BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Before I Forget, by Tory Henwood Hoen, from St. Martin's Press/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

This was an easy, heart-warming read……that I probably would’ve liked more had I not had some real-life experiences with dementias of various sorts.

It’s because of those that I found the book to be too “sanitized” when it came to the day-to-day struggles of families dealing with loved ones who are losing their grasp on reality as we know it. Also, I’m not a big fan of what I’ve started to think of as “magical money” in a novel. You know, the kind that sort of appears out of nowhere and saves the day? Finally, this felt more like a YA read than not.

Goodness but I’m in a mood today. Future Kristi, if you’re reading this, do know that you enjoyed the book enough to want to read more by this author.

PS
I have a particularly vivid memory of my quarter-life crisis, at age 25. It was 1991, and I was in my house in Natchez. The guest bedroom, to be specific. I was looking for something in a closet, and somehow the wrongness of my situation just came crashing down on my head. I had been _supposed_ to have a career as a war correspondent in Latin America for the Associated Press (alternatively, as a Southern U.S. political correspondent, also for the AP), but instead there I was in a small town in Mississippi, in a horrible marriage (not to the current husband, obvs), in a PR job, A MEMBER OF A GARDEN CLUB.

{shudders, violently, at the memory}

While I never did make it with the AP, I did at least get out of Mississippi (for the most part, but that’s a whole other story). And the marriage.

And the garden club, of course.

DESCRIPTION
A funny, heartfelt, late coming-of-age story that examines the role of memory in holding us back—and in moving us forward—for fans of The Collected Regrets of Clover and Maame.

Call it inertia. Call it a quarter-life crisis. Whatever you call it, Cricket Campbell is stuck. Despite working at a zeitgeisty wellness company, the 26-year-old feels anything but well. Still adrift after a tragedy that upended her world a decade ago, she has entered early adulthood under the weight of a new burden: her father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

When Cricket’s older sister Nina announces it is time to move Arthur from his beloved Adirondack lake house into a memory-care facility, Cricket has a better idea. In returning home to become her father’s caretaker, she hopes to repair their strained relationship and shake herself out of her perma-funk. But even deeply familiar places can hold surprises.

As Cricket settles back into the family house at Catwood Pond—a place she once loved, but hasn’t visited since she was a teenager—she discovers that her father possesses a rare gift: as he loses his grasp of the past, he is increasingly able to predict the future. Before long, Arthur cements his reputation as an unlikely oracle, but for Cricket, believing in her father’s prophecies might also mean facing the most painful parts of her history. As she begins to remember who she once was, she uncovers a vital truth: the path forward often starts by going back.

With laugh-out-loud humor and profound grace, Before I Forget explores the nuances of family, the complexities of memory, and how sometimes, the people we know the best are the ones who surprise us the most.

What a great debut. I don't live with someone with Alzheimers, so I cannot speak to how accurately this was portrayed, but the relationships, the grief, character arcs were done so well in this novel. I didn't want this novel to end (and I knew where it was going). I saw another reviewer describe this as both wonderfully heartwarming and also heartbreaking, and that is the most accurate sentence to describe this book. I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. This book is slated to release on December 2, 2025.

Before I Forget

Tory Henwood Hoen’s novel Before I Forget, tells the story of Cricket, a 27 year old college dropout who has been lost since the death of a high school boyfriend and following estrangement with her father. As her father faces Alzheimer’s and her older sister who has been his caregiver plans to return to her Phd studies, Cricket steps in as he father’s primary support. Over the course of a few months of caretaking, Cricket realizes that her father may have developed powers to see more of the world around him and also learns to forgive him and herself. I found this novel to be charming despite its bleak premise. Hoen has developed strong, true to life characters who I rooted for. Thank you to Macmillan And NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

Cricket is going through her quarter life crisis and needs some direction- in a surprise she finds it in the form of taking care of her father with Alzheimer’s in their house near the Adirondack's that she’s purposefully avoided for almost a decade.

