Forget Me Not
Allison Whitmore
Publication date: September 14th 2015
Genres: Historical, Romance, Young Adult
Theodora “Teddi” Donovan and Calvin Wynne have always hated each other. They didn’t have a choice after Teddi’s bootlegger father killed Calvin’s and left them both orphaned. The scandal has fueled gossip in quiet, quaint Brookhurst, New York, for over a decade.
When a friendship develops between them as teenagers, they are ridiculed and shunned by the strict society that dictates life in their town. As they grow older, friendship turns into love, and Teddi and Calvin have to choose between their future and the scepter of their past.
Spanning continents and decades, Forget Me Not is a coming-of-age story about truth, self-reliance, and the freeing power of love.
I would like to start this post by saying that I really loved the cover, it really caught my attention and is in a good part why I was attracted to do the review of Forget Me Not.
I am going to be honest with you guys and say that I am a tad conflicted about the book, there are parts that I really loved and there are a lot of elements that I have enjoyed but there are bits I was not so sure about.
Forget Me Not was extremely slow-paced, you all know that I love my books fast paced and full of action but I felt there was a lot of detail that is not really relevant other than to pad the story..
So Teddi’s and Calvin’s story started and revolves around the murder of Calvin’s reverend father by Teddi’s dad. Teddi end up being shipped to her grandparents, her sister flees to Europe and Calvin ends up in the orphanage. Teddi and Calvin are destined to be together and fall in love, and that is pretty much obvious so a lot of the storyline is around getting them together and overcoming the gossip of the “event”.
In terms of that part of the book, I do not have too much complaints, I think the portrayal of small town somewhat elitist mentality was nicely done. This is something I do not have much tolerance for, but luckily this is fiction so as annoying as I was at the town, it was expected.
The part I was not so so crazy about is that we had to wait forever to get to the mystery behind the event behind Calvin and Teddi’s parents. It took forever to get there, and to be honest at that point it really did not matter anymore; at least for me. Plus to be honest, it was so built up I imagine many things and I actually found the reality of the events anti-climactic.
For the time period, it is scandalous I would say; but considering that us the readers are not from that time period it felt like drama over nothing really. Now is a good time to ask myself if I am totally jaded.
Forget Me Not was really well written, just a bit too long and drawn in places. It felt nicely researched and a good representation of the era (30’s/early 40’s). Both Teddi and Calvin were well developed especially Teddi got a lot of focus. Though out of the 2, I liked Calvin best because out of the 2 he had it worse and turned out really well.
If you enjoy love stories, this is really a good one, Teddi and Calvin’s one was not an easy one though their love was always true, it is everything around it that is sometimes all over the place.
The ending is quite unexpected but at that point it did not matter, this is the part I am not crazy about though I enjoyed the book in the vast majority. This is Allison’s first novel so there is a lot of room to grow and refine her style into future work.
I do believe I will be following her future publication to see how it goes from here, but frankly, it is a good start and that is all that matters!
Author Bio:
Allison Whitmore started her first novel, Forget Me Not, one icy morning in her dorm room in Southampton, NY. After many years of teaching high school English, she came back to the novel to rewrite it. Allison comes from a family who loves history and enjoyed immersing herself in the research that brought Teddi and Calvin’s world to life. She lives in her hometown, Los Angeles, California. You can find her on Twitter @alli_whitmore and her website: allisonwhitmore.com.
Thanks for hosting today, Nadine! Glad you liked it overall! 🙂
it is a beautiful love story at the core and that is what mattered the most, at least to me!
Excellent review! This book sounds like such an interesting and intriguing read! Also, I really like the book cover! Looking forward to checking this book out!
Thank you Ally! It’s a great book for sure!