Always You by Kirsty Moseley is a love story between two best friends, Riley Tanner and Clay Preston, who have known each other since they were little kids. Riley never realized she loved Clay more than a friend until she came back from vacation. When she saw Clay, she had this strong attraction towards him. Riley never knew that Clay had always found her attractive and wanted to be with her. It takes a while for them to open up to each other because they are worried the other might not feel the same way. As Riley and Clay slowly find a way tell each other, Riley goes on a date with Blake, someone she used to go to high school with. She went on more dates with him, noticing there was something off about him. One day Clay and Riley finally told one another they loved each other, more than friends. Let’s just say Blake is not happy with this and starts to interfere. Things start to hit the fan when Clay and Riley decide to date.
This book is primarily from Riley’s point of view but sometimes it switches to Clay’s point view. It was cool being in Riley’s head, but it was more interesting when it switched to Clay’s perspective. In a lot of love stories, it is the girl’s point view and it’s always a stereotypical love sick girl. When you’re in the guy’s perspective you get more information and therefore more character development.
Always You was quite a unique story, in how they come to tell each other they like one another and fight for each other. It makes you see that best friends truly can be in love with each other. To have a happy ending you just have to work for it, just like anything else.
Kirsty Moseley did a good job showing how troubling it can be for best friends to admit to each other how they feel. When someone likes their best friend more than as a friend, that person becomes terrified to tell the other person how they feel. They are afraid the person might not feel the same way or that they will lose them as friend. Moseley made Riley a young naive school girl who is confused about how she feels, just like how a girl would act in real life. Moseley made Clay to be sweet, kind, and very protective. Kind of how a guy would be in real life with his best friend.
Moseley’s writing style was fine; it was easy to read and the story flowed well. It’s great that Riley and Clay got together because they always fought for each other and always believed in one other. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down. I had to know what was going to happen to Riley and Clay. I would recommend this book to young adults.
