Bravo!! Fantastic! A book I couldn’t put down. I loved Ama and Elliot so much. Such a perfect, second chance love story.

Forget Me Not is one of those amazing books you can’t help but love because it’s got the full package - terrific writing that moves the story at a great pace and a love story that tugs on your heartstrings, making you fall for the characters.

There’s also something special about books that hook you right from the first chapter and never let go. That’s precisely what Soto did in her debut novel that I had to read in one sitting it was that good.

The story revolves around Ama, a wedding planner who doesn’t believe in marriage because her mother has been married 16 times. And yet Alma can’t help but fall for Elliot the grump, who wanted to be an architect but dropped out of college to take over his father‘s floral business.

They meet on the wedding circuit and become involved, but things at one point ended. We meet them together again in the present, two years after their break up, when they’re forced to work together again for a high-profile wedding that will really launch both of their businesses.

Forget Me Not was the perfect second chance romance and grumpy sunshine love story that was sweet, endearing, and tugged on all of my heartstrings. It is told in dual point of view with present chapters told in Ama‘s POV and chapters about the past from Eliot‘s POV which gives background to how they met and initially came to be a couple.

Their love story told in the present centers around them working together on a wedding, which alone was a fun storyline in and of itself, showing how Ama came to launch her own business, separate from her mentor and really rock her own ideas.

I loved how you could really see how Ama and Elliot worked great together not just personally, but on a professional level with each bringing out the best of one another.

This was such a great read and I highly recommend it. I look forward to more from this author.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This book you guys 😩 I don’t often pick up books simply because the cover is gorgeous but obviously, this one is irrisistable so I had to, and omg am I glad I did. The read for me was effortless. I could easily see this story played out on screen. Now let’s talk about Ama and Elliot 😍

Ama is an upbeat, career-driven, donut-obsessed wedding planner wanting to make a name for herself. Elliot is a hot, broody, tattooed florist who’s just trying to keep up with his dad’s flower shop. Elliot and Ama cross paths often as the work they do at weddings go hand in hand. What starts out as a work buddies-with-benefits relationship between them quickly turns into something deep and serious.

🌺Forget Me Not🌺 is a steamy, second chance romance that’s funny, swoony, angsty and has all my favorite things.

-grumpy sunshine romance
-work buddies-with-benefits
-dual timeline
-dual POV
-boy falls first and harder
-forced proximity
-lots of banter
-multiple spicy scenes that are just 🌶🌶🌶🌶🔥🥵🤌🏽

I loved this book so much. I read the ARC (thank you, @netgalley) and then I read it again (I fell really hard for Elliot), and then I preordered the book because I want to reread that work bench scene in the back of the flower shop every day for the rest of my life. Safe to say I really enjoyed this one. It was everything I didn’t know I needed.

This is the best book that I have read this year! I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys second chance romances. Elliot Bloom is my new book boyfriend, he is the best! This story captured my heart, I couldn’t put it down, the plot was amazing, the characters were sensational, and it was honestly perfect. The tension was delicious and perfectly timed, I loved that the POV of Ama was present, and the POV for Elliot was the past. It gave me butterflies, it’s going to be a forever favourite for me.

Read this book if you love…
🌺Second Chance Romance
🌸Grumpy x Sunshine
🌺Dual POV
🌸Donuts, Flowers, Wedding Disasters
🌺Sexy Scenes with lots of Spice
🌸My New Book Boyfriend

Ama Torres is a wonderful wedding planner, who decided that marriage is not for her. But she has a talent and skill at creating the perfect wedding for her clients.

Elliot hated being a florist, but he’s stuck when his father leaves him his flower shop. But when he started to have feelings for Ama after one night stands, he does something that pushes her away.

When Ams is hired to be the planner for the biggest wedding of her career, she has no other option but to work with Elliot has he is already contracted with them. It’s never fun to work with your ex, but the chemistry is still there. On top of working with her ex, she has her old meddling boss, a reality tv show and other challenges to face, on the biggest wedding of her career.

My copy was given to me from Forever Pub in exchange for an honest review.

Romance: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶
Plot points: 💥💥💥💥💥
Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
•

Rating: 5⭐️
Cover rating: 5⭐️

Ama Torres is in control of her life. A career working under one of the most successful wedding planners in Sacramento has blossomed into her own business making budget dreams a reality, and there's not a mishap she can't creatively cover. Ama is in control of everything, until the opportunity to plan the highly coveted Hazel Renee wedding throws her in the path of one Elliot Bloom, brooding florist and ex.

