I knew very little about this book going into it except that so many people loved it.
This book was raw, emotional, heart wrenching, and so much more. The spice was perfect and I loved the dynamic of it.

This has dual POV and dual timeline. I usually dread reading the past POV chapters but I found myself craving them this time. Most of Elliot (mc's) chapters are from the past and I loved seeing their past story and how it impacts current them.

The title is also so creative and took me until about halfway through to make the connection.

Definitely a top read of the year for me and I can't wait to get a physical copy for my shelves.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for an early copy of this!

Forget Me Not was a whole lot of sex and not a whole lot of anything else.

If you're looking for tattoo fetishes, dirty talking, and pretty toxic bully-love-type situationships, this will be your jam.

If you're looking for a really good plot with character development and depth, this will most definitely not be your jam.

I was in the second category and found myself pretty disappointed with this book. It started off really interesting and I found myself intrigued by the wedding planner who didn't believe in love, the second chance romance with the florist, etc. However, as the story progressed, I found myself more and more frustrated with just about all of the characters involved - even the secondary ones.

I'm sure that the dual POV was meant to endear you to the characters a little more and help you understand what was going on in their heads - primarily with Elliot. Rather than endear me to him, it just made me really upset with his refusal to communicate instead. The only thing he had going for him was his ability to sense when a woman orgasmed by sensation alone...

Don't even get me started on how much I disliked Ama. She's selfish, self-satisfying, and so incredibly dense that I wanted to scream at her pretty much from the get-go. In addition to all of that, there's literally no character development for her so by the end of the book, she's just as infuriating and mindless as she was at the beginning. She's so inconsiderate to everyone around her, acting as if the world revolves only around her needs and wants and it's really angering.

I truly want to find something good to say about this book so I will say one thing: the actual wedding planning portions were interesting. Learning about the different elements that took place to make Hazel and Jackie's wedding happen kept my attention. It's a bummer that's really the only thing that stood out to me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this e-arc in respond for an honest review.

My rating: 4.5 (rounded up)

When I heard that Julie Soto was publishing her debut novel this year, it genuinely became one of my most anticipated reads. Second chance romance, broody florist x wedding planner? Sign me up. When I saw it on Netgalley I automatically requested it.

I am not kidding when I say I read this book in 3 hours, in one sitting. It was well written, well plotted, and the characters were incredibly compelling. This was the definition of a page-turner, in that I didn’t stop turning them until I finished the book. I was obsessed with Elliott as a love interest, and when Soto said these scenes were steamy, she wasn’t kidding. Additionally, as someone from Northern California, it was so refreshing to see a book set in Sacramento. It was a place I went for weekend getaways with my family, and it’s wild to see it so represented in a novel. This novel stayed compelling, with a strong voice for both pov characters, from the first page, but the last act is where it really shines.

However, I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about some of the relationship development, in that I didn’t feel like I knew enough from Ama’s point of view about the relationship. Her motivations toward Elliot and the relationship felt a bit too static, only for her to flip abruptly at the end. Additionally, the proposal scenes (both of them) felt off to me. Finally, I felt that the side characters were a bit too one-dimensional. But, despite that, I still fell in love with the story, I was obsessed with this relationship, and I will read literally anything Julie Soto writes.

Thank you again to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy of this e-arc

This story was told in alternating timelines: Present where Ama and Elliot can barely stand to be in the same room together and Past where we slowly get to watch the love between them bloom. The angst in this was top-tier and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out just what drove these two apart. Their chemistry was undeniable and I absolutely loved the backdrop of the wedding industry as the canvas for their relationship. Definitely a tense ride with plenty of heart and stakes to drive this story forward. I finished it in one sitting and Julie Soto now has a fan for life. I will definitely check out whatever this author does next!

Absolutely brilliant! I’ve been wanting a for a good happily for now - but forever will come eventually - story. Having gotten married last year, reading about characters in the wedding industry was a fun. I love that Elliot was a grumpy florist and Ama a badass wedding planner! I also loved how Elliot wasn’t a typical beefcake. I’ve been wanting more slender alternative heroes.
I love the story formatting, the change from present to past as we jump from Ama to Elliot’s perspective!
The plot was pretty fast paced. Definitely kept my attention!
Absolutely LOVED IT!!!

