Wow, this novel was a rollercoaster ride. This was a great combination of thriller with sci-fi elements. Add in what could potentially be a unreliable narrator (I was never quite sure until the end),, characters with suspicious motivations, and a bunch of crazy twists, and you have a really great read. Unreliable narrator or not, Linda was quite sympathetic and a fascinating main character. I really enjoyed this and look forward to more from Alexandra Oliva.

***I received a Kindle edition of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review***

I was thrilled to receive this book and read it as soon as I could. I absolutely loved Oliva's last book The Last One and recommend it often.

Linda Russell is well known for all the wrong reasons. As a child she lived in a secluded walled off property where she was free to roam the woods and basically fend for herself. At 12 she scaled the wall and escaped, only to later find out that her whole life had been a lie. She had been born to a heartbroken mother who was trying to replace a daughter who had died in an accident years before. Linda becomes known on social media as "clone girl" and is thrust into a world she isn't prepared for. She has a difficult time making friends and never knows who she can trust. She also refused to adjust to the technology of her new world, her sheath which tracks her every move is a constant annoyance. When Linda finds a possible friend in her new neighbor Anvi, she begins to open herself up and start to explore her past more. They revisit her childhood property and she is seen by someone which sets up a series of dangerous and catastrophic events.

Unfortunately I had a hard time getting into this book. Nothing grabbed me like I wanted it to and it took me weeks to finish it. I felt like the story was a little disjointed and parts of it took too long to make sense. The few chapters about Graham I felt were just thrown in to try and tie everything together. This didn't live up to my expectations, but I look forward to reading more from Oliva, only because I loved her first book so much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Not my typical book to read, but the story sucked me in. I will admit I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but Linda's story grabbed me. Some of the elements in the story were strange to me, but the story itself was enjoyable.

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the first part. Learning about Linda and who she was. The pace was a little slow but very engaging.

The middle portion dragged a bit. Too much time spent in the virtual world, not enough in the real world. The ending was satisfying and exciting.

I thought the interludes with the Glitch Hunter game were confusing and unnecessary. The book makes more sense without them.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The setting in the future, where the pandemic was part of history, plus the complexity, yet relatability of the characters, drew me into this story. The plot was unique, yet pulled from themes we all recognize (tech’s role in our lives, the public’s obsession with tabloid-like stories). It took me a while, personally, to connect some of the parallel stories in the book, but overall i enjoyed the read.

Forget Me Not by Alexandra Oliva is the mind boggling tale of a young woman that is a replacement for her dead sister.
Only the how and why is a remarkable haunting futuristic image of possibilities to come.
This is an exceptional story that was hard for me to put down, with the twists and turns. It was heart tugging at my strings and I was angry at the people around this young woman for the life she has been trough. It is an amazing book.
Definitely one of my top five best I’ve read this year.

This was a very interesting storyline. Linda has been raised as a clone to her deceased sister Madeline. Linda has a twin sister Emmer who she very much misses and wants to find. Linda believes her mother, Lorelai, has something to do with Emmer's disappearance.

Linda has lived a very solitary life never wanting to let anyone in and feeling unloved in her adult life. She has been bullied and made fun of for who she is.

I loved the way Olivia unfolded this story and wove science fiction and futuristic items into different parts. I thought the book very well written and very intriguing. It kept drawing me in deeper and deeper and I had to know more about this dysfunctional family Linda was born into.

There are some very nice twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Not everything in Linda's life is as it has appeared to her and you begin to wonder if anything in her life is true.

I loved Linda's developing friendship with Anvi and how that allowed her to start opening up and learning to stand on her own two feet and begin to find value in herself.

