This is the sad story of a family who lost a young daughter, and wanted to replace her but couldn't really. Linda grew up and lived alone, escaping into virtual reality games. Her father Arthur kept track of her, but her mother Lorelai did not.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to pick up this book after loving The Last One. However, I don't think this book was quite as good. The pacing was decent overall, but I kept thinking that it would lean more into the sci-fi elements. There were several plot threads that I thought we'd explore more, only for them to just not really go anywhere or be as impactful as anticipated. I'll admit, I'm a bit disappointed with the direction this went! It's definitely a sadder tone overall with content warnings for things like coronavirus, child abuse, and mental health issues.

I did really enjoy the virtual reality elements of this! This mostly came up with VR games, but it was great to see how this helps Linda open up more. The game is also something I would totally play, so I liked reading about that! We do have some futuristic tech with things like Sheaths (which seem to be like larger smart watches/phones). Social media certainly plays a large role in this society which is a topic I always enjoy reading about. We also have self driving cars, so that was fun!

I can appreciate how Linda is trying to lead this low key life after this pretty terrible past. I liked seeing how she confronts her past and learns more about herself in the process. Despite feeling bad for her, I did feel a little disconnected from her. The side characters were mostly fine - I particularly liked Linda's new neighbor and her dog.

I did still enjoy this book, even if I didn't like it as much as The Last One. I'm definitely open to reading more from this author!

I received a copy of this for review from the publisher via NetGalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 4:02-7:14 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub3DGZRkG24

I wish to thank NetGalley and the Random House - Ballantine Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have to admit this book is just not for me. I feel it is well written but just not something I really wanted to continue reading. The book is hard to follow and full of Virtual Reality, gaming and technology in the future. Linda, the main character, is introduced in an interesting manner but I got lost in the details and was bored trying to follow it. The Clone Girl subject was interesting but the sci-fi is just not for me. I felt for Linda but not enough to finish the book. I did read about half of it. This book is a great one for readers who love sci-fi. It is well written and I can see where others would give it 5 stars.

Forget Me Not is a dark and unusual mystery/thriller set in the near future. Linda spent the first 12 years of her life in an isolated, walled off 20-acre wilderness in Washington state. She lived there with her mother, Lorelei, and her twin sister, Emmer. Her mother had little use or love for the girls and left them to see to their own needs. Together they would romp and play through the forests, lost in their games of make-believe. One day, her mother took Emmer away, and upon returning, told Linda her sister would not be coming back. Life continued on, but now filled with loneliness. What love she had found in her twin, couldn't be replaced. Certainly, her mother wasn't willing or able to try! One night, Linda witnessed something so disturbing that she climbed one of the forbidden walls and entered the outside world in total, fear of both what she was running from and the unknown world she now found herself in.

We first meet Linda as she is entering her apartment building in Seattle. She is a bit older, but still trying to make sense of this very strange and large world. Socially interacting with anyone was a nightmare of misunderstandings for her. People seemed to have conventions about such things, but she didn't know what they were or what the people expected of her. It was all she could do to navigate through the interactions needed to gather supplies etc.

Oliva skillfully develops her characters and their relationships; they are both interesting and believable. I loved watching Linda develop and grow as she gets more used to her new world and even begins to develop some relationships. That alone would be a fascinating story! Readers learn that Linda is a publicly known person (or at least her story is very well-known) and when Linda learns of it, she is devastated. Her whole previous life as she knew it was built on a lie, and she is set adrift again. When people make the connection between Linda and the story, it is only through the kindness of one of her new friends that she escapes the clamor of those wanting to talk to her about it.

I didn't care for the turns into the worlds of gaming and alternative realities. This is where the book soured for me personally. Still, I have enjoyed Ms. Oliva's other works and look forward to doing so again. This just wasn't it for me.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Ballantine for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel which is scheduled to be published on 3/2/21. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Good idea for a story, but it didn’t all come together for me. Not sure if it was the pacing or the VR aspects, but he characters didn’t seem to work for me.

