Review : Forget-Her-Nots
Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White
Pages : 384
Genre : YA, fiction
Stand alone
My Rating : 
What it’s about :
Laurel is still grieving her mother when she notices there’s something unique about her; flowers make her feel things, things that other people don’t seem to notice. By offering them to the right person, she can also influence their life.
Investigating the source of her power, Laurel discovers she might have inherited her abilities from her family. And as her power grows stronger, Laurel struggles to control it and protect it from some greedy friends…
My Thoughts :
I had few expectations for this novel; I had heard little about it prior to reading it, so I wasn’t sure what the consensus was. I’m glad I did, as it turned out to be a very pleasant novel which stood out from most paranormal YA novels I usually read. I even made a list to explain this :
Things paranormal YA novels usually have, that you won’t find in Forget-Her-Nots :
- Constant Life or Death situations
- Teen aiming to save the world from doom with newly found superpower
- Hot and Steamy romance that leaves place to nothing else
So for me, these are all points in favor of the book. Though I have loved books that used this formula, I do find a lot of them tired and always enjoy being taken out of this comfort zone to explore new ideas. Thumbs up to Forget-Her-Nots for stepping out of the mold on these parts. It’s refreshing to have a story that is not all doom and gloom, even though Laurel was going through some difficult things in her life.
This being said, a few things didn’t work as good for me. Laurel felt a little young to me so I had a more difficult time to connect with her. Her grief was, surprisingly, the thing I related to the most, even though I haven’t lived a loss such as hers. The pace was also uneven, sometimes too slow. I don’t believe you have to put your characters in life or death situations to create suspense and hook your reader, but you need to have a general sense of direction. At some point, I wasn’t sure where this was going or what the plot was, and the story lost my interest a little.
In the end, I was pleased with Laurel’s story even though it won’t be a favorite of mine. There was a fun cast of characters, a cute romance that didn’t took over the story and an interesting idea. I love the last few chapters and the conclusion though, and learning about the flowers was fun. I had heard of the language of flowers before but not with as much details. It sure made me want to find out more!
It sounds pretty good even with the uneven pacing. I love the cover.
I’m very into flowers and have been learning more about them as time goes on — this sounds like a pleasant read.
This is definitely a scenario I haven’t heard before – feeling things from flowers. I think had I just picked this one up and read that, I would have put it down. I’m glad I read your review though! It does sound like a cute read and I’m glad that it breaks the mold so many books seem to fall into. Also, the cover is great!
I hadn’t heard of this book before, but I love the cover, and the plot involving the flowers sounds interesting. I think I would have also been a bit bothered by the seemingly aimless span of the plot, but like you, I probably would have given the book the benefit of the doubt and continued reading. It sounds like this was a quiet and thoughtful read, and I am glad that you enjoyed it for the most part. Great review today!