I almost gave up on this book about 1/3 of the way in. I thought I was supposed to be reading a mystery/thriller book but it was all about virtual reality and advancements in social media and technology (sheaths, Augments, self driving cars). Nothing I was very interested in reading. I figured out a bit later that this story is set somewhere in the near future. But I was pulled in by Linda and her struggles and was curious enough to keep reading. I'm very happy I did because the last 1/2 of the book was AMAZING! This was where the thriller and mystery section of the story occurred. I couldn't get thru it fast enough!

I am torn between wanting to rate this 3 stars because I almost DNF but thinking it should rate close to 4 stars because it is well written, thought provoking, great character development and for fans of sci fi this would be a no brainer. In the end though I'll go with my own experience and rate it a 3. I will however definitely check out the author's other works.

I would love to be rating this higher, because it was un-put-downable. We’re in the very near future (the characters recall the COVID-19 pandemic, which I have to say is weird to read about as a historical event) with Linda, a young woman whose childhood is reminiscent of Emma Donoghue’s Room, but not because she was born to a mother abducted by her father - it’s because she was born to a mother trying to replace a previous daughter. She was restricted to her mother’s rural property until emerging at the age of 12 into the modern world of ubiquitous social media and virtual reality. Linda’s perspective strangely reminds me of how it feels to think of my own childhood in the 90’s compared to today’s technological backdrop. The difference feels dizzyingly radical if I think about it too much.
For most of the book, there’s almost too much to think about - who broke into Linda’s dead sister’s grave? Why does her father seem to want nothing to do with her? What happened to her mother and her twin sister, Emmer? Who is the mysterious figure “correcting” “coding errors,” and what’s with all the debate about whether life could be a simulation? I felt certain these threads were all heading towards a mind-blowing explanation, but unfortunately the conclusion disappointed me. Maybe I built it up too much in my head, but it did sort of feel like the author purposely threw in some red herrings to make the mundane ending feel more like a twist. I felt like I was reading a sci-fi thriller for most of the book, but now having finished I would barely classify it as sci-fi at all. I did enjoy reading it though, and I liked Linda and especially her neighbor Anvi, and the virtual reality scenes made me want to play more video games (until the dog part. WARNING TO READERS: TECHNICALLY THE DOG DOESN’T DIE, BUT THERE IS A DOG DEATH SCENE).

I was a huge fan of Oliva’s first novel.. in fact I just reread it. I guzzled it! So I was ready to dive into this one, Which, other than a kind of veering into sci-fi, doesn’t have a whole lot in common with her first novel.
I really liked and empathized with the character of Linda. She was vulnerable. She was tough. She was a product of her environment. I loved reading about how she tentatively trusted her neighbor. And I also enjoyed the relationship she had with her dad.
I understand why the author took us kind of off the rails with the second half of the novel..because it needed to happen to have a plot. But. The second half isn’t as good as the first. It’s still good.. I wanted to know what was going on. But I wanted more of Linda’s characterization. And the development of her relationship with her neighbor.
Like Oliva’s first novel, I’m left wanting more. Probably a sign of a great novel, but I’ve gotta say, I’d really like more of both stories. How about it?
This book transcends genre. I’d say it’s sci-fi and thriller with a little bit of women’s fiction thrown in. I recommend it to those of you who like your fiction unpredictable.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately I could not fully get lost in this Sci fi novel. The author spends too much time dissecting Linda's feelings and awkward interactions with others. The plot moves too slowly and you can't really tell this is a futuristic novel until you are well into the novel. Just couldn't hold my interest.

This is a different genre than I typically read, but it drew me in! Forget Me Not introduces us to Linda, also known as Clone Girl. She was born as a genetic clone to her sister who died. I was intrigued learning more about Linda and her past, as well as her relationships with her family and her struggle with her identity. I struggled a bit with the part of the plot tying in virtual reality and parallel universe, maybe because science fiction isn't a topic I often visit. Still, it was an interesting & well written read I would recommend to others, as it is not your typical suspense novel!