There were so many elements going on in this book that quickly turned into a great story with a dark history and twists and turns that kept me guessing and up all night to finish the story. The touches on mental health, social media, close to a bunker child, crime, friends and family sounds like a lot listing afterwards but made a thoughtful, beautifully composed story. The near off future probably will have similar aspects, and I’m now even more scared to see those come to life. Highly recommend!

disclaimer – i received a copy of this book via random house publishing group - ballantine in exchange for an honest review.

in forget me not, by alexandra oliva, linda was born with one purpose - replace her dead sister. she grows up isolated from the world and all it contains and when the unthinkable happens, she escapes into a world more confusing than the one she fled. fast forward to now and linda's got an apartment, a semi-routine, and an infamous presence on social media that she never asked for and doesn't want. when her childhood home catches fire, linda returns for the first time since escaping, and suddenly everything she thought she knew is upended.

forget me not starts out disjointed and confusing. the first three or four chapters make you feel lost, wondering what's going on and how you ended up in the middle of it. once you get into the story, though, you'll be all-in because ultimately, it's not the story that's disjointed and confusing, it's linda. she is a devastatingly unreliable narrator who can't help but filter every sentence, every action, every facial expression through the lens of her childhood. you're following a linda who's trying to survive in a world she was not prepared for, doesn't understand, and never wanted.

the majority of oliva's other characters are complex and the world she has created for them makes sense and no sense at the same time. arthur, linda's father, seems to start out stiff and overly practical but as the story progresses, you begin to see him outside of linda's perception and end up feeling a great deal of sympathy for him. anvi, linda's new neighbor, is a mystery because we're viewing her solely through linda's lens. because linda is suspicious, you can't help but be suspicious. the only character that doesn't feel real is lorelei, linda's mother. she feels increasingly over-the-top and doesn't really develop so much as become a parody of herself and/or the illness that she may or may not have.

overall, this story hinges on linda and the lens she views every person, action, and interaction through. she is a fully formed, engaging, empathetic character who you follow to the end because you have to see how she handles everything. you just want to make sure that she's going to be okay.

four out of five stars

4 stars--I really liked it. Alexandra Oliva is now officially on my always-read list!

What I most enjoyed about this book wasn't the plot (though it was fast paced and kept my attention), nor the setting (though I really loved the near-future Seattle and rural WA state locations), but the characters. I cared about them and their relationships with each other, which kept me reading late at night to see if they'd be OK!

I would scrap a very minor sideplot involving two game makers, but other than that, I found this book tightly crafted and heartfelt.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

The essence of this book is that a young women has a major identity crisis because she was the result of a cloning experiment. She thinks she is one of identical twins, but we can't tell for sure because the plot is somewhat convoluted. Along her journey she befriends a neighbor, another woman who is about to start at a high-tech social media company. The story takes place in the near future, but it isn't far enough into the future where the sci-fi gizmos aren't all that amazing.

I would say there are some sufficient weaknesses here in plot, character, and situations that I came away feeling somewhat unsatisfied with the book. Normally I write more enthusiastic reviews but this time am lukewarm.

I wanted to like this book, because I enjoyed the author's first book very much. With such a great starting sentence:" A woman whose name shouldn't be Linda stands inside the locked front of her apartment, listening." I thought I was in for another treat. Unfortunately no. The mystery is revealed early on in a very slow moving story line, that for me just didn't work. The characters are so boring, I couldn't get a feel for any of them, much less care. The ending was predictable, and at that point I was glad it was over.

The author's strange way of introducing the characters by their ethnicity, was another annoying point. A character is never beautiful, attractive, handsome, etc. They are always: white, Asian, brown skinned or mixed race. The scene at the drugstore
was cringe worthy. It has been used so many times that it has lost any meaning , if it ever had one. As did the scene in the woods with Alvi in the woods, worrying that she will be shot because she is brown skinned. With all the tension at the moment over racial justice, maybe don't add wood to the fire?

The author would describe me as a mixed race, woman, as such I don't feel a need to apologize for my white part and I don't need an advocate, for the brown part.

