BOOK REVIEW: Forgotten by Cat Patrick

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Cat Patrick's debut novel, Forgotten, from Hip Scouts.


Warning:  Spoilers may follow.


This book is about fifteen-year-old London, who can remember the future, but not the past.  Every night, her memory resets, and the only way she has to know about the previous day is to read her notes about the events that transpired.  Then, London starts having a recurring memory about a funeral, which starts around the same time that she starts dating Luke, the new kid at school.  London must make some difficult decisions in order to better understand this memory, her past, and her future with Luke.


I really enjoyed this book, although it was a lot different than I expected it to be.  From the title and the description, I thought it would be a very fluffy, "chick flick" sort of story.  I was very wrong!  While those aspects were definitely a part of the plot, the main piece was a lot more psychological and required much more thinking.  This actually came as a pleasant surprise to me.  I like not knowing exactly what is going to happen next in a story, and that was the case with Forgotten, for sure.  On that note, however, nothing that happened was completely unexpected.  The sequence of events all made sense, it was just not necessarily what I saw coming.


I do have to comment on the fact that the cover image shown here is not the same cover as is on the ARC I read.  The cover of my copy is a lot more flirty, with playful shadows and a more comical font.  I think that in this case, the design of the cover definitely would influence my preconceptions of the plot.  I guess the fact that the cover of my copy sported pink butterflies, versus the actual cover with cracked, ominous-looking block letters, changed my expectation of the story.  However, after seeing both covers I think that the one pictured in this blog post (which is the actual cover that will be printed, as far as I can tell) fits the book much better.


All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a page-turner novel.  I finished the book in three days, and it only took me that long because I started reading it right before I wanted to go to sleep!  When I finally had some free time during the day, I spent upwards of three hours straight finishing the book because I just could not put it down!  There was no good stopping point, because the story was so action-packed.  With all of the surprises Cat Patrick has put into each chapter, this book can be a quick read if you want it to be, or a slow, analytical story on the other hand.  Either way, I'm sure you will enjoy reading Forgotten, which will be released on June 7, 2011.