This story touches on grief, death, family relationships, struggles of the being in your mid twenties, and more in such a mindfully expert way.

You really do start to care for all of the characters and where their stories are going. I will say the portion with Gemma and the offer felt a little clunky and took up more page real estate than it needed to.

This book was wonderfully heartwarming and also undeniably sad also. Crickets life was aimless but being asked to care for her father gave her purpose and courage to strike out in her own path. Incredibly well written and would recommend!

I love this read it was fun fast read the family was enjoyable so it made the read fun I will recommend

I really loved this story and family!
I adored Cricket for giving her Dad the time, patience,love and dignity to voice what was in his mind at any given moment and to create hope and perhaps a bit of magic for so many people who needed some words of wisdom which includes his own family.
This is definitely not an ordinary journey of an aging parent with dementia, but with mystery, drama and a whole lot of love it is about the past and the present moments of a life well lived.

This may be my favorite book for 2025! Sit down and really invest some time to enjoy this trip in the mountains with Cricket, her Dad and their friends.
Thank you to @NetGalley and to @St .Martin's Press for this beautiful ARC and allowing me to provide my own review.

DNF - I was hopeful when endeavouring to read this but ultimately, we didn't match. I know that many readers will appreciate the flow & structure of the writing & the plot but, they did not work for me so I left off early.

*Thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book!*

This book ended up getting my first 5 stars of the year!

Overall, this was a heart warming coming of age story (late coming of age as our MC is 27 years-old). Cricket was highly relatable and introspective, I found her to be one of my favorite female MCs that I’ve read in a while. As someone who has lost a few family members to dementia/Alzheimer’s I think this book will touch a lot of people and give an alternate perspective to how we can view the decline that they go through. Cricket finds a way to appreciate her father being himself, despite knowing that the disease will only progress and continue to take more and more of him along the way. It was light hearted at times, serious at other points, and overall a book that left me feeling content. I know I would have benefited from reading about having this positive/neutral outlook when my loved ones were alive.

The writing was clear, and because I do appreciate a book that gets me to look up a definition (though not excessively) I was pleasantly surprised that I got to look up a few words here and there. The author handles a difficult subject with care, all while offering a perspective not many have thought of. Most would expect a book with dementia/memory loss to be a complete downer. That was not the case with this story. I will definitely be adding this to my favorites of the year!

This book started off strong for me. I related to the main character, Cricket, and empathized with her father’s worsening Alzheimer’s. However, as the book progressed, I couldn’t help but notice Cricket’s self-deprecating mentality. Most importantly, the oracle plot seemed very unrealistic. There was a disagreement between Cricket and her sister Nina, and I found myself siding with Nina over Cricket. The pacing felt off to me in the sense that the love interest was introduced in the last 25% of the novel, and then we never really got any clarity about how that ended up. I liked the writing style but the content of this book didn't keep me consistently entertained.

4.5 *'s
Openness, clarity, regeneration- not words typically applied to an Alzheimer's narrative, but maybe we've not been paying attention...
"It's just that, here, in this human form, we forget all the things we inherently know."
A lovely idea, that Alzheimer's need not be seen as wholly debilitating but rather just another spot on the continuum, another variant, something potentially beneficial and beautiful.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Before I Forget by Tory Henwood Hoen is a tender coming-of-age novel told in two points of the narrator, Cricket’s life. Still tangled in the emotional shift that comes following a golden teenage summer and an ensuing tragedy, she returns years later to Locust, a town in upstate New York. Cricket is taking over the role of caretaker role for her father with dementia, who she believes may be able to tell the future.

The novel centers on a few central themes; family, regret, grief, self-discovery, and renewal. Additionally, nestled in the overarching themes concerning discovering one’s self through dealing with the past, there is also a pointed jab at the wellness industry and the commoditization of genuine connection. This is the least interesting part of the story, in my opinion. It does give some structure to the passing narrative and creates tension for the plot of the dad’s supposed clairvoyance, but it wasn’t particularly soulful compared to the tender soul-searching parts.

