Forget Me Not: The hottest rom-com of 2023

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During the day: If you have a flexible schedule, you may find it helpful to take breaks during the day to read a book. How is Elliot so skilled and suave with sex when it's said he's only asked four people out (and who knows if he's even slept with them)??? If I misunderstood this about his character, please let me know. Elliot Bloom is a character who truly left a profound impact. Despite his outwardly closed-off and grumpy demeanor, which he seems to reserve for most of humanity, there's an exception—Ama. The depth of his affection for her is truly remarkable, and the lengths to which he goes for her are both heartwarming and genuinely touching. He's a character who evokes genuine admiration and sympathy, deserving nothing less than the entire world.

this is going to be a Forever favorite. I also think it convinced me to do a vow renewal somehow. **They have a relationship for a while, which ends kind of dramatically. The book is set a couple of years after the break-up, when Ama is hired by a celebrity to plan her wedding and is forced to work with Elliot again. This book was a light and straightforward read. It's about a simple plot with a bit of romance and a second chance for love. Elliot and Ama, who lost each other once, still have feelings. They're both afraid of commitment, but they decide to confront their fears for the sake of their emotions and try again. Thank you NetGalley for providing an eARC and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review! As always, all opinions are my own.⁠ I loved how Elliot was always there for Ama and helped her everytime. He was a florist but he was always ready to become her assistant to help her out. They never had the same views on the marriages and thats what led to their downfall and it broke my heart to see Elliot crying because he just wanted something more from Ama and she couldn't give it to him. I liked how Ama was the one to make everything right between them in the end and how she accepted her insecurities but was also ready to start something new with Elliot. A scorching hot debut rom-com you won’t want to miss in 2023. For fans of The Love Hypothesis and The Unhoneymooners Netgalley readers LOVE Forget Me Not:

Eighteen-year-old Mallory Greenleaf is no longer interested in chess, not since her hypercompetitive dad left—the game calls up painful memories. But she grudgingly agrees to play in a charity tournament as a favor to best friend Easton Peña. After she unexpectedly beats current world champion Nolan Sawyer, she’s offered a fellowship that will prepare her to play professionally. Even though Mallory doesn’t want to play anymore, she needs the money that winning would provide; she’s delayed college to support her family, since her mother is chronically ill with rheumatoid arthritis and is unable to work regularly. The more time she spends with Nolan, the more Mallory comes to like and respect him—and the more time she spends playing chess, the more she remembers how much she loved it. But when she learns that Nolan has been keeping a big secret from her, she isn’t sure if she’ll be able to move past it to build a relationship with him. Filled with the author’s signature humor, well-developed characters, and realistic conflicts, plus the fully realized setting of competitive chess, this captivating romance will delight teen readers as well as Hazelwood’s adult fans. Mallory and Nolan are both cued white; there is some racial diversity among the supporting cast. Mallory and Easton are queer. I did notice that Elliot could be excessively reserved, often hesitant to voice his needs even though he wanted to, fearing that it might upset Ama and lead to her leaving him. His love for her seemed boundless, which at times led him to make numerous sacrifices. It's a complex situation, but there are moments when it felt like he bore the weight of the relationship and perhaps didn't deserve some of the challenges Ama put him through. FORGET ME NOT is a second chance romance between Ama, a wedding planner that doesn't believe in marriage and florist Elliot. Ama is running her own wedding planning business after leaving a job with a more established wedding planning company. She's hired for a high profile wedding that takes a life of its own. Her clients already hired Elliot, not knowing their romantic past. I loved that the past was told through Elliot's POV because we get to understand the complicated feelings he has about taking over his family's flower shop. It also softens him a little because he is generally outwardly rude. And it gives us so much context as to why there's so much tension between them. In their first go around, their romance went from zero to sixty despite Ama's insistence to keep things casual. In the present, while its apparent they both still care for each other, it takes longer for them to confront their feelings and readers are the real winners of their journey. This books gives you all the drama of wedding day stress and joy while delivering a sexy story about two people who, deep down, are real romantics. with juxtaposing the events and memories i loved how subtly the author played the card of authenticity and realism with their relationship. i cried with Ama in present chapters and ached, hurt for Elliot in the past ones. Ama Torres loves being a wedding planner. But with a mother who has been married more times than you can count on your fingers, Ama has decided that marriage is not the route for her. But weddings? Weddings are amazing. As a small business owner, she knows how to match her clients with the perfect vendor to give them the wedding of their dreams. Well, almost perfect…