I genuinely loved this book! Everything felt fresh and colourful, and not just because of the lush floral descriptions and gorgeous cover art! In a sea of leading ladies and male love interests out there, the characters themselves felt fresh to read. The dialogue comes naturally in a way that brings the characters off the page and into the real world. My copy is covered with highlights and annotations I can't wait to share with friends (shoutout to Chapter 15, where I gave up highlighting individually and just covered the entire chapter).

I've been reading Julie Soto's work for a few years now. I know her first as @lovesbitca8, second as Juls, and now as Julie Soto: Published Author! One of Julie's greatest strengths is crafting well-rounded and relatable characters with depth, and that skill is out in full-force in <i>Forget Me Not</i>. Ama is the breezy 2000s romcom star we all wanted to be growing up. Elliot is the grumpy ex who speaks in clipped tones and doesn't eat sugar. They start off fitting their individual moulds.
Then Julie starts to peel back the layers of who they are, lets us learn more about Ama and Elliot's experiences in the world and with each other, and the traditional roles they held in my mind at the beginning of the book start to switch. By the time I reached the final page, I felt more connected to Elliot than I did Ama. I can't think of any other book I've read in this way!

<b>Final thoughts:</b> Charming, passionate, and sweet as J Street Donuts, <i>Forget Me Not</i> will take pride of place on a lot of bookshelves in a few months with cries for more from Julie Soto. Don't get left behind, pick up a copy as soon as you can!

Thank you so much to Forever and Grand Central Publishing for providing an ARC of this lovely book in exchange for an honest review! I definitely did not squee and dance around my living room when I got the approval email. Nope.

I picked this up for the cover and stayed for the angsty second chance romance ✨ Elliot, a talented florist, and Ama, a dedicated wedding planner, are thrown together for a wedding after going their separate ways years before. This book had dual povs (which I loved) but I wasn’t a huge fan of the dual timelines. This story goes back and forth between the present and past and we unfortunately didn’t see a lot of growth between the leads in the present. Luckily, the flashbacks highlighted the depth of their connection so they largely made up for it.

This book has:
-Dual povs
-A grumpy, tattooed hero who would do anything to protect the sunshine heroine
-Tons of forced proximity
-He falls first AND harder

Overall, this was such a cute read. If you want a fast-paced and steamy second chance romance, this is the book for you.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

If I finish an entire book in a single day, that MEANS something, okay?

This was, honestly, the perfect read for a day stuck sick in bed. It's a very smooth read with likeable main characters and a great premise. It also has that quality that I love finding in certain authors who started in fan fiction: sitting in silly cute little scenes for twelve pages and giving every single detail. I don't know what god Julie Soto sacrificed to to make it happen, but the ability to write something that should be boring and dragged out but instead has me squealing and kicking my feet is one I admire so much.

I didn't think I would, but I loved how the dual POVs were handled. You've got Ama in the present, wedding planner extraordinaire working hard to build her own company. She's practically terrified to work with a certain florist after she broke his heart two years ago. And then you've got Elliot in the past, florist wunderkind, recounting their relationship and what led to the fallout. And the balance between them was so good?!? I'm genuinely impressed because it worked so incredibly well to flesh both characters out while planting plenty of steamy scenes throughout the entire book that never felt gratuitous.

I confess, my rating is 4.5 rounded up because it's not *quite* perfect for me. I realize I just gushed about the dual POVs, but it did cause an issue in one area for me, mainly that almost all the steamy scenes were in Elliot's POV. I needed way more from the female gaze there, sorry. It also left me a little confused about Ama's character because the past and present Ama didn't quite align for some time.

All that said, the ending absolutely sealed the deal for me. It is so sweet and cute and I loved it so so much! Definitely looking out for more from this author in future.

4⭐
R 🌶️


I loved the way this book was written with the flashbacks and it built the story up so well for me! There were some choices the characters made that just didn't resonate with me (poor car maintenance! Absurd amount of donuts!) and there needed to be some better communication, but I really loved these two found their way back each other and put on the most beautiful wedding at the same time. This book would be a phenomenal movie and a great one to read by the pool this summer.

Okay, I felt giddy reading Forget Me Not by Julie Soto. I was so excited to read this book and find out what happened next, while simultaneously not wanting it to end. I loved the angst, the drama, and the unfolding of Ama and Elliot's history. Any book that has dual-POVs has my heart, and Forget Me Not was no exception. I rated it 4.5 stars.

