. Because it is 3rd person there wasn’t as much acting involved, so it was more of a traditional narration. I think reading and listening would be fine whichever you decide.

The Down & Dirty:

Forever Hold Your Peace was a fun change of pace for me. Featuring 6 main players, I enjoyed getting to know each of them. I wish it was a bit lighter and funnier, and it got a little slow in the middle, but all-in-all I would say I liked it. At no point did I even consider not finishing, I was immediately invested in the story.