Tough Critic Book Reviews: Review: Forget You by Jennifer Echols

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. Feeling like her life is 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.

This was my first Jennifer Echols book and I absolutely adored it! Once I started it, I could not put it down; partly because I was chasing a missing puzzle piece the author constantly teased me with and partly because of the intense love/hate relationship of Zoey and Doug. What I liked best about Zoey was that she was real; she wasn't your picture perfect leading lady; she had issues and at times drove me insane. It was beautiful the way the author developed their relationship, yeah it was screwed up, but that's real life. This book had edge which included some pretty intense sexual content for a YA novel, but it fit with the real life tone of the book. With the risk of sounding like a cliche, its a TRUE (emphasis on the word true) coming of age story of love, loss, and redemption.