This could have been a 5 star read but I needed more communicating in the present! We get lots of communication in the past during the flashbacks but only some grudge fueled remarks in the present.

All that to say this book was super cute, a lot of fun and very emotional. I adored the characters (grumpy Elliot not so much). I really enjoyed the wedding parts and planning it snd the discussions of flowers and the arrangements were breathtaking. I could clearly picture the masterpieces. Elliot sounded super hot especially with his tattoos but he was way to grumpy even for me who likes a grumpy/sunshine. Grunts are not words! As we had flashbacks we got to the steamy parts of the book quicker which was appreciated.

My favorite part was when AMA stuck it to her old boss who was a witch with a capital B and tried to steal her wedding. It was an amazing f u moment we all live for. I’ll definitely read more of this author in the future to see how their writing style develops as they publish more!

I think this is one one my favorite books I have read in a long time. It has everything I want in a book plus more.
Julie has outdone herself. I had so much faith, so so much and it paid off. This book was EVERYTHING. The angst, the spice, the relationship building is incredible and I can see myself reading everything Julie writes from here on out. I trust her writing endlessly and she is now on the top of my auto-buy list.

4 Stars I love a heart wrenching second chance romance and Forget Me Not by Julie Soto gave me all of the angsty “I still love you” vibes. It’s been over two years since wedding planner Ama Torres last saw florist Elliot Bloom when she broke his heart. After scoring what will be a highly publicized wedding gig, Ama now has to work with Elliot again, and ignore the pain in her heart every time she sees him.

The novel has a dual timeline and POV, jumping between Ama’s view of the present and planning the wedding, and Elliot’s view of the past, how they met, got together, and broke up. The dual timeline can sometimes drive me crazy in a second chance romance, especially if we don’t find out until late in the novel how/why they broke up the first time. With this, that knowledge didn’t come too far in the story and I loved reading Elliot’s POV as he fell in love with Ama. Even though he has a very dark and grumpy disposition, Elliot Bloom is a simp and he falls first and falls hard for his girl. It’s seriously sweet to read. There was a lot of character growth in Forget Me Not, especially for Ama, who had a lot of issues with relationships due to her mother’s many marriages and divorces. I really loved this story and wish that I could keep reading more of Ama and Elliot’s story!

This books lives up to all they hype I’ve been hearing about! Wedding designer Ama lands a career defining opportunity designing the wedding of a famous influencer and her partner. The problem is they want to work with a specific florist, her ex Elliot. Can Ama and Elliot work through their past and pull off a show-stopping wedding? Especially with Ama’s old boss hindering it’s success?

I enjoyed the flashbacks of how Ama and Elliot’s relationship began and unfolded to the present. It helped establish how strong their connection was from the beginning. Also, the female friendships were wonderful, supportive and caring. All different kinds of relationships were highlighted. The message that each person has a past that has shaped their idea of what an ideal relationship for them looks like I really appreciated!

From a tattooed florist to a temperamental Lady Cat-Ryn, this book is the perfect grumpy sunshine contemporary romance!

What a fantastic, fun, and romantic read. This book was like a delicious donut, our main characters favorite, and was impossible to put down. I’ve never been big on spice in books, but the blend of romance and spice made it seem plausible and sweet as opposed to a book filled with very wholesome scenes and then the spice level shocks you when it appears. The writing was so easy to read. Loved!!

Wow! I had so much fun with Julie Soto’s debut, Forget Me Not. Thank you so much to Forever Publishing for an early review copy.

Ama Torres is a wedding planner who employs many of her ex-stepsiblings from her mothers sixteen (16) marriages (and counting)! She used to work for the most popular wedding planner in Sacramento, but went out on her own to use her own methods. Ama creates dream weddings because she really gets to know the couple, from proposal story to Pinterest boards.

Elliot Bloom is a popular florist that Ama used to work with all the time, but now refuses to. But when Ama books THE wedding of the year for influencer Hazel Renee and her fiancé, they are set on using Elliot’s company.

And thus, Elliot and Ama’s story begins to unfold, from her present day POV and his in the past, counting forward from the day they met.

From the first chapter, I was invested and swept up in this story. You can’t help but to root for Ama. And Elliot is the perfect grumpy book boyfriend—he hates social media, uses The Language of Flowers to send secret messages in the boutonnières he makes for new clients, and charges Ama a PITA (pain in the a**) fee when they first start working together.