I loved how tender and wistful this book was. It dealt very head-on with how unresolved grief and trauma can change the course of someone’s life, even if they weren’t impacted personally. Cricket laments the bad boyfriend, bad jobs, and lost dreams that she has given up because her grief has caused her to give up on them and herself.

I appreciated the way that this book dealt with complicated family dynamics with some nuance. The characters aren’t completely two-dimensional, and even the mom character, who stands out in her less fleshed out portrayal, still acts in ways that are surprising but sensibly explained.

My recommendation is that this is a very emotional, heartfelt read. For anyone who likes stories of messy people turning their lives in a new direction, it could be an excellent choice. It’s tender without veering into sappy territory.

4/5 stars, especially good for a summer read, as the Adirondack setting is very nostalgic.

This is an unconventional narrative about life, love, and loons. The author portrays the character's experiences of loss and pain with a blend of humor and grace. It is a complex and layered story, giving insight into various aspects of life, touching on themes such as dementia, PTSD, fear, and unmet expectations. The fast-paced plot delivers a compelling and satisfying read.

This book was devastating and beautiful. I fell in love with the main character and her father instantly. Most of the side characters had interesting stories and truly added to the book plot. It made me both smile and cry. The cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease is addressed so beautifully and without judgement of caretakers in similar situations. I would absolutely read anything else written by this author.

This was such a lovely story and I couldn’t help but be charmed. Cricket hasn’t been back to her family’s lake house in a decade. She feels haunted by what happened there and unwelcome. Her older sister has been taking care of their father for years and now has a plan to go to Sweden to finish her education. She thinks it’s time their father move to a memory-care facility as he has Alzheimer’s. Cricket finds herself unexpectedly drawn back into life in Catwood Pond and decides to become her father’s care-taker.

Cricket was a fun character to get to know—she doesn’t feel like she has things figured out and is ready to try. I did not connect with the paranormal elements of the story but was intrigued nonetheless. This was sad, funny, tender, and full of compassion. I am a big fan of both The Collected Regrets of Clover and Maame and do think this has the essence of those stories, even though the plots are quite different.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Tori Henwood Hoen’s ‘Before I Forget’ is an incredible book! I devoured it in one sitting and couldn’t stop reading. Henwood Hoen tackles tough subjects with heartwarming humor. The book explores the challenges of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s. The relatable characters find unexpected ways to love each other amidst family dynamics and dementia.

Cricket Campbell is 26-years old and still trying to figure out what to do with her life. When her father is diagnosed with Alzheimer's and her older sister (who is currently caring for him) moves to Sweden for a new job, Cricket decides to move back to her family home to become his full-time caretaker. Dealing with an overwhelming feeling of guilt from a tragedy that happened when she was 16, Cricket seems to be able to forgive everyone except for herself. Couple that with her father seemingly able to predict the future as he loses his grip with the past, they suddenly become famous for helping others deal with their troubles and/or grief. And Cricket slowly starts to heal along the way.

Because this is a pre-release, there are no author's notes provided. I am curious as to whether "predicting the future" is a real thing with some Alzheimer's patients. I'm guessing it is not, but it certainly adds a new perspective to this horrific disease. The author does a wonderful job of dealing with family drama, heartbreak and coping with the inevitable death of a loved one.

I was given an ARC by Net Galley and was intrigued by the title. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a very engaging read. It was way more interesting than I expected as there is a unique twist to the story that I didn’t see coming. The relationship between Cricket and her father is heart warming. I highly recommend reading it!

I am unfortunately someone who judges books by their covers, and this one is gorgeous! I really enjoyed how character driven "Before I Forget" was, and the relationship between Cricket and her family was heartwarming. I was the perfect mix of humor and heartfelt moments that kept me engaged throughout. I think how grief was depicted in this story was incredibly real, which was refreshing to read.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

Oh my goodness this was such an emotional and tough read for me. The Alzheimer’s topic definitely got to home but god, it had me happy crying at the end.