I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I had hoped. I thought we were going to get more of a second chance redemption throughout this book between Ama and Elliot, but the redemption doesn’t happen until literally the last 10%. Everything leading up was their prior relationship and then how it quickly unfolded. I was just hoping for so much more

“Forget Me Not” by Julie Soto

5⭐️/5⭐️
4🌶/5🌶

“He was back in my life for a handful of weeks and then gone again. And it will never be the same, clearly. I’ll have to live with the fact that I’ll never feel his fingers in my hair again, and that there’s ink on his skin that my mouth will never touch.”

After working for years under the tutelage of Whitney Harrison, the top wedding planner in Sacramento, California, Ama Torres is slowly building a successful business on her own. She is talented, wildly creative, and catches the eyes of influencer Hazel Renee and her fiance. This wedding could catapult Ama’s business to stardom, but in order for her to succeed she will need to work with the man whose heart she broke two years ago: Elliot Bloom. There’s tension immediately when the two meet again, but it’s hard to deny their compatibility when working on a wedding. As the wedding date approaches, the two fall into old patterns, and unresolved feelings work their way to the surface. Is it too late for Ama and Elliot to reconcile, or will this wedding bring more than one couple together?

-This is one of the easiest five stars I’ve ever given to a book. I requested this book based on the cover and general hype, and it did not disappoint. Normally, I avoid second chance romances with authors I’m unfamiliar with. Call it a hunch, call it a gut feeling, but I took a chance on “Forget Me Not”. I’ve never been so glad to follow my gut, because this book will undoubtedly be in the top ten books I’ve read this year. Julie Soto’s writing grabbed my heart and held it in a vice grip the entire time I was reading. I laughed, I sighed, I nearly screamed a few times.

-One of the most unique aspects of this story is the way the chapters are divided. It’s a dual POV, with Ama’s chapters being the present events, and Elliot’s being the past. The readers pick up on the obvious bad breakup through the tension between Ama and Elliot when they are working together, but we have no idea what really happened. I loved how we get snippets of information through Elliot’s chapters, providing important context to their interactions in the present.

-When we first meet Elliot he is very cold and standoffish. I love reading about prickly characters! These characters usually have the most interesting character arcs, and are overall more relatable. Julie Soto did such an excellent job creating a complex MMC. Elliot was one year shy of earning his architecture degree when he found out his father had terminal lung cancer. Now he feels compelled to take over the family business and work as a florist. It takes some time, but eventually he learns to enjoy his job. Well, at least the flower and design part, he still struggles with interacting with people. But he’s good at his job, and maintains a loyal clientele.

-I think Elliot is a good example of a person who has a personality that doesn’t mesh with most, but if you get to know him and gain his trust, he’s an invaluable friend. He’s capable of being warm, supportive, and generous to those he loves. In his POV chapters, readers see the depth of his feelings for Ama; this man fell for her hard. Perhaps what I loved the most about Elliot was how serious and straightforward he was with his emotions. He’s self aware, and emotionally mature, and in the process of reading this book I fell totally in love with his character.

-And I can’t NOT mention Elliot’s tattoos. Ugh, my heart melted when we got to find out the backstory of his tattoos, and when we found out what his most recent tattoo was. It was a small and clever aspect to his character, and I loved how they were meaningful to both Elliot and Ama.

-Sometimes in romcoms, or contemporary romances in general, FMCs are written in a really unapproachable way. Either they’re too quirky, or too over the top, or perhaps they accumulate so many fantastical experiences over the course of their life that they are simply unrealistic. I was afraid Ama would fall in that category. I mean, it’s pretty fantastical to have a mother who has been married and divorced sixteen times by the time you reach your late twenties. And her mother’s marriages have definitely affected Ama’s views on weddings and marriages. But somehow Julie Soto wrote this as a realistic scenario.

