I read a good fifty pages or so, but just couldn't get into the story. I really didn't care for the characters.

This is my first Mhairi McFarlane book, and I loved it! A beautiful story that unfolds in an excellent manner.

I have to admit that this one started a little slow for me, but once it grabbed me, it held tightly and didn't let go until the end - that ending! I'm a sucker for a second-chance romance and this one delivered. It was swoon-worthy at times and made me cry at others. The characters were so well fleshed out and distinctive. There was a lot of depth to this one and a very timely message.

My first book by the author, but not my last.

Having read and enjoyed one of Mhairi McFarlane's earlier releases, I was excited to get an advance copy of Don't You Forget About Me. Sadly, I didn't have the same experience with this book and I struggled to finish. For me, the characters weren't very interesting or enjoyable. Also, the book is meant to be humorous, but I didn't find it funny at all. Overall, just not the right book for me. Hopefully, the next book I read by this author will be more like my first experience!

Fun read! I loved following the trials and tribulations of a 30+ year old navigating life. Georgina is happy with her decisions, even if her family doesn't approve of her work choices. She makes the best of situations. She is an empowered female lead! Fun reading about the situations Georgina got herself into...from her pink coat....attacking a stripper...confronting cheating exes.

Three jump to four, three jump to four, three jump okay stop procrastinating and make decision God dammit, my finally decision is rounded up FOUR STARS! Click! Click! Click ( Taking the selfie of my determined and decisive face)

Who isn’t a serious fan of 80’s greatest “Brat Pack” movies? When Judd Nelson’s bad boy character named John Bender punches the air, you may hear the blaring song in your head and start singing Simple Minds’ classic “Don’t You Forget About Me”! That was how I felt when I grip the book into my hands and accompanied by this motivational and inspirational but definitely not rational mood, I start to read it.

THE THINGS I LOVED MOST:

Brilliant Scottish sense of humor and smart writing skills of the author! ( I want to send friend request to her brain and start to talk with her like Steve Martin’s character at” The Man with two brains” has done!)

Slamming poetry parts (which reminded me of Amazon’s Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s best stand up performances)

The evaluation of Georgina! She learns to face the struggles with her past and solves her issues with her family.

The motivational message of the book: Just make peace with yourself, learn to love your faults and mistakes and move on!!!

BUT THE THINGS PUSHED ME SO HARD TO GIVE THREE STARS( I didn’t but I was about to)

HERO: Lucas!!!He got on my nerves! From the beginning his lack of attention, his behavior around Georgina made me angry! Because as soon as I read the first part of the book, I started to think they made for each other but then some unexpected thing broke them apart. I didn’t like Lucas’ attitude as if he didn’t even know her before. Come on! After 13 years you cannot completely forget the person you kissed and felt something before. If you forget there is two explanations: 1)YOU’RE REAL DOUCHEBAG ( that’s mostly what I thought for the hero) 2) YOU MUST SUFFER FROM AMNESIA!( Nope, he was not a Memento man!)

LACK OF ROMANCE PARTS:
There are too many characters on this book. I enjoyed the best friends surrounded around Georgina who reminded me of Bridget Jones’ ultra-modern version of gang! And the troubled family members are also okay and entertaining. But the focus on their stories affect the balance of the romance parts.( Till the end, we never see any close encounter or any big angsty revelations between the characters)

But I still enjoyed the funny and sarcastic tone of writing( I laughed so much aloud at the Italian restaurant parts, my neighbors came to check on me and made sure I was not choking when my husband just shrugged and explained them that was my regular “donkey toned laugh”) and Lucas’ last proposition speech soften me! I no longer hold a grudge against him.

I love the ending put a silly smile on my face! I’m a hopeless, idiotic romantic who feels delightful as soon as the characters find their HEAs!

So yes, this is my first book of the author! I hope to read more of her novels. I end up with the amazing song’s lyrics: “Will you call my name? As you walk on by”

I dropped the mic and Nilufer has left the building!

Special thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the ARCCOPY in exchange my honest review!

“I remember a Fay remark that was long lost in memory, until now: “No one else is going to fix you. The only person who can fix you, is you.” So Coldplay lied.”

Don’t You Forget About Me was surprisingly an excellent read with some real depth. The book is being compared to Bridget Jones’ Diary, and that is actually a pretty accurate comparison. Georgina, our narrator, really reads like Bridget. She’s funny, real, and very very witty. At the start, Georgina is working at a perfectly horrid Italian restaurant as a waiter and gets sacked. She later finds her boyfriend in bed with a co-worker. Not a great night. Circumstances would have it that her next job would be bartending at a pub who happens to be owned by her first love. This all sounds like a romantic comedy and for the most part it is. However, the later portion of the book touches on some really dark and serious subject matter and handles it with grace.

Her friend group I also absolutely loved. Rav, in particular, was a scene stealer for me. He had some pretty great one liners, but all of her friends were equally great. Our romantic lead, Lucas, was great, and I really enjoyed his and Georgina’s relationship progression throughout the book.

Don’t You Forget About Me is definitely worth reading especially if you’re in the mood for an actually funny at time romantic comedy with a refreshing outlook on relationships and dating in the modern age.

“I feel a light-headedness, and a newfound lightness. I’m not carrying it anymore. I spoke the words aloud, used my words, and broke the curse.”

I went into this book thinking it was a romance, which made the beginning seem slow. But once I caught on it was more a women's fiction, I really started to enjoy it. The last half was wonderful. The ending was satisfying and well worth the wait. I wish it had gone on just a bit longer...