DNF 25%

This is truly a matter of preference. This book that is set in the near future is all about gaming and virtual reality and both are things that I have zero interest in. The writing is very well done but this story is just never going to grab my attention and I know it so it's better to stop now before it becomes hate reading. This author is too talented to do that to.

I should mention that I loved Alexandra Oliva's debut The Last One and I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't already.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for granting my wish to read this. I should have read the synopsis before clicking that button.

Forget Me Not by Alexandra Oliva is a highly recommended unique thriller set in the near future.

In a secluded walled-off twenty acre property in rural Washington Linda Russell's mother, Lorelei Niequist, artificially conceived Linda in an attempt to replace her deceased daughter, Madeline. It became clear that Linda was not a replica of Madeline, and from the point of that realization, Linda was basically abandoned and left to raise herself. Linda often thinks of her twin, Emmer, who disappeared when they were young. She doesn't know what happened but thinks Linda may have killer her. If Lorelei was present, she made her disdain clear and often told Linda to make herself scarce. Eventually she all but disappeared while still having food delivered for Linda. Then at age twelve, something scared Linda enough that she climbed the fence and made her way to town. From that point on, she was known as the Clone Girl and was brutally introduced to the modern world via social media. Her wealthy father, Arthur Niequist, who knew nothing of the artificial conception, is trying to do what he thinks is best for this daughter he never knew existed.

Now Linda is twenty-four and known as Linda Russell. She lives a quiet, withdrawn, controlled existence in Seattle, trying to go out at times crowds are fewer to draw no attention to herself. When/if she is identified, photographed, and it goes out on social media, she receives threats and will have to move again for her safety. In the world now people wear arm-wrapping "sheaths" that act as phones, fitbits, cameras, trackers, etc., and the only social media is SocialHub. When she has a new neighbor move in next door, Anvi Hendrickson, Linda is extremely reluctant to respond to her friendly overtures, but Anvi has a dog, Nibbler, that Linda wants desperately to pet. Linda's burgeoning friendship with Anvi becomes life changing, especially in light of what happens to her next, after her childhood home catches fire and she is thrust back into the news.

The narrative is told through Linda's point-of-view, drafts of messages Lorelei sent to Arthur, and Anvi's thoughts. It is clear that Lorelei is mentally ill and her unraveling is evident in her treatment of Linda and her messages to Arthur. We slowly learn why Linda is the way she is, what her childhood experiences were and how she is living now. Her anxiety comes through the pages and you can feel her tension, her nervousness, her anxiety, her fear. When Linda meets Anvi, you will feel wary along with Linda, cautious about this friendly stranger. Oliva's character development mimics Linda's watchful, circumspect approach to life and it serves the novel well. While we meet the characters we are judicious when considering their character and intentions.

The plot held my attention throughout and the novel is well-paced. Linda's suspicion and caution is clearly reflected in the novel and your reaction to the events going on will mirror this reaction. Oliva's ability to manipulate the readers emotions to approach the plot with this same caution through her use of a present-tense narrative is incredibly intuitive. I didn't realize this until after I was finished, and applaud the intelligence and skill involved in the choice of this presentation. I loved Oliva's previous novel, The Last One, and while I loved many aspects of Forget Me Not, I did think the sub-plot featuring GH could have been left out, even though the end of this thread was noteworthy. 4.5 stars

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House Publishing Group
After publication the review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

3 Lost Child/Gamer/Who Stars
* * * Spoiler Free-A Quick Review
An author's blurb is one of the most important parts of presenting their book. The blurb for this book caught my eye, my curiosity, and had me read out of my usual picks. I was told there had a bit of a sci-fi element, something I usually do not lean into but it was mixed with a mystery/thriller storyline so I decided to dive in.

