Book Review: Forgotten 
 Forgotten 
 by 
 Kat Patrick 
 Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (6/7/11) 
 Length: 304 pages 
 Format: Audio Book 
 Source: Library2Go 
 Genre: Young Adult 
 Series: No 
 Completed: September 2011 
 Challenges: 2011 Show Me the Free Reading Challenge, 2011 YA Debut Authors Challenge 
 Review can also be found at the My Precious Blog: thecallawayfam.blogspot.com 
 Summary: 
 Imagine waking up every day not knowing anything about yourself until you read a notebook you left on your nightstand the night before. This is what sixteen year old London Lane deals with every morning. Her memories only involve the future, she has no recollection of her past before reading her notes from the night before. London knows what will happen to her friends in the future, knows who is important in her life and who is not, but this doesn't make life any easier. In fact, when she begins having dreams of a funeral, everything gets even more complex. The closer she gets to understanding the dreams, the closer she gets to a past she may be supressing. What could be so bad she's burried her memories? 
 Ramblings 
 BACKGROUND 
 Cat Patrick lives near Seattle with her husband and twin 3-year-olds daughters. She is afraid of zombies and planes according to her Goodreads author's profile. The idea for her new debut novel came from one day, being sleep deprived from having brand new twin babies, she totally forgot what she was doing. Forgotten is her debut novel. It is a stand alone book, not part of any series. The book is being translated into 21 languages and Paramount bought the movie rights, with True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld to star as the main character, London Lane. 
 SETTING, PACE AND & STYLE 
 The majority of this book takes place at Meridan High School, where London is in her Junior year. Pacing is moderate, remaining constant throughout the book, except for the last third, where it ramps up. Written in first person, present tense with London as the narrator, this book was an exciting read. Forgotten is descriptive, but not overly flowery. What it does have is many twists and turns with a great mystery which will keep the reader guessing up until the very end. 
 CHARACTERS & PLOT 
 London Lane is the main character. She's a red head, without a firey temper. I found her to be intelligent, thoughtful, but at times could be a little unreasonable and slightly immature. Her character and decision making skills made sense for a teenager. 
 Luke, her love interest was the perfect boyfriend. He's compassionate, thoughtful and very affectionate, especially to his twin baby sisters. I was impressed by the amount of planning that he put into their first date. I wish I had a boyfriend like that in high school. 
 Jamie was London's best friend, decribed by London as, " .. the one every boy likes to flirt with but not date and the one every girl likes to hate". She gets herself into a difficult situations with her beauty and flirtatiousness. None-the-less she is a good friend to London, even if she doesn't want to talk to her for most of the book. 
 The main plot revolved around the mysterious funeral London kept returning to in her dreams. As the story progresses, more and more is revealed. This story line keeps the reader engaged for the entire book. 
 Recommendation: 
 Lovers of mysterious plots, twists, turns, suspense and a lite dose of romance along the way will grab a hold of this book and not put it down until the last page has been turned. Touted as a part psycological thriller and part romance,with a strong and very likeable male character, I think both genders can find something to enjoy about this story. 
 PERSONAL NOTE 
 I've was looking forward to reading this book a while. So imagine my surprise when I saw it show up at the digital library, I checked it out immediately and listened to it on audio while I did housework. This is a short book, with just 6 hours of audio to listen to. At first, I was a little disappointed with the story. The main, character, London, was a little immature, it seemed like it was leaning towards being a sappy romance story. Then, about twenty percent into the book, London starts having dreams of a funeral. About that time, I was hooked. 
 Once the mysterious dream started unfolding I couldn't stop listening to the story. I was dying to know how everything turned out. This mysterious element, once again, was the driving force of the novel for me. Anxiety, tension, suspense, all this and an unpredictable mystery made for an exillerating read. I wasn't able to figure things out ahead of London, either. 
 The romance part was sweet, innocent, never really overpowering the story, like I initially thought it could, aligning nicely with my reading tastes. Luke was a gentlemen, took time to plan out the perfect first date and made London feel very special. He was the type of boyfriend any mother would hand pick for her daughter. Speaking of mom's, it was refreshing to read about a young adult mother who was present in the main character's life. A mother who showed compassion, understanding, but not afraid to use the long arm of discipline, when needed. I appreciated how each night she would check on London before bedtime to make sure she was off the phone, computer etc. 
 It is worth mentioning, at one point in the story, London and Luke's relationship hit a road bump. I was quickly frustrated by how harsh London was with Luke during this time. What he did wasn't that big of a deal, London just blew it into epic proportions, which didn't seem to be warranted at all. I felt really badly for Luke during this part of the book. He was crushed. 
 The creative concept of not having any past memories, only future ones was quite unique. It presented many issues for the protagonist, reminding me of one of my favorite movies Fifty First Dates. London did a great job coping with her situation, making detailed notes to herself in a diary, which she read each morning before starting her day. 
 RATING 
 I give this one 5 rings. Nothing to deduct from this exciting read. What's even better is Forgotten is NOT part of any series, its a stand alone novel with a concrete conclusion, wrapping everything up in a nice package. Very refreshing! 
 5 out of 5 Rings