-I loved Ama’s POV chapters, and trying to piece together her character growth by comparing the two timelines. In both POVs she’s creative and hardworking, but there’s a spark to her personality that is only seen through Elliot’s POV. I found it so interesting to read about a FMC who realizes she needs to do some self reflection and self discovery, and for HER to recognize areas of growth that are missing. And Julie Soto did such an amazing job building up Ama’s character arc and helping readers understand her mindset, and why it needed to change.

-The smut in this book had me sweating. It’s graphic, descriptive, and beautifully written. There’s no ego, no need to prove themselves through their actions; they love each other so openly and honestly. I love dirty talk, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something extra sexy about honest communication during sex; being forthcoming with how much pleasure their partner is giving them.

-I would recommend this book if you: like to read about a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, are interested in dual POVs and dual timelines, want to read a super angsty second chance romance, are looking to read smut that borders on poetry, or love reading books where characters are complex and require personal growth.

Thank you netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really sweet & spicy romance. I loved the alternating timeline/POV from both the MC. The FMC was fun and felt relatable, and the MMC was top tier hot and grumpy.

My only quip was the book was the major conflict in the book was just kind of irritating. But I truly enjoyed this and read it in one sitting.

4/5 ⭐
2.5/5 🌶️

Beautiful 2nd chance romance with unique characters and setting. The structure is dual timeline and dual point of view. Our hero, grumpy florist Elliot. narrates the “before” timeline when he and Ama first fell in love. Our heroine, wedding planner Ama, narrates the “now” timeline - 2 years after she broke his heart. They come face to face when working on a wedding for a superstar influencer. The two brides are perfect side characters and their wedding could make or break Ama and Elliot’s careers. So the former lovers have no choice but to work together and maintain peace for the sake of the wedding of the year.
Most of the romance (and spice!) takes place in the past, while the present storyline focuses on the planning of the wedding and the wedding day itself. This helps the reader keep all the moving parts right where they need to be and eliminates any confusion which sometimes occurs with dual timeline/ dual pov. I loved Ama and Elliot’s backstories, their first meeting, and watching them fall in love. I absolutely adored the wedding planning and highjinks involved - every aspect was unique, fun, and picturesque.
I did wish for more heartfelt interaction between Ama and Elliot in the present story. They avoided each other or avoided any difficult conversations, focusing on the 2 brides and the wedding itself. This made the ending a bit abrupt. It was a very quick turnaround from barely speaking to hea. However, I loved the story overall and will definitely read more from this author.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Oh my gosh!!! Yes. More of this. I LOVED this book. I have seen so much hype around this beautiful book and it is so well deserved.

Also, a book heavily around flowers?! Mmmmhhmmmm I will take it.

Forever you picked a winner to represent here. Make sure we get all of Julie Soto's work forever please!

loved this romance between a wedding planner and a florist. Loved that it was in Sacramento and I recognized all of the places mentioned from the firehouse to a city called Carmichael. I loved that I could picture her walk in midtown. I loved the romance and the different point of views from elliot to ama. Loved seeing her siblings and how long they had been apart from each other and loved the ending and all the stuff that happened on the wedding day. I hope to read more from her maybe the siblings .

I was so excited to receive a copy of Forget Me Not - Thank you NetGalley!! I had seen a couple reviews for it that had me very excited to read it for myself.

The story focuses on Ama, who is a wedding planner, and Elliott, who inherited his fathers flower shop. Both have personal issues such as Ama being drawn to weddings due to her mothers 10+ weddings or Elliot wanting to be an architect but ultimately taking over the shop. I thought that there situations seems realistic and each challenging in unique ways.

The dual POV with a forward and backward narration kept me on edge and invested. I was dying to know what exactly happened to leave these two both pining for each other but deeply heart broken.

There were only two things that really took me out of the story and one was the wedding planning component with Ama getting too invested. As someone in the industry, I couldn’t really understand getting invited to bachelorettes. I get wanting to develop a really strong relationship with a client but some of it just seemed too far fetched. I also wish there had been more of an epilogue or ending because it felt a little abrupt.

But overall this was a great and fast paced read! 4/5 stars

This book was very cute. I like books that show two points of view and do a good job at getting the audience to care about both characters that they root for them to be together. I definitely got Norah Ephron romantic comedy vibes from this book that I wish it were also a movie. Overall good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the e-arc!