This will probably have broad appeal. It's engaging and contains aspects of a thriller, along with interesting characters and an enjoyable plot. This is unique in some ways, which helped make it more fun. Recommended for most sci-fi fans.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

This was such a unique story, although I'm not sure how to best define it. It didn't feel quite fast-paced enough to be a thriller and the science didn't get deep enough that I'd call it sci-fi. I guess it's a literary mix of the two? Lol! Aside from that, the story was super interesting and different from other things I've read. I really enjoyed the characters and that I didn't figure everything out until the story unfolded. Oliva will be one whose books I always want to read right away.

Side note: This is the first book I've read that referenced the pandemic as a thing of the past. I knew it would be coming as artists roll out new work in this time, but it was still a bit surreal. And left me hopeful that indeed we really will get to a time where we're looking back at this insane year.

A unique story with a compelling character. It took me a bit, but then I was hooked. I wanted to learn about Linda's life and how it became what it did. Overall, a great plot with twists and turns, but always a clear intent.

Written in a stark and distant fashion, FORGET ME NOT by Alexandra Oliva is certainly a uniquely drawn story. Of a young woman who never had a chance at familial love, never experienced the warmth of a mother or even how to socialize properly.

The story is about adult Linda, with only varied references planted as to what her past was like. I think I would have liked more of her past and less of her dysfunctional present. I’m really not sure if I liked the choppy styling of this tale, although I do suppose it fits with Linda’s story. When push came to shove, I can’t say I could identify with ANY of the characters or really feel a connection to them. Of course, Linda evokes sympathy, but, there was just something missing for me in spite of the talent this author clearly has. She succeeded in making me feel depressed when I finished this one.

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Ballantine Books! This is my honest and voluntary review.

Incredible story , loved it
Where do I start amazing characters amazing twist, I want more from this author. I already added this book to our book club list.

Oo yes y’all I knew as soon as I started reading this novel it was going to be amazing!! The characters were so great and the storyline was non stop suspense! I loved the ending because I didn’t see it coming!

Perhaps we all believe our childhood was normal until we find out otherwise. As a child, Linda Russell must have thought it was normal to fend for herself on a twenty-acre walled off wooded property in rain-soaked Washington state.
And we believe our memories of our childhood are real until we find out they may be fantasies.
When Linda sees something horrific that sends her over the wall and into society, she inherits immense wealth. She becomes a negative media sensation due to rumors surrounding the method of her birth. She grew up wild in a fenced preserve, now she can have anything unbelievable wealth can buy, including state of the art reality games. The story is set in the near future, so get set for games you walk into for hours and “sleeves” instead of cellphones.
She can have anything except true safety.
Everyone around Linda has secrets, the clues are planted carefully, there are twists aplenty, murder, and gruesome deaths. A wonderful dog is waiting for you. Bury your fingers in his coat as the bullets are flying around you, and him.
The book consumed me; I was immersed in the near future reality and found the story deepened by the evil fairytale haunting the background.
Recommended!
Pre-order now and get your copy March, 2021!
Thanks to #RandomHousePublishingGroup #Ballantine, #NetGalley, and the author of #ForgetMeNot for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback, this is it! #SuspenseThrillers #LiteraryFiction #ScienceFiction #Mystery&Thrillers

Overall 4⭐

Plot: 4⭐

Pacing: 4⭐

Diverse Cast: 4⭐

Worldbuilding: 4⭐

Ending: 4⭐

A quick easy sci-fi read. It was actually a really easy read. Labeled as a sci-fi thriller, it works as one.

A light thriller but still.

Linda Russel grew up neglected by a mother with severe mental illness. In her mid twenties she's still not adapted to society.

She's got anxiety and it's a very well done depcition of anxiety and the things people do to avoid anxious situations. Reading through Linda's anxiety felt very realistic.

The plot was simple and easy to follow. The sci-fi elements were interesting, AR augments, an item called a Sheath which is sort of like a wearable smart phone. VR games that are done better than they are now.

None of the sci-fi was heavy, it all felt possible within the next ten years which was a nice touch.

Over all a solid 4⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.