Hello all! It’s been a little while since I’ve posted a book review, and since this is one of my recent favorite reads, I wanted to show the author some love! My best friend recommended it to me, and since she knows me really well, I borrowed it on the spot. Didn’t check the description, had never heard of it (or even the author), and had no idea what I was getting myself into.
And lemme tell you what – I have ZERO regrets!!
If you want to know more about the book’s content, you can read the description or look up other reviews. For my part, I had SO MUCH FUN walking into it without context that I wanted to mirror that in my review!! 🙂
Bye Forever, I Guess
-Jodi Meadows
My reading journey:
Type: audiobook
Duration: 6 hours and 28.5 minutes
Narrator: Eevin Hartsough
Started: 8/21/26
Finished: 8/26/26
Bookmarks: 46
Thoughts and reader context:
I am around a decade older than the target audience – but as someone who adores a good squeaky-clean nerd romance, this hit my favorites shelf immediately. Like, I started looking for it at my favorite bookstore before I even finished reading it.
Goodbye Forever, I Guess is truly SUCH an enjoyable read, I can’t get over it.
I am a Christian conservative woman who actively seeks out clean media – whether I’m the target audience or not. I love Ted Dekker books. I love C.S. Lewis, both Screwtape Letters style and The Chronicles of Narnia. I love poetry and fact books. I enjoy kid mysteries like the Encyclopedia Brown (Donald J. Sobol) and Cam Jansen (David A. Adler) series. Judy Blume, Cassandra Clare (selectively, & censored), Jenny Cote, Rena Rocford, Liz Kessler, Sarah Dessen (selectively)… my taste in authors and writing styles varies. The Host, The Puppy Place, Pixie Hollow Fairies, Voyage on the Great Titanic, The Hunger Games, Story Thieves, Divergent, The Mussorgsky Riddle… my taste in genres and target audiences varies.
As a general rule, I just like what I like.
But this… this, I love.
Now for the specs.
Style – Bye Forever, I Guess is written in one of my favorite styles of all time. The author cleverly lets the reader in on the big picture, but leaves the character painfully oblivious. It’s the best kind of “reading on the edge of your seat” material.
Flow – It’s perfectly paced, squeaky-clean, and very, very well written. There were no unnecessary scenes or superfluous imagery, it wasn’t too dialogue heavy, and the character dynamics are AMAZING. It’s also not overly deep or intense, which makes it a great easy read… but don’t open the book expecting to not get attached. I was giggling & kicking my feet, biting my fist to keep from screaming, and getting chills AAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL throughout the story. And I was at work. (Can you keep a secret? Between us, I also stood up and ran mini-laps around the office when my boss stepped out for a few minutes. I was THAT giddy with excitement. Genuinely could not contain myself.)
Execution – I cannot emphasize enough how spectacular the pacing was. I thoroughly enjoyed the book as a whole, both as a reader and fellow writer. The vision was clear, the concept was fully fleshed out, it was fun and exciting, and it tugged at my heartstrings in all the best ways.
Audiobook quality – Quite a bit of the dialogue takes place over text. This can be VERY difficult to make sense of when converted into an audiobook, where the listener can’t see the physical media for context clarity. But it stayed consistently clear who was speaking and I was never confused. I personally feel like the narrator (Eevin Hartsough) did a fantastic job. As usual, a woman trying to sound out guy voices is a bit awkward at times. But you get used to it – and I was also able to tell the girls apart just by the different voice inflections used for each! 9/10 score for voices, 10/10 for audio quality and speech pacing.
Overall: 110/10 read. Don’t bother adding it to your tbr – READ IT NOW!!
Hope you enjoy my quick overview… and enjoy the book for yourself!!
♡~ Skippy
