Wednesday Reads: Forget You

Forget You by Jennifer Echols was awesome. It's a "romantic drama" and I thought from the genre I would hate it. Soap Opera for teens, right? Wrong! It was beautifully pieced together and I loved all the characters and interactions.

Synopsis:

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. With her life 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 Sentence: "Every strong swimmer has a story about nearly drowning. This is mine." Compelled to read yet?

Beefs: One aspect about the main character is that she is a swimmer, and all of her friends are also on the swim team. It's a nice change from cheerleaders and it provides a built-in community. I would have liked to have seen more of Zoey's swimming--at the beginning she mentions that she isn't the strongest swimmer on the team and towards the end she decides she's going to try harder to be a better swimmer. I wanted more of this internal development. It's not a sports book, but it's an aspect of the character that was intriguing. Not that this detracted from the novel in any way. Maybe I need to go start reading sports books? Haha.

Brownie Points: Oh my. Where to start? The interactions between the characters? The secondary characters? How much of an ass her father is? Zoey's quirks? The twists and turns? The beginning? The middle? The end? The voice? Have I left anything out? Haha.

Recommendation: I won't recommend it to EVERYONE, only because I know a lot of you won't go read it because it's "drama". But I dare you to go pick it up. I double doggie dare you.

Would I represent it? Yes. I'm officially looking for "romantic dramas."

Happy reading!