Blog Tour and Giveaway: Remembering Us: Stacey Lynn
Remembering Us
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My life was perfectly mapped out for me since before the day I was born. I followed it, begrudgingly, because it’s what was expected.
And then one day, everything changed.
I woke up.
Different. Independent. Free from all the rules that had surrounded me.
Only I have no idea how I got to where I am. I have no memory of graduating college. No memory of Adam, the boyfriend I live with.
He loves me. And I love him. At least that’s what everyone says.
Except when my memories return to me as dreams, I see a different man than the one everyone claims is perfect for me.
He terrifies me. He makes my heart race and he makes me feel things I’ve never felt before.
I have no idea if I want to welcome the emotional roller-coaster that his piercing brown eyes and messy black hair puts me on every time I get a glimpse of him, or if I want to run back to the safe shelter of the scripted life-plan that used to be mine.
He
stands up from the table and walks toward me in the kitchen. His nostrils flare
and I know what he’s thinking about because I’m thinking the same thing. The
way his touch felt like fire through my dress. The way I wanted him. The way I
wanted his fingers to dig into my skin and pull me into him. God, I felt it all
in my dream and even now standing in front of him, I don’t understand the
physical pull he has on me.
Like
I’m drawn to him, whether I want to be or not.
“Tell
me what else you remembered, Amy. Tell me what happened in the dream before
that part.”
Amy has recently lost her memory of the last two years which include memories of her boyfriend Adam and their life together. And unfortunately her memories are revealing themselves to her in her dreams, but they are not always good ones and sometimes make her not trust Adam.It's been weeks since I woke up from my coma, and I don't remember anything more than the fact that I live with a stranger and I don't like him when I dream.
Amy is lost, confused, and disoriented by her life. She remembers who she was two years ago who is not the same person that she has turned into. She is trying to reconcile who she remembers with who she apparently is now. And she is living with a man who obviously loves this new version of her. It is frightening, tense, and nerve wracking for her. She pushes him away and is wary and distrustful.
The two sides of me are confusing. One I don't know, and one I remember but I'm not sure I like.
The girl I've become with Adam is so far apart from the girl I remember being. And everyone refuses to give me straight answers of how I got from point A to Q.
My heart just broke for Adam. He is in such a horrible position of loving someone who only has flashes of memory of him and ones that were coming often had negative connotations. Adam is really struggling with the loss of trust, intimacy, and their relationship. She keeps him at arm's length and feels he is a stranger. It is frustrating and disappointing for him. As the story goes on we see even more of his fears, vulnerability, and his painful past. And just how important Amy has been in his life. He tries to be patient and supportive but sometimes it really takes a toll on him.
"Stop trying so hard to remember. Stop thinking and just feel. Feel me, Amy. It's what we've always done best. "
Their story slowly unfolds through her dreams, memory flashes, and stories told by friends and Adam. Some of the images are confusing and negative. Some of them are steamy. But we learn of things just as she does gradually and out of order. This is about a woman trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs. And it is also a journey of two people trying to find their way back to each other, to trust, and to feel. It was painful, difficult, emotional, and challenging. But it was also sweet, tender, and moving. I came to love this couple and found myself both wishing that it would resolved faster so they could find happiness but then slower because I did not want it to end.
I enjoyed their friends Kelsey and Zander. They provided support and comic relief. Zander also provided more of a window to Adam's past. Kelsey did the same for Amy and was the one person she felt most comfortable with. Her coworker and boss Preston was quite vibrant and fun as well.
This was an engaging, unique, and beautifully written story. It flowed flawlessly between present and flashbacks in Amy's point of view. The author captured the anxiety, fear, mistrust, confusion, disappointment, and longing that Amy felt. The way that her past was revealed it was hard to know what to really think about Adam sometimes. There were definite contradictions and secrets and it all just kept building up. There was so much tension and anticipation. We saw Amy's opinions and feelings slowly change over time. And we saw Adam's struggles and attempts at improving the situation. The characters had complicated back stories, challenges, and real depth to them. They were real and not perfect. They made mistakes, but also cared about those important to them. Their group was a diverse, but tight pseudo-family.
I really felt an emotional connection and thoroughly enjoyed this intriguing stand-alone story. It was about healing and about finding the life path that feels right and people to share it with It had me tense, anticipating, frustrated, emotional, tearful, swooning, and sighing. It is a fantastic stand-alone story, but I am also intrigued by Zander and his troubled past and would love to see a prequel with Zander and Kelsey.
Thanks to Stacey Lynn for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
What do you do when you can't remember the last two years of your life, and during those two years you grew into yourself to the point where without those memories you no longer recognize yourself? This is where Amy finds herself after a hiking accident leaves her with no memory of the last two years. She doesn't remember the last two years of college. Moving out of her parent's house. Meeting and falling in love with her boyfriend. Adam. The man that her best friend swears is the perfect man for her, but she has no memory of knowing at all, let alone being in love with him. No memory of changing her circumstances from privilege and wealth to a tiny apartment with mismatched furniture and a job at a coffee shop.
Adam is a man with a hard exterior. He was a party boy with a string of women a mile long in college. He is not even someone Amy remembers from college, let alone remembers living with or sleeping with for the last two years. But the way he looks at her and stands by her, even as she can see his frustration at her lack of memories hints to another side of him.
Amnesia sucks. Remembering Us is told from Amy's perspective which means we don't really know anything about the pervious two years either. There is such a strong sense of confusion and unbalance. She is trying so hard to reconcile what she remembers with where she actually is, and that's a pretty big challenge. She literally has no idea who she has become and how she got to this point. As a reader, I felt her disorientation as if I was living that life along with her. Then her memories start coming back, but only bits and pieces and none of them are good, and things get even more confusing. Her parents. A night where she is bleeding and Adam is beating another man. As each new memory surfaced, it only fed the sense of confusion and unease felt by Amy.
Zander and Kelsey are a great pair of sidekicks. Having been around Amy and Adam, and each of their best friend, they are both a source of support and information for Adam and Amy. It is obvious that Zander has Adam's back, and Kelsey is always watching out for Amy. But when push comes to shove, they all are there for each other when needed, just like best friends should, whether it's a shoulder to cry on, or that extra push to do something hard.
Stacey Lynn did a fantastic job of developing the strong confusion that Amy is feeling. I loved that it left me feeling off balance every time I had to set it down. I would come back and instantly feel that disorientation again. Amy and Adam got under my skin. Everything about this book kept me reading (and hesitant to put the book down): the pacing, the plot, the main characters, side characters, and great sense of tension.
Thanks to Stacey Lynn for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
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Amazon Bestselling Author Just One Song and Just One Week Don't Lie to Me, released on July 15, 2013 Remembering Us - coming January, 2014
I am a wife, a mom, and a writer. I can often be found curled up on the couch with a good book, or obsessively eating Skittles in a very complicated and organized manner. No joke.
1 comments
Phenomenal review! Thx for making me a believer. I am getting this book immediately! I love these love stories where someone forgets and they find their way back to each other.
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