This was a very unique and creative book which is a blend of suspense/thriller with a touch of science fiction and mystery set in the near future. It’s definitely not your typical thriller, more of a quirky and offbeat story with elements of all those genres. I thought the author did a great job at building the characters and making you empathize and connect with them. I also loved the interactions between Linda and Anvi. The plot held my attention and was well paced once it got going. I did find the GH subplot to be unnecessary and distracting. It just didn’t really add anything to the story for me. This was definitely a book that I couldn’t quite guess where it was all going and I enjoyed watching it come together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with this eARC for review. Forget Me Not will be out on March 2.

Linda Russell was born for all the wrong reasons. She was meant to be a replacement for a sister she never got to meet. Linda was supposed to be an exact replica of Madeline, but was only a disappointment. Which is why her mother abandoned her.
Now Linda is trying to figure out how to be a normal adult. She was twelve when she was found, after years of no human contact. Her story became a media sensation that has followed her through the years. Their obsession with her story has put Linda in danger again.

Forget Me Not is suspenseful read with surprises around every corner. Just when you think you know where the story is going, you turn the page and have your mind blown! To say I was shocked with the ending would be and understatement.
The story does take a techno/scientific thriller approach, which normally isn't my thing, but it worked. It helped build the mystery and sent the reader down rabbit holes.
I really enjoyed this book. This Alexandra Oliva's second book, and my first by her. Of course now I have to read her other novel, The Last One. She is definitely a writer to watch.

Nature or nurture? How much contact with other humans do we need to be human ourselves? In the near future, Linda Russell is left alone on a twenty acre walled compound to raise herself. The woods are both her home and her companion. Twelve years in, Linda sees something she was never meant to see; terrified she goes over the wall of her “home” and finds herself in a modern world she has no idea how to cope with. Years later, Linda has made a home in Seattle and made an uneasy peace with the technology that dominates every moment of her life. She has found someone she believes she can trust enough to call a friend, but then a fire back at the home she escaped from beckons her back. And the answers she uncovers there will not only change Linda, but the entire world. A completely immersive read, I didn’t come up for air until the last page

What if your memories of the first twelve years of your life held the best times of your life? Even if you grew up alone and isolated with a mother who barely took care of you or your twin sister. Then, something happens, and you find yourself alone. Would you have the courage to leave the only place you ever knew and take a chance on the outside world?
Linda Russell is known on social media as the Clone Girl. Her mother Lorelai had her to replace her much loved and deceased daughter Madeline. But genetics are tricky and a sibling can't emerge exactly like their predecessor. Lorelai is smart and wealthy, but the grief she feels for Madeline has destroyed who she once was. As Linda matures she cannot accept the reality that there is no bringing Madeline back.
When Linda is found, she trades one prison for another. The modern world along with all its technology frightens her and she spends most of her time alone in her apartment. Her biological father makes sure she has everything that money can buy, but what she really wants is to feel loved and accepted for herself. She fears social interaction, as she has been mercilessly hounded on social media.
Linda may actually be making a real friend, her new neighbor Anvi, who doesn’t seem to know or care about her unusual upbringing. When she hears about a fire at her childhood home, all Linda can think about is going back, and she has no choice except to let Anvi drive her. Her journey brings many memories back to the surface, and the truth about her childhood may be vastly different than what she remembers.
But, you really can’t go home again without consequences. Linda’s decision might wind up costing her an unknown future that might be better than her past. While Anvi and Linda’s father struggle to find her, Linda tries to make sense of what is right in front of her. The past and present collide with horrific results.
The story combined several interesting elements. Science fiction as the world of Forget Me Not is set in the future, virtual reality and gaming, mental illness, the hazards of social media, mystery, and perhaps even murder. I felt so sorry for Linda who is just trying to figure out her place in the world. It is a very intriguing way to tell her story. I have no reason to believe there will be a sequel, but I would love to know more about this world.