Can I just say there is nothing better than the second chance enemies to lovers trope. Forget Me Not was an exceptional debut by Julie Soto, the tension and chemistry between Elliot and Ama was intense. Told in dual POV’s both past and present day we see the fragile relationship of these two as they work together on a high profile celebrity wedding. Her a wedding planner, while he is a florist. It was bittersweet to see Elliot fall fast and hard for Ama in the past, and it was obvious they still had feelings for one another. Fate found a way to bring these two back to each other.

Ama is a wedding planner who promised herself to never marry. Her mother has married countless times and left a petty mark on her but loves weddings. A once in a lifetime opportunity is presented to her when she is asked to help with a high profile wedding, the only catch the florist is her ex boyfriend. The man that stole her heart and shattered it to shreds. They have not spoken since then, but working together can’t be that hard. . . right?

I loved Julie Soto’s writing style, I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to Elliot and Ama’s relationship that led up to the breakup. Right from the get go these two have that spark and its clear that they still have feelings for each other. I thought this was a perfect debut and I can’t praise this book enough.

Fans that love Grumpy x sunshine, second chance romance and tattooed hero’s this one is for you.

Julie Soto’s Forgot Me Not is a Captivating, beautiful and romantic story about regret and second chances. Her characters are passionate and real. I fell in love with Elliot and Ama’s story from start to finish, and can’t wait to see more from the author.

Ama just landed a career-defining client; this will be a huge deal for her business. The catch? The couple has 2 conditions: the must-have venue and Elliot Bloom as the florist. Ex-boyfriend Elliot Bloom. The same Elliot Bloom she's been avoiding for 2 years. The Elliot whose heart she broke. Can they work together again without imploding this time around?

- Grumpy florist + an anti-marriage wedding planner
- Second chance romance
- Then/Now timeline
- Dual POV

I *loved* this. It was angsty and filled with so much delicious tension. The dual timeline got me hooked right from the start; I couldn't put this down!

ELLIOT. Get ready for this ooey-gooey cinnamon roll, tattooed florist. I adore him. 🥹

Ama. What an incredible boss babe. It was so great watching her grow professionally, but personally, especially. I loved her journey.

Weddings, flowers, tattoos, donuts, angst, and all the agonizing tension. Don't skip this!

I thought this was a really fun book! I enjoyed the dual POV then and now timelines as it really helped build up the relationship between the two MCs. I always love a wedding-themed plot so that was a major plus!

Ahh I loved this one! Spicy rom-coms for the win.

This is a second chance romance about a wedding planner and a florist who have to collaborate on a high-profile influencer wedding, despite the fact that she broke his heart years ago. I don’t want to spoil too much, because finding out the why and how of it is a big part of the book, but I really enjoyed these characters so much! I wasn’t sure if I would be into the wedding stuff, but the author managed to make their ideas really interesting and creative.

You will love this book if you like second chance romance, grumpy x sunshine, Reylo, tattooed heroes & a pretty decent helping of spice!

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED!

If you told me this was going to be a favorite of 2023 I wouldn't have believed you. The cover of course was instant appeal the second chance element with a grumpy hero? Also an instant need to read.

Then I read and listened to it (Yay libro fm ALC!) and am no sad as heck that I can't force it into everyones hands yet.

I adored the way this story was told via two timelines. I found the writing to be incredibly engaging as well. Basically left in love with Amma and Elliot. Can't wait to see what else Julie writes!

This book was wonderfully crafted with dual timelines and points of view from both main characters. As a second chance romance, the reader was able to journey through the past and the present and my goodness the ANGST and SPICE was perfect. Elliot - oh my . Swoon. I love a broody man. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Also this book solidified my love for tattoos 🥵Especially when they are part of the plot …
⁣⁣
All in all, highly recommend!

I loved Forget Me Not and keep thinking about it, even though I finished it a week ago! The banter, the heat, the hate, THAT COVER.
Julie Soto has knocked it out of the park with this one. What could go wrong (or right) when two ex-lovers have to come together to help plan the wedding of the year? I was so invested in Ama and Elliott’s spicy, angsty, and funny romance journey. It’s told in two parts - the past (mostly Elliott’s POV) and present (mostly Ama’s POV.) And the character growth for Ama especially was satisfying to read.

I started reading this in audio and had to switch to the ebook copy because the time jumps at the beginning of every chapter were nearly impossible to keep track of. I get why, but it was still really difficult. Even Teddy Hamilton couldn't convince me to stick with it and that is basically unheard of.

