I loved this book. It’s so beautifully written and I was completely engaged with the plot. The characters are delightful and develop well throughout. It’s one that I would definitely recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this novel. This was a very fun book, even if predictable and with some stock characters. The pacing is great and the location on the Jersey shore in the 60s is the stuff dreams are made of. If only all of our struggles were this easily resolved. This type of story is how Hollywood was made. It embodies lightness and optimism. It's the kind of book you buy for all your friends because everyone will love it.

Historical fiction, gender roles, Jewish rep, Philly/Shore setting, coming of age story.

Set in the 1960's Marilyn is caught kissing the rabbi's son and is given an ultimatum - marry him or go stay with her great-aunt, Ada, in Philly for the summer to set her straight and repair her reputation. Ada is a matchmaker but has strict rules about dating for Marilyn but also lets her learn her own lessons.

Ada is fashionable and lives life as she wants, these details are in vivid color and throughout the book you grow to love her. She encourages Marilyn to live the life she's imagined.

I loved the romance, and coming of age themes, and that marriage isn't everything and creativity is worth prioritizing.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. What a wonderful read! The story is amazing and has a coming of age feel to it. I wish Ada was my Aunt she was so lovely! The story is about finding and staying true to yourself. We all need more of that!! Highly recommend and looking forward to reading more by this author.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, 4.5 out of 5.

I was expecting a light, Hallmark-type story, but it was so much more. The characters were well developed and dynamic.

It’s a story about a young woman Marilyn who gets caught making out with the Rabbi’s son in the middle of service, and gets “banished” to live over the summer with her Aunt Ada who is a professional and renowned matchmaker. Marilyn helps Ada in her business, and learns about herself in the process.

Aunt Ada is that family member we all wish we had. I loved it so much!

I really enjoyed this book! Full of humor and lessons in love. Not only that but also lessons in being true to yourself and pursuing your passions. The characters were really great and well developed. Ada was a youthful old lady and made the whole story. It was historical fiction but was more magical than that. The matchmaking piece was a great touch.

This book was really sweet and compelling despite the plot being rather straightforward. I loved the characters and the small twists that kept the reader guessing. I found myself laughing out loud and smiling the whole way through

Oh what a cute book! I loved the 2 main characters for their intelligence and witty responses. It was the author's best book I've read so far!

Five stars! I absolutely adored this book and Marilyn & Ada’s story. It was heartfelt, witty, and full of great characters. I didn’t want it to end. I also highly recommend going in blind. Pick this up asap for your next read! I hope we get a prequel or sequel in the future!

How sweet was this book? The reader follows Marilyn and her journey to spend the summer with her great Aunt Ada because she was caught kissing the rabbi's son at the synagogue. Marilyn's father sent her to Ada's because she was supposed to help her find a husband and learn how to be a wife. She finds, instead, a love she never expected- a love within herself for herself. I loved the characters. We learn so much about Ada through her interactions with Marilyn, and I love how fresh Marilyn's voice was throughout the book. It was "historical" in that it took place in the 1960s, which colored the story in some ways. Ada was truly a bright light in this story, and I wish that I had a great aunt just like her. I appreciated the ending so much, even though the reader could likely see it a mile away. I still left with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes, the definition of the end of a truly fantastic book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

This was a great story that I flew through. I’ve really enjoyed all of the authors books and this was by far my favorite. The ending left me wanting more!

This book was recommended by so many of my book loving friends and I’m mad at myself for waiting for the hype to die down before reading it. I was captivated right away and loved the hilarious writing and 1960s setting.

🎧It was such a great listen, and I absolutely loved the audio format and narrator which pulled me in right away. The narration really took hold and brought me into the story. I was laughing, smiling, and crying happy tears at the end.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-1960s Jersey Shore setting
-heartfelt
-hilarious
-great characters
-I loved Aunt Ada!

*many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Everyone needs a Great Aunt Ada in their corner. Don’t Forget To Write is a heartwarming story about a young girl trying to find herself and discover what she truly wants out of life. With the love and cantankerous attention from her Great Aunt, she learns the most important lesson to not settle and go after what she truly desires. The banter between the main character Marilyn and Ada had me laughing out loud. Sara Goodman Confino really knows how to clearly demonstrate the current events, traditions, and culture of the decade in which the story is written. This was a quick read that will surely get you out of any reading slump if you are looking for something with all the feels.