Second chance romances, for me, are something I either love or hate, and I LOVED this book so much! I couldn't put it down. The wedding planning was so fun to read about and the talks about flowers made me want to start up my own flower shop.

The dual POV alternating between past and present really kept me engaged and was a great way to tell the story. I loved the past chapters and how the backstory unfolded; however, I wish that we got more chapters in Ama’s POV in the past and more Elliot POV chapters in the present. There was little interaction in the present between the two, but you could still feel the love and chemistry between them.

I love a good grumpy character and Elliot was perfect for me. He was always more actions than words and I adored every minute of it.

Overall, the book was a mix of super funny wedding planning shenanigans and a bittersweet backstory of a relationship falling apart and coming back together.

4.5/5
I absolutely loved this book!! The storytelling, the characters! it was so much fun to read!

Julie Soto’s debut is fun and full of banter. When wedding planner Ama and florist Elliot are put on a high scale wedding, they are forced to face their past relationship through the… stressful preparations.

I love Ama and Elliot so bad I am obsessed with their dynamic and I enjoyed this second chance romance!! I was very impressed with how quickly the story moved, I felt totally along for the ride and my attention never wavered.

I was worried it would make be cheesy but this story felt very real and anything cutesy and romantic didn’t come across cheesy. Perfectly realistic and I enjoyed the characters depth most of all!

I will be recommending and waiting for the authors next book!

Did I immediately pre-order the physical copy of Forget Me Not by Julie Soto after reading the ARC? YES!

Weddings run in Ama’s blood. And not in the good way. Her mother has been married 16 times! And while her mother was off falling in love, Ama was falling in love with the chaos of wedding planning. To her, love is fickle and not worth the commitment or marriage. But weddings were just one big party. And saying yes to wedding planning was the only commitment she could see in her future. That is until she meets a florist named Elliot.

Flowers are better than people. That was until Elliot met a girl named after a flower. Elliot is a grumpy local florist. What he lacks in customer service, he mades up for in stunning floral designs that leave couples speechless. When a high profile couple request Ama and Elliot work together, can they put aside their differences to plan a wedding that will make or break their careers?

Not only was this book angsty and steamy, it was laugh out loud funny. I loved the way the story unfolded with the two timelines between present and past. Ama is such a relatable character and Elliot’s sassy attitude with her when they first started working together had me giddy. I couldn’t possibly love this book any more than I do.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was absolute perfection, a true 5 star read!

Forget Me Not is like going back to '90s West Coast romcom marrying into (see what I did there?) 2023 sensibilities, but with depth and spice and everything nice. You get a wedding planner who is trying to build a business on selling commitment despite her commitment issues. You get a TDH broody tattooed florist who has perfected the art of pining. You get a smoldering tension that sputters, dies, gets run over by a trolley, and then revives in a second chance romance. You get petty business moguls, reality TV drama, and what potentially could be two bridezillas (but not really). And with all the fantasy reading I've been doing lately, I'm actually really glad I picked up this book in between.

Especially because it has Elliot effing Bloom.

I think what this book did really well was the pacing and formatting of each perspective. Ama's story takes place in the present time, and she is scrambling to plan what is essentially the wedding of the year. The problem with this is that her two brides have already arranged the florist for the event: Elliot Bloom, who happens to be the guy she practically ghosted over two years ago. Now, the very thought of working with Elliot has Ama completely at odds with her ambitions, and not only does she have to struggle with the flame she still has for this broody florist, she also has to continue to deal with all of the obstacles that come with a high-stakes wedding.

Elliot's perspective starts the very moment he and Ama met, some three years ago. His storyline moves up towards the infamous break-up and runs concurrently with Ama's present. By the time the story makes it to the climax, we eventually see how everything went wrong, but also how everything goes wrong within Ama's story. It's clear that the two still have a lot to hash out between them--both in the past and in the present--but my god, the hashing out was so. damn. great.

Also also also, just Elliot Bloom with his superhero florist saves. I can't even begin to list the amount of things he's done for Ama without telling Ama he still loves her. We all just end up knowing it after every action he's taken. Pretty sure Ama did as well.

