Book Review: Forgotten

This is a pretty negative book review. I, in no means, am intending to bash the author, or anything like that. The purpose of this review is just to share my opinions with other people, and that is all :)

Author: Cat Patrick

Pages: 320

Year Published: 2011

My Rating: 1.5/5 stars

Quick synopsis from Goodreads:                          Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come. When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

When I found this book at the library, I thought I had discovered a hidden gem. The premise looked ever so fascinating and original, the cover was really well-done and fit with the theme, and the book felt like it was brand new (something pretty darn special if it comes from the library). Alas, I was wrongly mistaken, I had not discovered anything close to gold, I had only discovered pyrite, "fool's gold". Along with pyrite, the outside of this book looked ever so genuine, real, and amazing, but what lay inside just did not do the exterior justice.

One thing that aggravates me when reading a book is when the synopsis does not go along with the actual plot. That was the case in Forgotten. And to add another layer of aggravation: the plot made little sense. The author was always switching to one subject to another, leaving loose ends hanging, or starting up new subjects/events that were completely unnecessary. I mean, you know a plot is bad when you are questioning the very purpose of this book.

And let me tell you, Forgotten took insta-love to a whole new level. Since London always forgets the day she has lived, she also forgets about her boyfriend, Luke. So to remember him, she writes notes about him, and what they have done together. I do not know how London manages to repetitively fall madly in love with him EVERY SINGLE DAY just by relying on the notes that she has wrote. It's completely unrealistic, and anyways, their relationship had no chemistry at all. I'm sorry London, but saying that he's hot and that he draws ears and that he is "such a good kisser" does not make me feel like he's a guy worth swooning for.

Another problem (out of the millions) that I had with this book was the incapability to connect with the characters. I absolutely felt no sort of sympathy for them, and honestly, they were kind of fake. And all their conversations just felt a little awkward. Something deep within this book just failed to click, and the result from it came in the form of badly crafted characters.

And goodness, was this book horribly structured... There were just too many subjects overlapping with each other, creating a plot that was confusing to read and almost impossible to like. A lot of events that happened in this book were basically without any explanation, and lacked realism.

Ultimately, Forgotten unfortunately suffered the sad faith of a book wasted of its potentials.