“And more than that, live your life the way that you want to. Not the way society or anyone else tells you to. Because you only get this one chance.”

New York City, 1960.
We meet twenty-year-old college student Marilyn Kleinman, whose latest antic, this time at the synagogue, has won her a summer stint with her great-aunt Ada in New Jersey. Marilyn is used to having her way in everything, but this time her father’s wrath has put her hopes of finishing her college education in his hands. Getting to know Ada, Marilyn finds in the septuagenarian a free, loving, kindred spirit; not at all what she expected. As days and weeks go by, Marilyn navigates her young adulthood with all its thrills, challenges, lessons, and contradictions. With the end of summer rapidly approaching, Marilyn must choose between the life that she knows or following a new path of her own.

Thoughts:

A coming-of-age story with a phenomenal atmosphere, this book played like a movie in my mind. Narrated from her own perspective, Marilyn is a fun character, full of life and dreams that defy social expectations. In Marilyn, the author effectively portrays the contradictions of young adulthood, and the growth that results when ideas and beliefs are challenged. I enjoyed Marilyn’s relationship with her mother, especially as Marilyn starts to see her and her choices in another light. My favorite character though is Aunt Ada, a strong, young-at-heart woman who defies convention and instills in Marilyn a desire to follow her own path.

The plot of this book is fun and interesting, with shades of intrigue and a surprising turn of events that leads to a satisfying ending. The story is agile and kept me engaged from start to finish. It is the perfect summer read – light, absorbing, entertaining, with a well-researched setting and diverse characters.

If you are a fan of themes of coming-of-age stories, strong women, and diverse characters, this book is for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a free digital copy to review this book.
#NetGalley#DontForgettoWrite#bookstagram#booktrovert#booklover#netgalleyreviewer#bookstagrammer#bookreviews#goodreads#netgalleyreviews#bookstagram#booktrovert#booklover

Marilyn is caught kissing the rabbi’s son and when she refuses to marry him her parents send her away to Philadelphia to stay with her Great Aunt Ada for the summer. The story is set in the 1960’s and Marilyn feels constrained by her parents expectations, but Ada helps her realise that she has more choices than she thought. A lovely, funny coming of age story.

really quick summer read and i honeslty really loved it. From the characters to the plot i was really well entertained. Definitely rereading next summer

Loved this book! From start to finish, the story captures the challenges of women in the 1960s with humor, emotion and connection. The characters were so rich and well written! I loved the interaction between 20 year old Marilyn and her great aunt Ada!! The story is expertly woven together to create a touching story. Can’t wait to read more from Sara Goodman Cofino.

Thank you Net Galley and Lake Union publishing for sharing this book with me. All opinions are my own.

Don’t Forget to Write includes a great aunt, who happens to be a Jewish matchmaker. I absolutely loved the relationship that formed (they didn’t really know each other prior) between Marilyn and her great aunt Ada.

What a book! What a story! As I was including the hashtags, I thought of the uniqueness of this one. While it is technically hist fic, and I read a ton of hist fic, because of the humor, it’s set apart in my mind, like its own sub genre. It also has sweet romance.

At the heart of the story, in the 1960s, Marilyn is sent to live with her great aunt Ada for the summer because her parents are worried about her reputation. Marilyn’s parents don’t realize how much fun she’ll have and all she’ll learn about life and herself from Ada.

I loved this book. Every single thing about it. Check this out for humorous, feel good, historical fiction. All books by this author entertain and are five star reads. Love them.

I received a gifted copy.

Absolutely loved this book!
Ada is such a quick wit and so much deeper than she seems on the surface.
Marylin, what a girl. She has ambition and drive but she's young and reliant on the finance of the family.
Loved watching this one unravel.

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started this story, but it was definitely different from what I had expected. This story is full of feisty characters. Both Marilyn and her great aunt Ada with whom she goes to spend the summer are full of life and far from shy. They made me smile and laugh and I loved how their similarities were also why they clashed at times. It's hard to imagine a world where marriage and image is so important, but this story did a good job of introducing me to this time period and what people cared about then and how girls like Marilyn stood out for all the wrong reasons. Having read this story I could easily picture it all and I think it would make a lovely movie. Sweet, touching, will make you laugh but will also make you mad and in the end it will surprise you.