This is a story that has so much to absorb. It takes place maybe about fifteen years from now, so communication tools, social media, and gaming VR are all in the mix equally with the loss of a child,
the need to fill it, and how that impacts the family bearing that loss.

It had some strong elements and maybe those more intuned with this type of genre/book would appreciate it more.

I really liked Olivia's previous book The Last One. (https://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-last-one-alexandra-oliva.html) and happily picked up this latest on the strength of that.

I'm sorry to say that I threw in the towel after the fifty page mark. Why? I was forcing myself to read, not enjoying the novel at all. Linda is the lead character. She was interesting in the beginning, hiding behind her apartment door, waiting 'til the coast is clear to not see or speak to anyone on her way out. The technology on her arm leads us to know that this book is in the future - not sure how far. Her references to her doctor and her own thoughts insinuate that she is either a rescued feral child - or - a computer simulation/clone/futuristic something. Hmmm

Way too much description on playing a virtual game with her new neighbor and the was where I gave up. The plot was moving too slowly and more importantly I didn't care enough about the lead character to tough it out. A quick peek at the last chapters confirmed my suspicions - and that I wouldn't have enjoyed the journey there. I appreciate receiving this advance copy. But, you can't love every book can you?

This book was confusing at first but then grabbed my attention quick. It’s a book you can finish in one sitting just because you need to know what’s happening.

Story it is a Sci Fi/Fantasy set in the future ~ perhaps twelve or fifteen years
It starts with Linda who is somewhat isolated in her apartment by choice. She knows her neighbors based on their names on their mailboxes but she really doesn’t know them. A new neighbor moves in and knocks at her door to meet her ~ something she is doing with all the neighbors. She has her dog Nibbler with her.
Linda looks her up on the Social Hub and sees that she has earned her PhD from Cornell and that she LOVES her dog as there are tons of pictures of her dog. Linda forms a friendship with her as she too likes the dog!!!
We don’t know much about either girl but Linda mentions that she used to live in 20 acres of a wooded area. Also that she had an older sister Madeline who died a violent death. It seems she is a clone ~ a replacement for Madeline. Linda had a twin sister Emmer who went missing.

When Linda Russell was young, she left on a wooded 20 acres wooded area in Washington,
She leaves the security of the wooded area when she is a witness to something that scares her. However, once she leaves she feels trapped in her apartment as she fears someone is watching her~ which of course, is what is happening. She soon lives a life of technology solitude while living in Seattle. Her neighbor Anvi introduces her to ‘virtual reality as an escape.
I am a big psychological thriller fan this was more sci fi than I like. Certainly a different read for me.
I started out glued ~ however I did get a bit confused with the choppiness of some parts.

I always enjoy reading the ‘Author’s note’ ~ as it is usually the inside scoop to the story but this is an uncorrected early galley, I am sure ‘Author’s Note’ will be inserted later.

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for this early release granted to me for an honest professional review. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for March 2, 2021

This quasi-futurist science fiction thriller is fast paced and unsettling, but the themes are timeless when it comes to grief, identity, friendship, and family. I thought that Oliva was effective at building a time and place that is familiar enough to be relatable and believable, but also far enough in the future that the technology changes and societal aspects felt like they could be plausible within the timeline while still being novel. I did feel like it sometimes lagged on, but at the same time nothing felt superfluous or bloated. As a thriller it's pretty standard, with tropes and twists that I've come to expect from the genre, though the futuristic elements made it a little more unique. I maybe wouldn't go in looking for a lot of heavy sci-fi elements, but what was there stood out the most, in terms of plotting and device. I'm not totally sure that it was completely necessary to have it set in the not too distant future, as it really only truly paid off in one way near the end, but I did like the postulating about the changes in social media and communication.

Overall, FORGET ME NOT is entertaining. It never really blew me away, but it was a decent read in the moment.

I ended up having to DNF this one, which was really disappointing after loving her previous book so much. 30% in, it felt like nothing had happened and we had no buy in to the world or characters. What a bummer.

