Following along Stevie’s journey was something I loved. I cried, I laughed, I smiled, I felt so many emotions all at once. Seeing Stevie rediscover herself and her falling in love with Nora just made my heart clench. I found myself in pieces of Stevie and Nora’s relationship, it’s similar to my own and this story was just everything to me. This was so well-written, it’s so beautiful and raw.

This was beautiful and devastating in the best ways. I cried and loved every moment of it! Highly recommend.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the Advanced Readers Copy.

An interesting concept but unfortunately, I think I’m outgrowing YA books. The writing felt juvenile to me which is something I always struggle with in YA & I didn’t care about the first half of the story. Once things picked up about halfway through, I flew through it a lot easier & faster & it captured my attention more! I love the concept of amnesia & having to come back to your loved ones but I think I would have liked it more written as an adult romance!

This had me sobbing in the end but in a good way. I really enjoyed this book. Also the cover is phenomenal.

LITERALLY PERFECT!!

Stevie and Nora found a once-in-a-lifetime love despite living in Wyatt, a rural, ultra-conservative town–which is why no one knows about their relationship or the future they planned to share together in California where they wouldn't need to hide. But, then Stevie has a terrible accident, and when she wakes up, can't remember the last two years of her life, including Nora.

Forget Me Not is heartbreakingly beautiful. I love how the amnesia trope is able to highlight how home is a person, not a place. Even without memories, Stevie feels incredibly drawn to Nora, is comforted by her presence, and carries feelings she doesn't understand. Especially when Stevie's "best friends" have been feeding her lies about her life. Love truly has the ability to transcend all. And the writing is so graceful.

I really enjoyed the pacing of the story and appreciated being able to see some of Stevie and Nora's relationship before all shit hit the fan. Their chemistry was never a question. Being able to come back to one another, with multiple circumstances standing in the way, is what really pulled at my heart strings. There were even tears pouring down my face at one point.

Side characters Savannah and Rory are manipulative, opportunistic (in the worst way) and rude. This is exemplified multiple times throughout the story. Between them pushing compulsive heterosexuality by convincing Stevie that she had a crush on a guy named Ryan and turning a blind eye to racist comments directed towards Stevie as an Asian-American, their cruelty was evident. These are two people you love to hate.

I think it's also important to note that Forget Me Not explores ideologies and actions that may be triggering to some readers including homophobia, racism, abuse and manipulation.

If you love the amnesia trope, a hidden box of memories, sapphic romances, lesbian rep, second chances, confused pining, journal entries and bittersweet endings, you'll love Forget Me Not. I highly recommend this to everyone!!!

I was really intrigued by the main premises of the book and while I think the book was successful in its efforts, I felt like it lacked in terms of development. In my mind, this book would've needed 50-100 more pages to properly close off the book, build stronger relationships and just give more time for the MC to figure out her feelings and emotions. It felt like everything was happening so quickly, especially the ending, and could've used just a bit more time to truly complete the story line.

I did enjoy the MC and LI relationship, as well as the relationship with another side character named Ryan. It was especially nice to see the MC's bond with him, but it was one of the relationships that I wish could've had a bit more development.

I also appreciated that we got a bit of background from the MC of her life in the beginning, because often in books like this (not that there are many like this) we are left without context, almost living in the same situation as the main character. The background information and letters from the LI made the story much easier to grasp.

This book was lovely :)

Honestly, I have not read many sapphic novels, and I adored this one. I like how we kind of just jumped right into Stevie's life, getting a little taste of who she was, and then we see her character change drastically after her memory loss. The story has such an interesting premise, and it was so easy to get lost in, I found the time flew by so fast while I was reading this book.

Furthermore, I was constantly sympathizing with Derrick's characters. At an age of transition in her life, Stevie was a really relatable character, struggling with her identity, and having to question the roles of many people in her life. There were moments in this book that was really frustrating, and many moments that were enlightening. I was constantly wondering what choices Stevie was going to make and picturing how I would have handled myself in her and Nora's position.

That being said, the romance between Stevie and Nora was so pure and I really enjoyed getting to know both characters and their relationship. This is one of the few book relationships that did not leave me questioning whether or not the two characters belonged together, it seems really clear to me that they do.

Overall, I think this book was excellent, and I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy coming-of-age, sapphic, and romance novels.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Forget Me Not releases April 4, 2023

4.5/5

Forget Me Not is Alyson Derrick’s solo debut (she co-wrote She Gets the Girl with her wife, who is also the author of many amazing books including Five Feet Apart, All This Time, and The Lucky List).

This Sapphic romance is tender, heartfelt, and full of emotion. I have a feeling a lot of readers are going to enjoy this one.

Stevie and Nora have a once in a lifetime type of love. They both live in Wyatt, a very conservative small town that they’ve been planning to move out of after graduation, so that they can both live openly and authentically together without having to face homophobic judgement from their family, friends, and community.
They are so incredibly close to having everything, until Stevie encounters a tragic accident that leaves her with severe amnesia, causing her to forget the entirety of the past two years of her life, including her entire relationship with Nora.

This is a very honest and accurate book. It’s not always pretty, but that’s also what makes it so real.
Stevie is Korean-American, and because of that, there are several racist remarks towards Asian people from her so called “best-friends” and other people living in this small town. The way Savannah and Rory were so unabashed in their remarks, and used Stevie’s amnesia against her, really grated on me. I wish they were better friends, but even with the amnesia, I’m glad that Stevie was eventually able to realize why they grew distant in the first place.
I found that Stevie’s amnesia in general was handled well (setting aside the manipulation and such from others), she was able to rediscover who she was in her own time by figuring out why she felt these strong emotions and this pull towards Nora, and not Ryan, who would be the “obvious” choice.

There’s a really tough scene towards the end of the book where the love interest is physically abused and kicked out for being lesbian, so I would keep that in mind if that’s a sensitive subject for you.

Even though the conservative town with religious aspects was not my favourite personally, I really enjoyed this and read it one beautiful sitting.
The ending with Stevie’s parents was the most bittersweet thing ever, and won me over completely.
I loved Nora’s general passion and the comfortable dynamic between the two of them.

This won’t make sense out of context, but one of my favouite scenes in Forget Me Not was the absolute grand gesture of winning a cow. (!!!)

Read if you like:
- Sapphic romances
- amnesia trope
- love interest that is a farm girl
- letters/journal entries
- hidden box of mementos
- county fair
- healing wounds
- bittersweet endings
- second chances
- Asian-American rep
- debut novels
- when home is a person, not a place >>>

“If you remember me, then I don’t care if everyone else forgets.” — Haruki Murakami

Stevie and Nora had a secret epic love. They were supposed to leave their ultra-conservative town and families behind and move to California where they can be free. However, Stevie had a fall and lost her memories of the last 2 yrs. Can Stevie and Nora find each other again?

It's a very sweet and romantic story. I love amnesia stories and this is especially poignant and bittersweet. Totally love it.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.