In the acknowledgments, Ali Hazelwood is the first person Julie Soto thanks, and mentions that Ali convinced her to pull-to-publish. There has been some speculation about which fandom, since Julie has notably written for Star Wars and Harry Potter. Having had the privilege to read this, I can safely say Forget Me Not has heavy reylo roots. Especially in the family dynamic for Elliot’s background.

Can’t wait to see more people reading this book, I’ll absolutely be following Julie Soto’s career now!

✨There’s definitely a market for silent, sexually-skilled heroes. It’s me. I’m the market.✨

I mean they barely had a deep conversation in the present because he was truly silent but go off I guess because it was still a lot of fun. I was hooked from the start and finished it in two nights. Plus I really really liked the set up of the novel.

For the most part, Ama’s POV was in the present and Elliot’s POV was in the past leading up to their breakup. And while the breakup in the past was exactly as you thought it would be, I still had a good time getting there. I loved the tension between the two when they were forced to work on the same wedding. I also loved Elliot at the end like yes work that earpiece king.

I worked as a lead wedding caterer for two summers and let me tell you. The STRESS. So I did feel the wedding bits in my BONES. I think those were my favorite parts to read because it felt very natural and vivid.

✨

The soil and flower chanting during ~that~ sex scene stressed me out and was a bit too meta, but overall I did have a grand ol time with the sex! The scenes were juicy and frenzied and steamed up all the windows. They maybe felt a touch out of character for the two, but I’m a simple gal and all for them getting railed.

Every sex scene but one was in the past, which did make the relationship a bit top heavy? Past heavy? Like I said, they didn’t really talk all that much or even interact a ~ton~ in the present, but there were small things that Elliot did to pull that arc along. You definitely still knew the feelings were there. But I still would’ve loved like a nice thicc, angry yelling paragraph from Elliot. Thoughts and prayers for five sentences in a row to be honest.

While I liked Ama as a whole, I’m not the biggest fan of her general character type—down for a good time not a long time because love will never last as proven by parents, etc. Especially when she gave SUPER mixed signals and then got angry when Elliot was mixed up?? I mean part of it was on him because she was ready, ready to ruuuuuun from anything resembling commitment and he did know that from the start. I was still rooting for her though because Whitney can, with all due respect 🙏, go sit on a cactus.

✨

The writing style was a bit different than I was expecting, but once I got familiar, it felt more natural. I’ve never read fanfic so maybe that’s what I was picking up? Just something about the descriptions and fourth wall breaks. Even the style of the sex scenes felt different to me. It was well written don’t get me wrong, but just a note.

Overall, this was a solid book and was different than anything I’ve read before. It was truly memorable, just maybe not a consistent reread for me. I wasn’t the most emotionally connected I’ve ever been, but maybe it’s because I could only picture Adam Driver and he simply doesn’t do it for me. I think this will make a great audiobook, and it’s definitely gonna make a splash.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️.25/5

Thanks so much to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: death of a parent (past), sexual harassment (past), broken foot, allergy incident

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-second chance
-work place
-this is just a hookup
-gruff tattooed simp
-dual timelines
-competency kink
-he falls first and hard

I was so hyped to read this book and gosh did it deliver. It had just the right amount of second chance angst, while overall just being fun. Ama loves being a wedding planner, but has zero desire to ever get married after her mother's sixteen marriages. A dash of doubt in her abilities and ambitious, the wedding world in Sacramento in small and her biggest wedding yet puts her smack dab in the circle of her ex Elliott.

Gosh Elliott. Tattooed in his favorite flowers, gruff, but with his heart on his sleeve. I adored getting his POV in those flashbacks. Because he just was so soft on Ama, just adored her. This was competency kink at its finest. He's a flower mastermind, with the architecture skills to match and just finds joy taking care of her. He may huff around about it but he's all in from the beginning and just pining away. He was epic and just had me swooning. Even with the end it wasn't saving Ama these two are very much a partnership and I was just screaming at the sweetness. And gosh the chemistry, this book delivers on the steam and I was here for it.

Ama and Elliott were such a solid couple. Continuing to be thrown together despite being broken up in all of these situations. Despite the breakup neither ever doubted the other's skills to deliver on this wedding. Add in some step siblings, A meddlesome ex boss and just wedding shenanigans this book was fun and honestly I could see it playing out on the screen. But the beating heart of this book is Ama and Elliott and I loved every moment of them past and present as they figured out what they wanted on different services, Elliott's truck, his work table. This book had so much heart, great chemistry and just a propulsive read.

Steam: 3.75