Carter Cohen should be 22—except every year, right before his 17th birthday, he loops back to being 16 again, with no memory of anything that happened the year prior.
And this year, like each one before it, on the morning of his 16th birthday, Carter wakes excited for his birthday. He’s ready to get his driver’s license, his little brother’s not hogging the bathroom, and, man, something smells good for breakfast…
But when Carter bounds downstairs, Mom bursts into tears. It happened again. It’s Carter’s 16th birthday—for the sixth time. Every time he’s supposed to turn 17, he loops back a year. His memory gets wiped clean, his body ages backward—the rest of the world moves on, just not him.
Maggie Spear, on the other hand, has been dreading this day ever since she and Carter started dating. When she spies him in the halls and he doesn’t seem to know her at all, it’s obvious that it’s over between them. She can’t be in a relationship with someone who is just going to forget her again and again. Since Carter doesn’t remember that they’re together, then it’s probably better if she just pretends that they never were.
Except Carter senses that there’s more to their story than Maggie’s letting on, and Maggie’s keeping secrets of her own—but in the process of trying to let the other go, they find themselves falling in love all over again.
With Maggie soon leaving for college and Carter’s birthday quickly coming around again, will they be able to find a forever that isn’t stuck at 16?
Filled with tender moments, silly banter, and lots of teenage angst, 16 Forever is the latest YA page-turner from New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Lance Rubin.
What to expect:
Lance Rubin is the NY Times bestselling author of Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend, 16 Forever, Crying Laughing, and the Denton Little books. He’s also the co-author of Monster Club: Monsters Take Manhattan with filmmakers Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel; and co-author of The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek with Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal of the YouTube series Good Mythical Morning. Lance is also a voiceover actor, and co-writer of the Off-Broadway musical Broadway Bounty Hunter. He lives in Brooklyn with his family. Visit him online at lancerubin.com.