Linda Russell spent the first 12 years of her life isolated and forced to fend for herself in rural Washington. Now 24, she tries to find solace in virtual reality. However, an arson attempt on her childhood home pulls her back to reality and forces her to confront her past ...

Forget Me Not by Alexandra Oliva is a sci-fi mystery thriller set in the not-too-distant future. The blurb itself sounded fascinating. However, the overall execution of the story is poor and I take issue major issue with the story’s lack of plausibly—mainly: Linda is far too well-adjusted and high-functioning for a person who underwent her degree of severe neglect as a child. For instance, she supposedly cared for her own injuries by reading a first-aid book, but that still begs the question of how she was able to learn how to read or develop a medical vocabulary to begin with.

All in all, the story was not well-thought-out and the plot twist itself was disappointing, so I found myself unable to enjoy this one.

Quirky is the best word to describe this book. It's not quite sci-fi, not quite thriller, not quite coming of age, and not quite action- but a little of all of those things wrapped up into a truly quirky story. Set about 10-15 years in the future, the story focuses on a girl who grew up isolated and gets plopped into a world of social media and technology. Her way of coping in this world is isolating herself, thus causing her to be a little naïve about the world and people in general. Then we see what happens when she starts to venture further out...
Overall, a really fun and interesting read. This is one of those kinds of books where you can't really guess where it's going (and sometimes even where it's coming from), but if you just go with it, it will definitely give you some things to think about.

Forget Me Not pulled me in and kept me reading. I found it intriguing and moving. A rich couple have a daughter, who dies in a terrible accident as a teenager. The mom descends into mental illness and uses frozen embryos to impregnate herself in an attempt to recreate her dead child. But of course she can’t – and the new child pays the price for not being her older sister.
Linda, the protagonist, is very relatable. Now an adult, she is trolled on social media for merely existing. She has a troubled relationship with her famous father. She moves frequently as her address is outed online, and she has no friends until an outgoing neighbor (with a dog!) reaches out to her. But can she trust that Anvi is truly a friend? Or is she using her? Then the walled home where Linda grew up with her disturbed mother catches fire – and the past which has settled is stirred up again.
I liked that we got more than one narrative point of view. I enjoyed the Seattle setting. But what Oliva does really well is create a number of sympathetic and believable characters. Even the mother isn’t painted as evil.
Forget Me Not is set in a near future, and the social media, gun culture, and virtual reality details feel true. This could make a great movie in the right hands.
There is a subplot that I found distracting and not necessary. If I could speak to the author (who I actually did meet at a library conference a few years ago), I would say – stop trying to trick us. You don’t need the tricks. You are a good writer and your stories can stand on their own without the subterfuge. There was another “big secret” that I guessed early on as well. But those were minor distractions. I found Forget Me Not great escapist reading and recommend it to lovers of psychological thrillers.
I read an advance reader copy of Forget Me Not from Netgalley. It is scheduled to be released on March 2, 2021. The Galesburg Public Library will own it in print and as an ebook and electronic audiobook. In the meantime, we also own Oliva’s first book, The Last One, in print, audio, and ebook, and I recommend it as well.

Whew - my mind was going in circles by the time I finished this one! I'd read and enjoyed another of this author's books - "The Last One" - so I was happy to be approved for a pre-release copy of this one. And I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

That said, don't expect a typical mystery or thriller; this one is more than a little offbeat (in a good way). The story takes place in the not-too-far distant future. Characters wear arm-wrapping "sheaths" that, I suppose, replace the cell phones, GPS trackers and such that we know and love; SocialHub has replaced Facebook, Instagram and all the other popular online gathering places we know and love (or love to hate); and the COVID-19 pandemic is a thing of the past. Artificial intelligence and virtual reality are well developed, and I admit that the extent to which they're involved here left me a little mind-boggled at times.