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Sometimes I feel like she blew into my life like a hurricane and barely left me a second to catch my bearings." A wedding is not a marriage. Marriages will never be perfect. They’re always a work in progress. But weddings? Weddings are just a moment in time, striving to be perfect.” It’s been years, and I can still tell you the number of days since she last needed me. Since I last held her through the night.❞

The overall writing was well done. I really loved Julie Soto's use of prose. She also writes stories and characters that you feel attached to but she does so in a way that's easy to read and follow along. m not quite sure what all consitutues a spoiler bc we all have different definitions so just be warned🙅‍♀️ While I liked Ama as a whole, I’m not the biggest fan of her general character type—down for a good time not a long time because love will never last as proven by parents, etc. Especially when she gave SUPER mixed signals and then got angry when Elliot was mixed up?? I mean part of it was on him because she was ready, ready to ruuuuuun from anything resembling commitment and he did know that from the start. This book was incredibly well written. Like, INCREDIBLY. I felt like I’d known the characters for years. This is a romance about the fear of falling in love, the fear of no guarantees, and being afraid to lose control. Will it be worth the leap?

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The ending was perfect. I liked how there was no Ama and Elliot wedding and how they were both taking their time to date each other and to know more about each other while making up for the lost time. <>But I do wish we get a bonus scene or something for their wedding and happily ever after.>

Ama is a wonderful wedding planner who left her previous job with the top wedding planning agency and has started a new path on her own. Her talent, attention to detail, and relatable personality make her stand out and that helped her land a high profile wedding. This is a larger scale than she has done but she vows to make it a day to remember. I think I can see myself rereading this. I hope Julie Soto has more books set in this world she’s created. It felt so comforting being here and I really want to see Ama and Elliot again. 😭Elliot Bloom is a popular florist that Ama used to work with all the time, but now refuses to. But when Ama books THE wedding of the year for influencer Hazel Renee and her fiancé, they are set on using Elliot’s company. Extrovert, funny and sunshine Ama. I loved her passion for wedding planning but at some point her whole personality was "wedding planning" and her longing for Elliot. I wish I got to know more about her character because I didn't feel connected to her the way I felt with Elliot. She had insecurities about marriage because of how her mother got married 16 times and everytime her mother left her marriage it broke something inside her. So Ama never wanted to get married. She loved hearing proposal stories but she never wanted a one for herself. And I get some people had their own fears related to marriage and I completely understand that about her but she always knew what Elliot wanted from her and I liked how she was clear about her insecurities and intentions towards marriage with him. But I hated how she blamed him for what happened to them. Both of them were at fault but for her it was Elliot who broke their relationship not her. Okay, a few things here. One, the book alternates between the past and the present, so you can see Ama and Elliot’s relationship progress in both timelines. The past is only told in Elliot’s POV, and the present is only told in Ama’s POV, which is SUCH AN EXPECTED BUT AMAZING CHOICE!!!!! 10/10. He is a florist who is the the biggest and the sweetest grump ever with his tattoos (i mean look at the cover) and brooding personality but he also had a soft and caring side. I liked Ama but I loved Elliot. He was a reserved person who takes time to open up to people. He fell first and harder for Ama. He always waited for the right time with Ama and then left heartbroken in the end. Elliot was a commitment type of guy who would one day settle and have a family and I hated how Ama broke his heart because of her insecurities about marriages. He helped Ama everytime he could, made sacrifices for her, and did everything he could to keep her with him. How many times I've seen him suppress his own wishes and desires because he only ever wanted Ama. He deserved so much better in this book. Somehow Julie Soto managed to rom-com up the second chance trope and capture the heartache of two exes forced to work together again while also writing a truly funny story about a wedding planner with dozens of ex-step-siblings who doesn't believe in marriage but has a career literally devoted to it. It didn't even need to have the second chance element to be an enjoyable book (not that I'd ever complain about that).