Michelle Madow

"Love Story" by Taylor Swift is one of my favorite songs/music videos. Actually I'm rather fond anything Swift puts out, so it wasn't hard for me to decide to want to check this book out. Since I'm also a sucker for reincarnated love stories it wasn't a hardship for me to then want to read this either. I tried not to let either bias me when reading however.

In many ways REMEMBRANCE will engage and captivate a reader plus there's a lot to recommend in that Madow doesn't make Drew mysterious or interesting by making him kind of wicked or slightly bad, nor does she make Lizzie into a milquetoast who needs to grow up. I think any girl who reads this would be able to relate to Lizzie's predicament. With a boyfriend who seems to be growing distant with every minute that goes by and a new guy who she feels a connection to, it's understandable why Lizzie would feel at a loss. Even without the past life flashes high school dating politics are difficult to navigate quite frankly.

I think where some of the disconnect for me began was with Lizzie's best friend Chelsea. It's not that I begrudge Chelsea her feelings of jealousy or resentment with Lizzie when it looks like Drew (who begins dating Chelsea) is paying more attention to Lizzie then herself. Or that I wouldn't react the same way when told the guy I was emotionally involved with really only dated me because of my best friend. It's more that I never got the impression Chelsea and Lizzie were such good friends to begin with.

It seemed that almost from the first pages Chelsea had something to say about Lizzie. Whether it was her clothing, or her musings about Jeremy (Lizzie's boyfriend) growing so distant or her family, Chelsea didn't seem to have the time for it. And then she quickly started going off the reservation when it came to even the most innocent of moments between Lizzie and Drew. Did she not want them to get along? Was she that insecure? Though to be fair Lizzie spent a good chunk of time resenting Chelsea for having Drew as a boyfriend (as if it's her fault?).

Some of it seemed to be explained away by 'All this happened before' reincarnated history repeats itself talk. Old feelings and impressions pass from one life to the next, old feuds and animosities pass from one life to the next (which isn't quite how reincarnation works) that sort of thing. And I'm not quite sure I agree with the notion that in order to have her great love (Drew), Lizzie had to lose Chelsea as a friend (which is kind of how it sounded).

The uncertainty and frustration of dating in high school was part of why I enjoyed this book however. Madow paced the book well and didn't make anyone into a victim (well other than of fate). Jeremy, who was a jerk at first, and Lizzie's relationship is given a good amount of history so we can see that they just weren't meant for each other, but kept trying because they felt obligated to. And even if Drew and Lizzie were 'fated' to be together, neither was enthused about it at first. Drew is kind of like 'let me live how I want to live' and Lizzie is dead certain she should make things work with Jeremy.

I did find the ending obstacle a bit meh. I almost wish that it had come earlier and instead of reacting the way she did it drove Lizzie a little crazy. Her sudden arbitrary refusal to distinguish the past from the present was forced feeling.

Review originally posted at Night Owl Reviews… (more)

Subtlety is a foreign concept to this author.
I am usually a sucker for (teenage) angst if it is done well but here the angsty romance is as delicate as a brick to the face.

This book is filled with tired and bad YA clichées but there wasn't any particularly bad section that stood out.

The MC in particular was kind of annoying but I am hesitant to blame the author because teenagers really can be that contradictory and volatile.

The only action is at the very end and serves as the climax. Sadly, even though the book was already mediocre at best up to this point, the action scenes are by far the biggest weakness of the book.
It's a collection of lame and cheesy clichées and all the classic bad action tropes.

The one thing that is surprisingly well done (at least as far as I can judge from a single Despite being a motley collection of all the fantasy and urban fantasy tropes out there it all worked surprisingly well together.
The world didn't feel confused or inconsistent but judging from the rest of the writing this might look very different if I had read the sequels.
I won't continue the series so I can't really judge that.
There just isn't anything here that captured my interest.… (more)

When I started reading this book I wasn't sure what to expect as the cover doesn't really give any hints and now that I've finished it, the cover makes less sense.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, it was a nicely laid out storyline, and made me feel like it could be real life. My only issues was with the transition from introducing the characters and story to the "quest" so to speak. It bothered me how they never went back to the teacher to discuss it and just went off to fight the unknown I guess.

Definitely a great read, and look forward to reading the next in the series. The characters were complex and all had their own finding themselves drama and faults.… (more)