Review: Forgotten by Cat Patrick

Forgotten by Cat Patrick


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Each night when 16 year-old London Lane goes to sleep, her whole world disappears. In the morning, all that's left is a note telling her about a day she can't remember. The whole scenario doesn't exactly make high school or dating that hot guy whose name she can't seem to recall any easier. But when London starts experiencing disturbing visions she can't make sense of, she realizes it's time to learn a little more about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

The whole idea behind this story sets it aside from other YA novels. This is so fun, really unique, and I've never heard of anything like like before. The main character London is just lovely, and a perfect combination of sweet and naive, and smart and tough. Because of her unusual situation, she has to be very adaptable and by not telling anyone else except her mother about her memory problem she makes herself very isolated and vulnerable. She really determinedly throws herself out into the world each day and has to cope with not remembering previous conversations with people, or making excuses for forgetting a piece of homework. The way that she just makes herself get through the day shows how strong she is.


As for the memory thing- I'm normally the type of person who will be trying to logically trying to pick holes in this kind of idea, and although I tried, there isn't any fault with the logic, and the way her memory works- it's bizarre but it just seems to work. She has memories from the future but none from the past. She copes by reading and writing notes to keep track of what is happening in her life, and she remembers the people who are important to her (her Mom and her best friend), because she knows them from the future. When she meets Luke, she has to remind herself every day who he is- through her notes and photos, and hope that he doesn't mind that she can never hold onto the little details about him.


Luke is so great, just wonderfully cute and weird (except for this creepy obsession he has with painting pictures of people ears?!) and London has found a way to be herself and still keep her secret. It's funny that as she has to keep reminding herself through her notes what is happening in her life at the moment and her memory is wiped at the start of every day she sometimes ends up having the same thoughts over and over. The first time she sees Luke in the flesh takes her breath away every day. I love the way that the story doesn't just seem to slide after Luke and London have been dating for a while. About halfway through the book other mysteries are set in motion, there are several ideas/ future memories that London is trying to work out, and the story keeps on building on itself right up until the end. All these added mysteries, revelations and surprises are what really makes this book stand out for me. Just when you think you can predict what will happen and how it will all end, then bam, something else is thrown in, and nothing is ever what you would expect.


This is very clever, very sweet, and kept me absolutely gripped all through the way through.




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