So I joined this awesome little challenge on twitter called #ARCAugust, and basically for the month of August I’m going to be reading and reviewing some of the ARCs in my backlist. I would love to say I’d get through all of them, but that seems highly unlikely, so I’m just aiming for 4-5. We’ll see how I do!
First up on the list is a freaking delight of a novella: FORGET ME NOT by Em Shotwell. Some of you might remember how much I loved BLACKBIRD SUMMER, and this novella is a prequel focused on two of my favorite side characters, Tallulah’s grandparents, and how they fell in love.
All of the cool gifted mythology and small town world building was still here in this novella, but set in the Vietnam era during the draft which added an edge of desperation to the love affair, I think.
And, added bonus for me personally: we got an epistolary love story. Seriously I LOVE the whole idea of love letters, and letters in general really (I do some kind of letter writing or pen pal challenge at least once a year) and I’ve always thought it a shame that I was born in an era when letters are all but fading to memory.
Reading the letters between these two while Rex is away at war was both heartwarming and heart wrenching, and feeling the love in those words made it all the harder when things go wrong later due to the war and PTSD.
Seriously just read/preorder/whatever you can do to get your hands on this – it was an absolute delight, and to make it even better, Em’s donating her royalties to Operation Homefront. What's not to love?
So preorder it here if you can & let me know what you think after you read it! https://smile.amazon.com/Forget-Me-Not-Blackbird-Summer-ebook/dp/B071SFYYZH/