I started out really enjoying this one, but then I became somewhat confused by the narrator and found myself having to re-read lines and paragraphs over and over again to absorb what was being said.

I think this book just wasn't the right book for me. It was just way too confusing.

What a unique and fascinating book this was! I just know that this will be a move one day, and I can’t wait to watch it! I was hooked right from the first chapter and gobbled every word eagerly and effortlessly. I could not stop talking about this book the minute I finished it, and I am still talking about it to anyone who wants to talk about books!

My son is all about technological advances in the future and in AI, and I have developed interest and knowledge in this area myself, so I welcomed and appreciated so much in this book - the Sheath, SocialHub, Augmenters, VR, cloning, consciousness, simulations, to name a few. I was completely captivated throughout the entire book.

Another note to mention is that it was pretty momentous for me to see the chaos of the last election and the destruction of the pandemic written about in a fictitious novel already. It is almost surreal that what we are living through now is already an important part of history.

And the characters... The characters were just perfect for this book. There is so much more depth to each one of them than what appears on the surface. Each one played such an important and integral part to the story, and each one made the story more exciting and intriguing.

I loved loved this book so much!

The publisher sent me a pre-approved Netgalley copy of this to review. Since I had just finished another. book about virtual reality and loved it, I thought this one looked promising, so I was all over it!

The writing is poetic and mesmerizing. Clearly, Oliva knows her way around imagery and mysterious narration.

I like being somewhat confused by the narrator in a book, but I found myself having to re-read lines and paragraphs over and over again to absorb what was being said.

I only made it to about 22% but I just can’t seem to get into the story. It’s just way too confusing for me.

Linda Russell had no idea who she was or where she was when she walked into town dirty, malnourished, and unable to speak. As a child, she hadn’t understood why her mother hated her and why her sister disappeared into the basement never to return. Left alone on 20 acres fenced in with a steel fence with razor wire on top. All she knew was that her mother wasn’t coming back, not that she had been much of a mother.

She lived like a wild child in the woods. More comfortable there than inside. And for her first twelve years of life, she never knew caring or love. That was for the other sister’. The one who disappeared. Linda probably would have been there still if she hadn’t seen something that terrified her. So she climbs the wall and goes for help. Waking up in a hospital with a man who says he is her father, she is feeling a new type of trap.

Now in her twenties, she is living in Seattle. Set up in her own apartment with enough money for life. It turns out her mother and father were rich scientists. Only her mother was crazy. Driven mad by the death of another child and determined to clone her first daughter. She’s nuts.

When Linda discovers social media, her past is there for anyone to find. #CloneGirl is what the haters call her. Her life consists of her sheath, and consider this is a few years in the future and think Ipad on your arm. Her father keeps track of her every move and insists she go outside once a day at least. But she doesn’t want to go anywhere but back to the woods.

Until she meets her new neighbor. A girl who is an expert with technology and introduces Linda to SocialHub and all of the search engines.

When news reaches her that her childhood home is on fire, this seems to trigger strength in Linda. She will return to her home. She wants answers. She needs them to move on. But going back will set in motion more death, shocking news, and a plot to clone humans.

Everything she thought was true was not. Nothing is what she thought it was and the ending was truly shocking!

NetGalley/ March 2nd, 2021 by Ballantine Books

As much as I wanted to get into this one I just couldn’t. Even though I like the characters the pacing is a bit slow. Part of the book revolves around a VR system which lead me to think the big reveal at the end might have something to do with that but it doesn’t. I’m all for gaming but I find it unnecessary to put so much description in the book towards a game that the book isn’t really supposed to be focused on.

