Vera lives in a world like ours but with one exception, everyone has one special magic trait. For her, she can open doors, her friend can turn on light bulbs and her mother has great intuition. The book begins with Vera and her brother cooking dinner for their family and suddenly her brother is gone and no one seems to remember him. Life goes on without him but Vera feels a sadness everytime she thinks of spaghetti and feels like she is forgetting something. Similar events are affecting her friend as well. They try to figure out why they have these feelings of sadness. The book really kept me guessing what was happening to them. I also liked how the book frequently metioned the church youth group they attended and how Lynette believes in God. Vera and her friends still trick or treat for Halloween even though they are in high school and not out partying. This book stayed with me for a while after reading it.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of The Forgotten Memories of Vera Glass in exchange for an honest review!

I really like the casual approach Priemaza takes to throwing you into the world here. Vera and her friends live in a world pretty similar to ours except everyone has a magical power and instead of spending a lot of time giving backstory for that, it's just written into casual conversation. I do wish the book had a few more characters so the plot twist would have been a bit more obvious, but I really liked the direction Priemaza took the narrative after the reveal. A few things here were a tad to heavy handed for my personal taste, but the plot was interesting enough to keep me invested.

Thank you NetGalley and Abrams Kids for an eARC in exchange for review. All opinions are my own, as usual.

The Forgotten Memories of Vera Glass is an interesting combination of magical realism/paranormal/sci-fi. There's not much I can say about this book without spoiling the story, but I enjoyed it. The mystery was fairly unpredictable. I guessed the person involved would be involved, but I didn't know how. The magic systems weren't as used as much as I would have liked, but when it was used, it worked. The writing seamlessly transitioned between important scenes and made you feel like you were in the main character's shoes. I'd recommend going into this book with very little knowledge and you will not be disappointed!

I really enjoyed the concept and pacing of the story. The characters were well developed and the story was well written.

Wow was this book great!

Imagine your friends and family disappear - only you can't remember they existed in the first place. Well, that's the big plot twist in this book that is revealed in the very first chapter! I couldn't put this book down until I found out how Vera and her friends would handle this problem that they didn't even know they had. Hands down will be one of THE books to get in 2021!

The action begins immediately. Vera and her brother Al are making spaghetti in the kitchen, and within moments of finishing dinner, Al vanishes. Vera and her family can’t remember him, but suddenly there’s a gaping hole in their hearts. As the hole continues to grow, it’s up to Vera to figure out why she can’t quite place this emptiness inside her.

Good for teens and an interesting view in dealing with life and grief.

Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this book!

I have to say, in the first few pages, I thought this book was setting up to introduce us to Vera’s normal. Now, I don’t have a problem with that, but sometimes I wonder how long it will take to get to the story. Let me say this: this book wasn’t setting up the normal. It was straight into the action in plot. I had to take a second to reread the chapter and grasp what happened. It was as if I was on a cliff’s edge and pushed into the water below. I found myself whispering, “Oh my god,” more than once and I was very eager to get to the bottom of the mystery. I was struck by how much the characters’ grief in this story is palpable. My heart ached, my throat get swollen. I wanted to read more, and yet the eerie vibe I got had me shivering. Genuinely, this was a beautiful read, though there were a few spots I felt I was told rather than shown.

I would love to have a sequel — if not direct ( I have ideas ! The Witches’ internship ! And more ! ), a spiritual sequel in the same universe would be so appreciated.

Okay ... Okay... nope it’s not! Absolutely not! For god sake’s WTH I just read! A stunning story which confused the hell of me, put on fire the rest of my healthy grey cells, smart, original, magical, paranormal, mysterious and soooo surprising, shocking!

You keep forming different theories, trying to find an answer which makes sense! But as you push yourself harder to find some concrete hypothesis about the madness going on, eventually you give up! You feel exhausted! The author is at least few steps behind you. You cannot form smarter theory to answer the big question of this book!

To make things clear I have to talk more about the storyline. Vera Glass is a high school student with her lovely family, close, dork, entertaining group of friends who have aptitudes like creating salt, sugar, lighting the place as Vera can open every locks with her ability. In fact there’s are nearly 70 unique aptitudes the people can have the universe they live. They are not so powerful abilities to bring the end of the world or change the fate of universe. ( at least we hope so)

But recently Vera has strange feeling as if she’s forgotten something important. And her best friend Riven has the same awkward feeling. They want to cry for no reason, suddenly their anger flares up, an ominous, eerie feeling just a pocket emptiness sit right behind their heart!

We’re introduced a several people like Vera’s brother Al, their friends Simon, Bolu and at the next chapter we realize they don’t exist!!? You just go back to read the pages again. Nope! You didn’t read anything wrong. The characters existed a few chapters ago and then... they don’t ...You keep asking why the main characters have no idea about their besties, siblings disappear or why they act like they have no idea who they are.

Riven and Vera can feel something truly wrong. That gut feeling push them start their own investigation, suspecting their classmates called themselves witches became they witnessed their special ritual including conjuring a black 3 dimensional shadow out of nowhere. Could the reason of the awkwardness they feel related with witchcraft?

You keep making your guesses with the direction the characters gave you. Could be related with a scientific experiment, aliens, dark matter? Is it something supernatural or could it have a rational explanation?

When you reach the last third, you are getting closer to understand the real reason! ( that was the same point I was about to give up)

The conclusion is satisfying, smart and the message about grief, importance of holding on memories we created with loved ones is meaningful!

That was one of the unique, strange, interesting, complex but extremely creative novel I’ve lately read!

Special thanks to NetGalley and ABRAMS KIDS/ Amulet Books for providing me this digital reviewer copy in exchange my honest thoughts.

Vera Glass feels like she has a hole in her life. Something, or someone, is missing, but she has no clue what it is. As she realizes that others around her are feeling the same, she starts to investigate, with the help of her best friend Riven. Everyone has an aptitude, a little bit of magic, that helps them in life, and Vera wonders if someone could be the cause of this. Or maybe a bigger entity is creating the issue? Vera just wants things to feel okay again, and she is determined to fix it.
This book is riveting. I could not put it down. As the mystery continues to escalate you will find yourself wondering, what is going on? And you won't have a clue until what feels like the very last minute, which is so refreshing when so often a mystery can be figured out right away. This book was so good and puzzling that I found that I had to talk to someone about it. You will find yourself getting a friend to read it just so you have someone to talk to about it. Actually, I recommend just get someone to start reading it with you from the start. You won't regret it.

What a ride.

This is full of magical realism, a world where things seem not "right" but totally right at the same time.

This is about uncovering mysteries of your world, your friends, and yourself. This is full of self-discovery and acceptance, and is perfect for fans of A.S. King. In fact, I would say Anna Priemaza has maybe outdone A.S. King on the magical realism weirdness.

Thank you to Amulet and NetGalley for the e-arc.