I did enjoy this despite the issues with the time jumps. We basically have a now/then situation where they were together and happy and now where they have a hard time looking at the other. They end up working together on an extremely high profile wedding. Elliot ends up doing more than his fair share in the wedding and it was nice to see him step up for her.

But. He was stepping up for her the entire time and it took the entire book for her to figure it out. I don't know if this can be classed as a slow burn because all of the spicy parts happen in the past until the very end.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of the ebook and Libro.FM for a copy of the audio copy. My opinions are my own.

2.5 STARS

Four months into the year, a novel has finally given me some hope that maybe just maybe I can overcome the reading slump I haven’t been able to shake in the last year.

Nonetheless… “Forget Me Not” was a grumpy/sunshine opposites attract second chance romance that will inspire readers to find their own version of Elliot.

The author's writing style was better than what I expected and it’s easy to get a gist of who the characters (minus one) are, even the step-siblings that partake in the wedding shenanigans. I loved the concept of a wedding planner and florist falling in love, and the meaning behind the flowers and the tattoos.

Notwithstanding, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Elliot and Amas barely had any interaction during the ‘Present’ time and it was mostly filled with inner dialogue, scenes with the engaged couple, and the less than a handful of times they were in a room together—conversation was centered only on the flower arrangements. Boo!

In the novel, the ‘Past’ was more heavily focused which I recognize is for the readers to get a better understanding as to why the relationship ended but I was really looking forward to the tension and heart-to-heart talks that simply didn’t happen. The romance and romantic gestures between the former couple were non-existent in the ‘Present’ time.

Besides the ‘Past/Present’ debacle—maybe it’s just me but the relationship just seemed very superficial and minus the minimal discussion about his father, degree and him being a grump—we know absolutely nothing else about Elliot.

All in all, “Forget Me Not” wasn’t terrible, I just wanted more and I am looking forward to seeing what the author has in store for readers in future releases.

I really enjoyed this book! Right away, the writing captivated me, and I wanted to know more. I really liked reading about Ama and how she’s a wedding planner. I loved reading all the scenes where she was planning and running weddings. It was also interesting reading how Elliot is a florist. I loved all his creativity and knowledge about flowers. ( OK yes I understand that a florist would have to have the knowledge about florals and such 🤪 ) I loved reading how Ama and Elliot are forced to have to work with one another to complete a wedding. The two of them obviously still have feelings after being with each other a few years back. I am not one for multiple timelines, but I did love reading Elliott’s flashback POV. Also know that that is the only times we get his POV. I only have two issues with this book. What is Ama’s previous boss who is very manipulative and cruel. I did not like her at all lol. But my main struggle was that I did not like how Ama did not believe in marriage. Obviously seeing your mother getting married and divorced 16 times would have an effect on you being wary of relationships. But at least admit that you have a struggle with marriages, or don’t be in a serious relationship. I didn’t like how she messed a little bit with Elliot’s head.

Read if you like:
Dual POVs
Forced proximity
Multiple timelines
Wedding Planner x Florist
Second chance romance
All the feels
Open door romance
Slow burn
Enemies to lovers

Time hops in romance novels are the BEEESSSTTT. It's such a useful structure not only to develop characters and give us backstop but to give us romance readers something different.

Is there anything more delicious than a second chance enemies to lovers? I'm not sure there is, the tension and chemistry is almost unrivaled. This is an incredible debut, and absolutely lives up to the hype. Told in dual perspective and dual timeline, Elliot and Ama have to work together on a high profile celebrity wedding two years after a painful breakup. It's painful and delicious in equal measure, and confirms that I need a little pain to make the pleasure sweeter.

Elliot and Ama barely speak to each other in the present timeline, which is told in her perspective. He is the sort of taciturn grump that would drive me crazy in real life, but because we see their original relationship timeline from his perspective, it doesn't take long to see he has a reason for his standoffishness. I usually don't like dual timelines much, because it's so rarely done satisfyingly, but this is an exception. It's a brilliant narrative structure for these two characters in particular.

One marker of a good romance with well crafted characters for me is if I want to have whatever profession a character has when I'm done with the book. My heart believes it wants to both plan weddings, and be a florist, so Julie hit the nail on the head with this one. Also, can we talk about the multiple hurt/comfort scenes where Elliot got to grumpily take care of Ama? Especially when she expected him not to care after she broke his heart? Sigh.

I never have the right words to talk about books that I love as much as this one. Suffice it to say if I could give it six stars, I would. I loved every second of reading it, and already want to read it again to see if I can pick apart why it was so perfect.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC, it comes out in July, and all opinions are my own.