2023 National Book Award for Young Peopleâs Literature Longlist
Perfect for fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Five Feet Apart, this tender solo debut by the coauthor of New York Times bestseller She Gets the Girl is a âpunch to the gut in the best wayâ (Booklist, starred review) about the strength of love and the power of choosing each other, against odds and obstacles, again and again.
What would you do if you forgot the love of your life ever even existed?
Stevie and Nora had a love. A secret, epic, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. They also had a plan: to leave their small, ultra-conservative town and families behind after graduation and move to California, where they could finally stop hiding that love.
But then Stevie has a terrible fall. And when she comes to, she can remember nothing of the last two yearsânot California, not coming to terms with her sexuality, not even Nora. Suddenly, Stevie finds herself in a life she doesnât quite understand, one where sheâs estranged from her parents, drifting away from her friends, lying about the hours she works, and headed towards a future that isnât at all what her fifteen-year-old self would have envisioned.
And Nora finds herselfâŠforgotten. Can the two beat the odds a second time and find their way back together when âtogetherâ itself is just a lost memory?
Anonym
2023-07-16
Very cute, exciting and emotionally satisfying at least at the start. It felt relatable as a queer teenage coming-of-age story. The little details like the carabiner were a delightful nod to lesbian culture, too. It kind of lost me at the end, however. There were a few important themes that were just dropped, like Noraâs confrontation with her mom, which felt like it was used mainly to move the plot along and wasnât explored in any detail. The ending was frustrating. Itâs relatable but not satisfying, and left me feeling angry at how queer kids are so often plagued by guilt even if their parents âacceptâ them. The overwhelming sense of gratitude and relief that kids feel toward parents doing the bare minimum is heartbreaking and sad. Many queers live with constant guilt and a feeling that they canât ask anything of their parents or be angry at them because âat least they didnât kick me outâ. In the romance genre, the expectation is emotional satisfaction to some degree and Forget Me Not didnât deliver in that regard. Iâd definitely say itâs worth a read though â especially the first chapter, itâs great.