Review: Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Thanks again to Girls Without a Bookshelf for including me in this UK Book Tour :)
Synopsis: From Good Reads
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. With her life 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.
 
Review:
Written in first person narrative, the reader is thrown directly into Zoey's life. I have to admit I didn't really like Zoey at the start of the story. I found her quite shallow, as if she thought of herself above the rules that apply to everyone else. She is quick to believe gossip and rumours which makes her completely paranoid when she is in the position of having something to hide.
 
It was only as the story progressed and Zoey looks back at events in her life that I could appreciate the barrier/facade she has created for herself. Her mother has instilled in her the notion that people judge you solely on outward appearance and if you project the right appearance then problems disappear into the background. We all know this doesn't work and Zoeys mom's nervous breakdown just emphasised the point that you cant hide away from problems as they will just fester and escalate.
 
I found myself really caring for Zoey, although she had lost her memory it was as if her eyes had been opened to the whole ugly truth for the first time. It really brought out some strong emotions in me as I was reading it.
 
It is always a shock for a child to see their parents as just people with faults the same as everyone else rather than the idolised image of mom and dad. Being from a divorced family myself, I think it is a dream of every child of divorced parents that they get back together, even if they know deep down the reality of that particular scenario would be worse than the divorce itself.
 
Some of Zoeys actions were questionable before the memory loss but nevertheless understandable. You really feel as if she was trying to distance herself from the traumatic events in her life by giving herself another point of focus. Why she picked Brandon for this is still beyond me, was she really naive enough to think that she could change him.
 
The chemistry between Zoey and Doug was HOT, HOT, HOT. I completely loved everything about him. The parallels between Zoeys father and Doug's were ingenious, both were bullies, the difference being that at least Zoey had her Mum to turn to. I could completely relate, my father is a bully who likes to belittle people. I guess one of the reasons I read YA is that I have 'issues' of my own and reading about them in other people's lives and their ways of dealing helps me get some perspective *enough of the sharing* :) I really felt as if it was a karma sort of thing between Zoey and Doug; they were meant for each other but life had got in the way only to give them a second chance years later.
 
For me, by Zoey losing her memory she was able to find herself.
 
I loved this book and I highly, highly recommend it. It was a wonderfully quirky road to self discovery and first love. AWESOME!!!!!!