This story sucked me in from the first page, which opens with Robbie’s letter from his past self. It’s a clever way to communicate the issue of Robbie’s episodic amnesia — a form of memory loss that strikes every 6 months. The reader is given the same information as Robbie when he experiences the first moments of “the forgetting” before jumping into the last 12 days of his current memory cycle.

At the urgent recommendation of his previous self, Robbie survives through structure, control and isolation. Things change when Julie enters his life. She’s beautiful, flawed — and they have an undeniable connection. What follows is a story with twists and turns that explores love and identity.

I started this book because I was initially curious about Robbie’s amnesia, but kept reading to see how his relationship with Julie developed — and to see if we would get to experience a forgetting firsthand. This book kept me guessing in the best ways.

Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a fair review.

CW: alcoholism

Honestly, this book is awesome. The story introduces us to a man named Robbie who loses his memory after 179 days. This idea alone had me hooked right from the start. We see Robbie navigate his way through the world and around the gaping hole of loneliness in his life. The way the book opens lures you in and makes you become invested in the character and the choices he makes. Things go from strange to complicated when he meets a girl and must decide if he is willing to change everything he knows for something new. This book was so impressive that I couldn’t stop reading it. There was plenty of character development and the plot felt real and distinct. It was so well written and feels like the author has been writing forever. This book deserves so much more attention! The Beautiful Fall is a touching story and I highly recommend it to everyone.

This book was an unexpected surprise. It kept me reading to try to unravel Robert’s story along with him. I only wish we’d been given a peek into the next few hours of his life, to see how things changed—or didn’t change—for him.

This book was a true surprise.

The story begins when Robert finds a letter that explains who he is and why he can't remember anything. As it unfolds, we get to know very little about his past life, and even he doesn't seem to be too interested in knowing what his life was like before he started losing his memory. Then, he meets Julie and, bit by bit, we learn about his daily life, his work, his projects... And he gets to learn about himself, that he is just as flawed as everybody else.

A real page-turner, I highly recommend it.

Thanks NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC.