I will write anything that Estelle Laure releases. This book was wonderful, and I enjoyed everything about it.

Wow this was a beautiful read, it really made me think and have all the feels along the way. It's been a while since I finished it so the details are a bit fuzzy but I would highly recommend this book and think of it often.

"You ever get the feeling something's going on and you don't know what it is?" I say.
Opal smiles. "Sure. Isn't that just life? I basically never have any idea what's happening. It just is ... happening."
"I guess so. But now I feel like I've lost something and I don't know what it is."

I really really tried with this book, but it was not for me. The premise of the story sounded interesting and drew me in. While the story revolves around our main character Blue trying to understand her removed memories, the story covers a lot. With heavier topics dealt with on the pages, it definitely has several trigger warnings and content warnings. I agree with other reviewers that certain topics could have been portrayed differently, and that may have helped, but certain things seemed to be idolized. Memory wipes are something in several shows, books, and movies, but given the context of the story with young and influential teenagers, it is a different idea. With the way it is presented in the book, I feel like it is meant to serve as helpful, but it can be negative because history could repeat itself.

Thank you to Wednesday Books (St. Martins Press) and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such an interesting story by Estelle Laure. Blue's life is missing something but she cannot remember what. She eventually finds out that she had a doctor erase parts of her memory. From there she wants to find out what it was she had erased. But what will happen if she does find out? And why did she have these parts of her memory erased? Thank you to NeGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

Don't read the synopsis before you g into this book! It's got a wonderful message and really makes you think but I hate that I knew what was going to happen in the first half of the book. I loved Blue and the supporting characters and the LGBTQ rep was great, but I felt like it didn't go deep enough into the question posed in the tagline.

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

I enjoyed the book, but I mostly read YA as a mindless escape from early adulthood— and that’s what this book was. I was expecting something like “Before I Fall”, and while the vibes were similar, this title lacked the depth and connection between characters and oneself.

Huh. I was intrigued by the concept as laid out in the book's blurb, but the way it played out made me feel a little icky. I had a hard time finishing, as I was so irritated with all of Blue's friends and family.

This book has a lot of potential, and I truly believe there are many out there who will enjoy it, but for me it seemed as though the timeline was not quiet clear enough and was a style I did not prefer when reading. I think the concept itself was very interesting but at least in the moment is not something I was able to enjoy as much as I hoped.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Remember Me is a YA sci-fi where Blue wakes up not knowing certain things about her life and can't remember why she can't remember. Her friends and family slip up and it makes her very suspicious about what exactly is going on until she finds out she underwent a procedure to erase some of her memories. Now she needs to find out why she would do that.

I actually really enjoyed this story. I kept being surprised by things that were revealed as well which I find difficult for some authors to do without it being obvious to the reader ahead of time. It's a great premise and I liked how it ended up.

This is a story about failing to forget.

This was an interesting YA take on the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind concept. I loved aspects of it, like the exploration of forgetting (or "canceling") as a tool for treating depression and suicidality.. But the book remained primarily surface level and focused more on the relationship between the protagonist and her boyfriend. I will say, that while that wasn't where I would have focused my energy had I created this world, they dynamic was well written and compelling which helped keep the story interesting. I would love for the author to write more in the same world.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .💫 rounded to 4/5.

Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the eArc!

There has been an influx of YA novels in the past nine months or so that deal with the subject of memory loss by both organic and inorganic means and memories being tampered with, and had this book been able to throw something new to the mix (instead of relying on parallelism as a crutch for world-building and plot development) it might have had a good amount of potential.

But there’s the rub: It might have had a good amount of potential… if there weren’t also other distinct issues wrong with the book.

For instance: The blurb essentially gives away every single bit of the first half of the book without reticence. Also, it took until about 45 pages into a 269 page book (so, about 17% of the way through) to come even close to clearly introducing the conflict. As I once discussed with an author and creative writing professor: If it takes you more than about 30 pages into a book for readers to get a solid idea of the world you’ve built and to introduce the central conflict, then your book already has issues.

Think of it this way: A page of dialogue in a script takes up about one minute of screen time. A movie (just like almost every story since the plays of Ancient Greece) has three acts; and in a 2 hour movie, those acts end at the 30 minute mark, the 60 minute mark, and the 90 minute mark. By that 30 minute mark, you need to have established your world, introduced all your main characters, introduced the antagonist, and solidified the central conflict of the plot.

And yes, books are a different animal, but by 30 pages into this book I had no solid grip on the world the author had built, had no solid idea of who the main character was as a person, had no clue who or what the antagonist was, and had only a vague idea of what the central conflict was save that it sounded like the same central conflict as many other books in this genre.

Then, we have the second half of the book, which changes gears almost entirely from the first half and is rife with flashbacks. This narrative shift doesn’t come across as a genuine effort at trying something new–it feels like the author didn’t know what to do with all the exposition necessary for the book to end up making sense, so it all ended up in a second half full of telling us how the first half got to where it is. I didn’t like it.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Book for allowing me early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review. As per personal policy, this review will not appear on any bookseller or social media site.

This was like a teenage version of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? It was fine, but a little repetitive. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I really didn't appreciate the way that depression and suicide were handled in this book and the writing felt really detached and unemotional.

Remember Me by Estelle Laure, 272 pages. Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press), 2022. $19. LGBTQIA, IT TAKES TIME
Language: R (72 swears, 23 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - NO
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Waking up for school should feel like a normal day, but Blue knows that she’s missing something. She just can’t remember what. But the strange note she found in her closet must be a clue. So Blue obeys the note and boards the little blue bus on her seventeenth birthday – one leap of faith that leads to another.
The book cover and summary lead me to believe that the book was mostly about Blue and her romantic relationship. If that’s the focus, I really didn’t like Blue’s story, and I think it would have been better with a sadder ending. However, a new focus arose as I read that felt more like a story of navigating family, pain, and difficult decisions. With this shift, I feel misled, and I’m not sure how satisfied I am with the resolution. Lessons of grief and mental illness are clearly communicated, but I can get that from better books.
Blue and the maternal side of her family are Italian, but her father’s side is not described and is assumed White. Adam is described as “not just white,” and his father is a “brown dude.” Dr. Sweet is described as Black. The mature content ratings is for mention of drug and alcohol use, underage drinking, innuendo, brief description of fondling, mention of rape, discussions of sex, nudity, and oral sex. The violence rating is for mentions of suicide.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

An amazing journey that pulled me in from the beginning and kept me interested throughout the book. It was hard to put down because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. It is a journey filled with young love, loss, hope, mental illness, and grief.
The story is very well-conceived and executed beautifully. The characters are flawed and struggling to find their place in the world. The story has answers to the question of if we could erase all the pain that has happened in our lives would we still be the same person?
This was a fasinating book that I recommend if you are looking for an emotionally charged book that has realistic characters that take you on an unforgettable journey. I am grateful to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read an egalley of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I'm a little shocked by all the negative reviews because I was pleasantly surprised by this book.

Imagine waking up one day to having some of your painful memories erased...what would you do?
What I liked about this book
- how it dealt with grief, loss, love, and pain in a more mature YA manner
- I LOVED how thought-provoking it was, it made me think and I love when I have to use my brain for books.
- it discusses and deals with mental health very well!!

What I didn't love
- I wish we got to see more of blue's growth in the story. I feel like, for a good portion of the book, we are trying to figure out what happened and what she forgot.
- I wish there was more of the story
overall this was a 4/5 star for me!! I loved it and I have so many quotes saved from it

Remember Me is a YA novel that deals with heavy issues of grief, depression and loss amongst growing up and finding first love. The way high school junior, Blue Owens, decides to deal with this is by the futuristic option of erasing those memories of people and situations that trigger the pain. She erases not only a traumatic event, but she also attempts to erase the boyfriend who was there throughout it all with her, Adam. The book was thought provoking and the characters were relatable, and although the book shows why the process of erasing could be more harmful than helpful, I feel that there should have been more healthy mental health examples (therapy, prescription medication, support groups, etc) included, especially for the YA audience this book is targeting (high school and college age). The ending wrapped the storyline up, but for me it felt incomplete as it would have been helpful to know how Blue and her family moved on from the events--a better peek at their hopefully better future (and her mother's character should have been more fleshed out too).

A second chance romance type of story, but this book is more than it seems on the surface. It's a genre bender with mystery, sci-fi, and YA contemporary mixed in as well. As with a lot of mystery reads, I highly recommend not reading the full synopsis before reading. Going in knowing very little heightens the impact and really makes the whole experience a bit more rich.

The plot is intriguing. I enjoy a "lost memory" type of story, where the reader is learning the reality alongside the protagonist. There is definitely a lot here that could have been ratcheted up and the story could have continued on longer, but I found it entertaining and intriguing enough to keep me sucked in. The characters are good, though a bit flat, and things move at a decent pace.

There are a lot of heavy topics addressed in the narrative, but they are handled in a way that doesn't feel overly oppressive. It's what I would refer to as a "surface level" story where you just get a taste of the ugly...enough to hit you with the conflict but not leave you a sobbing, broken mess on the floor. Bad things happen, bad things have happened, and there is trauma to deal with. It could have been explored in a more hefty way, but the execution works fine for a YA contemporary style read.

The wasn't anything that truly blew me away, but I found it cozy and paced quickly enough to feel a bit like a beach read. For the reading mood I was in at the time, I liked that. It's one of those books that are great for a relaxing afternoon. There is just enough suspense to keep you wondering, a tenseness that propels the plot naturally. There are tense moments and things at stake, but the intensity is a bit restrained. That's not to say that it wasn't a good read. A lack of "edge of your seat" intensity is perfectly fine and works well for this genre mix. I would have been happy to read something with a bit more depth and, in fact, still would enjoy exploring this trope in additional ways (I'm nothing if not stuck in my ways), but I had a good time with this read.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

I wanted to like this book more. But the story felt like other YA stories I've read. The whole idea of removing bad memories sounds like a good idea, but really in practice that would not work. And it doesn't go well for Blue in this novel.

I don't want to give anything away and I think others will enjoy this book. I'm way out of the age range for the target audience and I think that's a major factor in why I didn't enjoy this as much I thought.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!