The main subject here is a mid-twenties woman named Linda, although it's not her real name. She's better known as Clone Girl - a child created by a mother who lost her beloved daughter years earlier and ever since has been trying to create an exact replacement. For a dozen years, Linda lived in secret, held behind walls at a remote Washington location and for the most part left to forage for herself. One day, something bad happens and she runs away - managing to scale the wall and escape. Suddenly, she's in a whole new world - one filled with people who may or may not have her best interests at heart. She tries to live in seclusion, but keeping her location secret is difficult in this time of enhanced social media (just venturing outside her small apartment present a risk that she'll be recognized and need to run - again).

Then, Linda gets an unwanted knock on her door by a rather kooky-looking young woman named Anvi and her dog Nibbler. Even though Anvi doesn't seem to know who Linda is or have some kind of ulterior motive, Linda is reluctant to strike up any semblance of a friendship (besides, she has no idea what real friendship is like). But Anvi persists, introducing Linda to her VR game - opening up new possibilities. When Linda learns that a fire has destroyed the only home she ever knew, she knows she has to go back despite the horrible memories (or perhaps because of them). What happens after that kept me on the edge of my seat right to the end.

Oddly, though, I never felt too much empathy or sympathy toward Linda, nor did I really connect with any of the other characters. Maybe it's because I was trying so hard to comprehend all the new-to-me technology stuff, but none of them evoked much emotion. The plot, though, gets extra points for originality and creativity - making the whole thing well worth reading.

I read this author’s first book, The Last One, and loved it so knew I needed to read Forget Me Not. And I was definitely not disappointed. This was another unique and intriguing story from beginning to end.

Linda is a strange young woman who is completely out of her element in a world full of people. At the age of 12 she escaped from a life spent completely alone in isolation in the woods.

Her cray cray mother had her in secret to try to recreate her deceased daughter. When the mother realizes this new child isn’t her first daughter, she just leaves her letting her fend for herself for years, only sending in enough supplies to keep Linda alive.

Linda is known as “clone girl” and is stalked by social media as she’s famous for not only having escaped from her wacko mother and life, but because she’s also the daughter of a very wealthy famous high tech inventor. The media can’t get enough of her and her story.

Now living in her own apartment in the city, a new neighbor befriends Linda and tries to help her make her way into the scary crazy world.

I was completely engrossed in this book and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Alexandra Oliva is officially an auto-buy author for me now.

*Thank you so much to Random House and NetGalley for the advance copy!*

I was incredibly fascinated by the description of this book, as I love a good sci-fi thriller and I especially love books that take place in the future. While I felt immediately invested in the storyline at the beginning of the book, I felt the the middle of the story dragged a bit - the pacing also seemed a bit strange, as the storyline alternated between slow-paced and character-driven to fast-paced action. Nevertheless, this is certainly a unique and intriguing story.

I enjoyed the fact that the book takes place in the not-so-distant future - just far enough ahead of present-day for technology to have substantially advanced. I also found the various character's reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic quite fascinating. The main character, Linda (aka "Clone Girl") is also quite fascinating. I think the author did a great job of keeping the reader guessing about the nature of Linda's reality.

I wasn't too crazy about the detailed descriptions of Linda's VR gaming. While I understand the relevance of Linda's VR experience to the greater storyline, I found these depictions a bit excessive.

Overall, I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this one. The descriptions of future technology and envisioning what that world may look like was worth the read alone.

I really enjoyed Alexandra Oliva’s first book and couldn’t wait to begin this one. It started very strong, and I thought she had another winner. The main character, Linda, was achingly flawed and lonely. Everything about her screamed to be discovered and it seemed that her new neighbor was going to be the perfect vehicle to accomplish the job. Then, the story started going down paths that were, to be honest, little more than filler or totally unnecessary. I would have liked more of the story to deal with interactions between Linda and real people, rather than descriptions of her playing VR games. And, frankly, the entire Graham storyline was worthless.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.