Cute book. More of a growing up tail from someone who took a bit longer to grow up. Very easy read. Took me a day and a half to finish. A poolside read for sure.

Poor Georgina is still trying to find her place in life and I’m so glad to say she does come into her own! Really enjoyed this book

This was a nice light read. It had a lot of humor in it that Ithought was perfectly done. I was totally rooting for the main character.

This charming, witty, and downright hilarious book follows our main character Georgina who is 30, is unlucky and hasn't settled down and built her life yet. She's been fired from her job and walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her. She lands a last minute gig as a bartender, but the owner happens to be her high school love Lucas who doesn't remember her! I loved this book so much, between the romance tensions, the hilarious family and exboyfriend scenes, I couldn't put this down.

I really liked this book!! It is fast paced and from the start of the book you cheer on George. I am going to have to go back and read her past books.

It took a little while to get into the book but once I did, I really enjoyed it. I wished we could have seen a little more interaction with Georgina and Lucas though.

I absolutely ADORED this book!! Georgina is a writer, or trying to be, she's broke and a mess, but has a great sense of humor and a great group of friends. She loses her job at a terrible Italian restaurant and is down on her luck, until she gets a job at a bar. Only the bar is owned by Lucas, a boy whose heart she broke in high school. We get a taste of what their high school relationship was like in the Prologue and how Georgina was smitten with the popular crowd and we can only assume that when she had the opportunity with the popular bad boy, she took it.

I love Lucas and I love Georgina. This book is funny with just the right amount of sexual tension. The characters are well-developed and relatable. The storyline is fresh and different. This is a must-read for rom-com fans!

This title was fine. Not groundbreaking by any means, but certainly entertaining. Very, very Bridget Jones.

The first chapter was a bit odd. Georgina's vocabulary felt overworked and then almost non-existent in the following chapters.

This book tackled some heavy, yet very timely, issues. It featured the author's usual funny repartee. It was enjoyable, but more dramatic than I was expecting.

So "Don't You Forget About Me" was wonderful. I have never read McFarlane before, but now I want to read all of her books. This book had so much heart and I loved Georgina (the main character) and her friends Jo, Clem, and Rav. I also laughed a lot and even teared up when you find out why Georgina's life derailed when she was a teen and again a few months later. There's not any love scenes in this one, but you definitely get chemistry for days between Georgina and her love interest. Now if we can a sequel following Clem, Rav, or Jo I will be thrilled.

"Don't You Forget About Me" follows 30 something Georgina. Georgina is a waitress at possibly the worst restaurant in England. Seriously, I maybe laughed a few times when Georgina recounts the mess that went on in the kitchen. When a restaurant critic starts to make a fuss about his congealed carbonara the chef blames Georgina and fires her. Georgina goes to her boyfriend's place and finds him having sex with someone else. So yeah, we're off and running. McFarlane follows Georgina who is trying to do something with her writing (yeah she hasn't written anything yet) and who ends up finding a new job at a pub. Only problem is that one of the owners of the place is someone that Georgina has wondered about for ages, the boy she was in love with, Lucas McCarthy.

Georgina is definitely someone you want to root for. Her whole family sounds like a mess, but once you get some reveals going on you find out what was going on with all of the parties (her mom and sister) and I just ended up liking everyone more. That is one thing I want to keep emphasizing with this book, not everything is pushed out in the open. McFarlane lets the character of Georgina tell us things in her own way. We find out that her relationship with her jerk of an ex wasn't as awesome as she thought it was. And with that she starts to reveal how she first met Lucas and what happened between them.

The secondary characters like Lucas, Clem, and Rav were great. Lucas is an engima at first, but once again we find out what has happened to him since school. Rav and Clem were hilarious. I loved the friendship between the three friends and Georgina. They all got each other and supported one another.

The writing was great. The stories that Georgina tells are hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking. Her voice throughout this book was strong. The flow was great as well.

The book takes place in London though we mainly have the bar that Lucas owns, Georgina's apartment, and her sister's place as the main settings in this book.

The ending does a six months later epilogue that I was very pleased with. Seriously though, follow up with Clem or Rav.

A lovely story about finding your truth & strength. First love & high school drama can lead to misunderstandings which can have huge impacts on your life. I love to see strong women finding their voices & telling their story!!

Written by Mhairi McFarlane, Don’t You Forget About Me is a novel set in a small English town and follows Georgina as she looses her dead beat job, finds her boyfriend in bed with another woman, and has the true love of her life walk back in only to not remember her at all.

THIS IS NOT A STORY FOR CHILDREN

There, that disclaimer is out of the way.

While I enjoyed the story, and loved Lucas the ex, the writing is what set this back for me. The first chapter was terrible and confusing. After that, it got much better and by the end was great, but the first chapter.

The characters were interesting and the main characters had a lot of depth and SO MUCH GROWTH. While this is a romance, it is really more about the growth of the main characters than it is them falling in love. The love bit is really only at the very end.

Georgina is a very real character that I think a lot of people can relate to. She knew what she wanted at one point, but after being broken she just… never really learned how to put her self back together. And couldn’t admit that she had been broken.

The plot is the other strong point for this novel. The writing might not be great, but it has strong characters and a strong plot.

This isn’t a novel for die-hard romance novels; this is a novel for someone who wants a novel about love, forgiveness, and what it really means to move on, find yourself, and find your people.