There's no doubt Julie Soto can write slow-burn romances. There's no doubt Julie Soto can write spice into her romances. There's no doubt that there'll always be that one damn sentence or statement that will make me cry. And Forget Me Not had that in spades. Even a little look at my Kindle highlights and notes could tell you how often my mind broke reading certain chapters. I had to put the book down a few times just so I didn't get worked up over the drama so often. But boy, was I invested.

This was such a fun read! I loved every second of it! Wedding planner Ama (whose favorite food group is donuts.. same though) isn’t the relationship type, after seeing her mom get married over and over… and over again but she’s all about the party! After landing a HUGE influencer wedding, she finds out she’ll have to work with her florist ex. They haven’t spoken in years, and their chemistry was undeniable. I absolutely adore dual POV books AND different timelines, the way Julie wrote this giving present from AMA’s perspective and the past from Elliot’s perspective was perfection! Getting to see what he was feeling in the moment, and how she thinks of those same moments still. It was a little spicy! Honestly I can see this book going viral and I’m very happy to have been able to read it and be a part of the books journey!

Oh my god!!! I read this book in one day and I am so sad that it’s over!

This story follows Ama, a wedding designer, as she plans the biggest wedding of her career. The only problem is her clients’ choice of florist, Elliot Bloom… who just happens to be her ex.

This became one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 just from seeing the cover, and then I read the blurb and realized I was stepping into romcom heaven! Also, I loved the idea of a male florist because it’s something I’ve never read in a book before and it was so good! I can not put into words how much I loved the entire thing, from the plot, to the drama, to the characters, to the relationship between the main characters in each timeline. It made me laugh, cry, roll my eyes… the whole nine yards!

There’s just so many hidden gems in this piece of art. All of the little details that made up such a beautiful and cohesive story, like the FMC’s full name and its meaning, or the MMC’s tattoos. I also liked how the present timeline is in the FMC’s POV while the past timeline is in the MMC’s POV. I felt it was a very wonderful detail that held a lot of significance.

The slow burn made me cry. I seriously got so emotional from the smallest interactions between the two mcs. This is why I don’t understand not liking second chance romance, because the ANGST. The SADNESS. It grips me so wholeheartedly every time, and this book was NO exception. The events of this book were realistic, raw, and powerful. And it made the ending that much more meaningful!

*Actual rating is a 4.5

Ama Torres is a wedding planner that doesn’t believe that long, committed relationships last but despite this, she’s great at her job and knows exactly what her clients want down to every vendor for their special day. When Ama gets hired for a wedding that can make or break her small business, she’s ready to dive head first into the planning and talking vendors but this couple already has the perfect florist in mind, Elliot Bloom, who just so happens to be the exact man that Ama has been trying to avoid ever seeing again after things went down between them a few years back.

This already awkward dynamic is made more so when it’s blatantly obvious the chemistry that Ama and Elliot have with each other and they’re surrounded by the wedding couple who are determined to set them up and a tv film crew that is documenting all of the wedding prep. Despite the time and distance, they work together just as wonderfully as they used to and now their hearts are on the line as well as the futures of their businesses.

This story was so freaking cute. I assumed going into it that I would really enjoy myself and was super excited to read a book that features the industry that I personally work in. I think that the chaos that goes on behind the scenes for wedding vendors was captured beautifully and elevated with the relationship both past and present between Ama and Elliot.

Elliot was the star of the show, in my opinion. Ama drove me a little crazy and I was nervous that my opinion on her wouldn’t change but the last 25% of the book really had me reanalyzing her as a character. Their relationship and the complexities of it was explored beautifully and I loved that it was dual pov because we got to really see both sides of their story.

I do wish that we would have gotten more conversations between them that weren’t necessarily wedding related throughout the book but otherwise, this was a super solid read and I enjoyed myself!

- Second chance romance
- Sunshine x Grumpy (ish?)
- Opposites attract
- Forced Proximity
- He Falls First
- Slowburn
- Caretaking
- Broody Male lead
- Wedding Events / Industry
- Dual POV & Timeline