What a surprising and wonderful novel this is! Linda is living in Seattle in her own little bubble, hiding from those who follow her. She is known as the Clone Girl- not an accurate appellation- because some believe her mother cloned her to replace her dead sister. She escaped from a horror show of a feral childhood and luckily has an extremely wealthy father who funds her life (to the tune of $10k per month). The arrival of Anvi and her dog Nibbler as neighbors shakes up her world. Among other things, Anvi intoduces her to VR gaming (just go with the long interludes where she games) and then takes her to her childhood home after it is destroyed by fire. Linda discovers there's more to her story and a bigger threat to her life than she thought but Anvi and her father turn out to be more than she expected as well. No spoilers from me but there are surprises at multiple turns and some threads that don't seem to make sense (I know I didn't understand one part of it) will pull together in the end. This defies genre in some ways but it's very much a thriller. Linda is a fascinating character, especially as she spreads into the friendship first with Nibbler and then with Anvi and finally into knowing what she wants to do. Would that we all have a friend like Anvi. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Give this one a chance and it will reward you with an excellent read.

Forget Me Not (Alexandra Oliva) had me hooked about 10% into the story. I hated to put down my Kindle, but life has a way of  getting in the way of reading. I still managed to read Forget Me Not in less than 24 hours. Enjoyed Linda, the main character, and I'm hoping Ms Olivia has enough of Linda's story left unsaid to give us a sequel. I want to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an early copy to review.

Forget Me Not is quite the trip through a beguiling maze. And at the very core is what is really real and what is really not.

Alexandra Oliva introduces us to Linda Russell. Linda appears to be a timid soul constantly checking over her shoulder while standing on quaking ground. She lives in a small apartment in Seattle and rarely goes outside unless she's short on groceries. Oliva describes a Sheath that Linda wears on her wrist whenever she goes out. And she's not the only one wearing a Sheath.

Linda literally runs into her new neighbor, Anvi, whose movers nearly drop a sofa cushion on Linda's head as they struggle with Anvi's furniture up the stairs. Anvi is an outgoing, expressive young woman........and Linda is far from that. What draws Linda in is Anvi's lovable dog. Linda wishes to nuzzle the dog and is taken with the dog's antics.

While purple-haired Anvi is mega verbal by nature, Linda remains tight-lipped. Anvi works as a Social Hut insider involved with VP. She coaxes Linda into her apartment once she's set up her virtual gaming. Timidly, Linda allows herself to experience this with an almost out-of-body reaction. She's hooked.

Slowly, Alexandra Oliva reveals a bit of background on Linda. We soon find out that Linda literally went "over the wall" of a 20-acre rural property to escape whatever was happening there. We get nips and pieces about her mother and sisters. Linda and her missing sister, Emmer, were created in vitro to replace their older sister.

Forget Me Not has its moments. Oliva seems to pony out phantom characters left and right while setting up confusion in the pipeline of this storyline. While having elements of a mystery/thriller, it didn't always lean in that way. I stuck with a 3.5 rating while kicking it up to a 4 Stars for its creative backdrop. There were plenty of veins of current social media/tech nuance vibes here. But was it enough to carry it to the finish line? Check it out for yourselves to see which side of that wall you're on.

I received a copy of Forget Me Not through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Random House (Ballantine Books) and to Alexandra Oliva for the opportunity.

Wow!!!!!!!!  I have never read one of this authors books but it drew me in right away & didn't let go until the last page. The twists & turns in this thriller were insane!!!!!!I immediately fell in love with this character and my heart bled for her but I kept cheering her on till the very end.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for my early review copy

Enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Really liked the way the world opened up to include the father and friend. All the characters were sympathetic even the mother and her protector. A book with a really satisfying ending and interesting future developments. Looking forward to the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC of this title.

I feel like the description of this book gives it the impression that it's going to be more sci-fi than it is. There are certainly speculative elements to it (immersive VR, some thoughts about cloning, advanced social media), but it's more of a thriller with very human elements.

This throws you right into the main character's semi-paranoid existence and slowly zooms out to show you why she's (rightly!) the way she is. I liked the development of her character and the neighbor that befriends her, but there's maybe one too many plot threads going on at once - things get wrapped up very quickly on a few threads near the end. This was quick and suspenseful, but maybe a bit too neat at the end.