Review #25: Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Forget You
Author: Jennifer Echols
Publisher: MTV Books
Genre: Young Adult/Romantic Drama
Release Date: July 20th, 2010
Pages: 293
Source: Author
★★★★★

WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET... AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER?

There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school.

Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon.

But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people—suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug.

First of all, as a fan of book covers, I have to say that the one for Forget You is one of the most gorgeous covers ever. And it does count a lot when you're at the bookstore looking at the shelves, covers like this simply shine and catch you instantly. As a fan of Going Too Far—and now probably as an eternal fan of Jennifer Echols and her writing—, I feel imensely happy for having loved and enjoyed Forget You more than I thought I would, though as I read I admit I was wanting more than what we have.

I was so strongly mesmerized by this novel that I could not put it down last night, and it was just when I looked out of the window to the sky that I realized the sun had already rised and it was today's morning. Jennifer Echols' writing is never tiring!

Living in the warm Florida, Zoey is the captain of the school swim team, and besides having a mother who attempted suicide and an asshole as a father, she will also have to deal with amnesia after being in a wreck. She can't remember the Friday night when the wreck happened, only the moment when Doug helped her to get out of the car.

Then, who would she believe? She decided not to tell anybody about her amnesia and to find out for herself what had happened that night, why Doug was acting like something special existed between them two, when actually she thought she was in a relationship with the football team player Brandon because they had slept together a few days before.

All her questions are answered as long as she approaches Doug after the wreck, they start talking to each other more than ever, and even hang out to dinner once. The development of their story is pretty simply but very meaningful while Brandon does not really give a shit about Zoey, like Doug himself once says to her. It just annoyed me how long she took to realize Doug had been in love with her since forever, to realized he had been honest to her. And it amazed me their intense relationship, their meaninful talks, even though Zoey sucked at times. And again I have a crush on a Jennifer Echols' character, because she definitely knows who to describe a guy and makes him perfect for your eyes: then I fell for Doug, too, just like I did for John After from Going Too Far.

Forget You explores some topics from an angle that I hadn't seen before in an Young Adult novel but that were super-well developed by Jennifer, such as: teenagers relationships in school sports teams (I'm especially talking about the swim and the football team, of course), the amnesia thing and teenagers exploring their bodies.

It was sincerely interesting to have this point of view from a sportist, especially when she was around them team, the swim team. I think there should be more stories involving this topic, if I can call it that. Swimming, heat, and beaches fit wonderfully well in Forget You, though I admit I was expecting for a scene of Zoey and Doug enjoying the swimming pool together, but it was such a shame he can't be in the pool, right? Hahaha. I wish there were, I would have loved it.

Well, yes, teenagers in this novel really do explore their bodies. They do. And I'm happy that an incredible writer like Jennifer Echols boldly, finally decided to bring this up, since this is an important and actual topic that has to be well discussed, especially between young adults and teenagers.

Overall, Forget You is an amazing novel that you won't want to stop reading once you've started. Since Going Too Far, I was expecting for this, I didn't get disappointed, and I can finally, honestly say that Jennifer Echols is now one of my YA Heros, who I'll be supporting forever. And I can't wait for her 2011 romantic drama! Going Too Far and Forget You are must-read novels, and I highly recommend them both.

Purchase/Compre: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Livraria Cultura*
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