Review: Forgotten by Cat Patrick

Title: Forgotten
Author: Cat Patrick
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publishing Date: June 7th 2011
Pages: 304
Genre: YA Paranormal Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
Source: Hardcover

Goodreads Summary:

Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting—before it destroys her future

Review:
Forgotten was a exciting and refreshing new story for YA genre. I was immediately drawn in to the synopsis and couldn’t wait to read it. It was an awesome read.

The story is very interesting, about a girl, London, who doesn’t remember anything of the day before or beyond, but remembers tomorrow and further events. It took me a bit to wrap my mind around this, but once I did it blew me away. Wow. What a way to live. It was amazing to watch as London lived her life with this condition. It happened with she was a very young girl and the doctors can’t figure it out or find its trigger. She keeps a journal, pictures, and other memorabilia of her day and reads shuffles through them every morning. She knows her locker combination and her classes for the entire year, except on the last day of school, because she doesn’t have the memory of tomorrow to guide her. She remembers her mom from the future but not the past. It’s a very riveting read.

The story really takes off once she meets a boy, Luke. She has no future memory of him, every time she meets him, it’s like the first time. After she meets Luke, again and again.. she starts to have flashbacks. She starts to put the flashbacks together to find out the truth about her past and truth is unforgettable.

Everything about this book pulled me in and couldn’t break loose until I was done with the last sentence. Even after that the story had a hold on me. I found myself talking about to anyone who would listen and just couldn’t seem to get it off my mind. It’s hard to say what it was that held on to me so tightly because it was all good.

The character development was very strong. The relationships that were built in this story were honest and believable. The interactions between London and her mom, London and her best friend, London and Luke, were all so different but all blew me away. I felt strongly connected to London and her world that everything she went through was earth shattering or breathtaking. There was never an in between. I truly believe that a little piece of me was left on the last page of the book.

I am convinced that there is not another book like Forgotten out there, so with that I would highly recommend this book.

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