Forget Me Not: Book 1
Publication Date: August 22, 2022
How can you know who you really are if you can’t remember your past?
Wanda Dellas is living someone else’s life: that’s the sense she’s had since a mysterious accident robbed her of her long-term memory. Lost and barely scraping by, Wanda cleans offices at night in order to support her young daughter.
Then Wanda sees a news report about a presumed dead businesswoman, Claire Stanbrick. Bad enough that Claire bears an uncanny resemblance to Wanda. But it turns out Claire went missing around the same time as Wanda’s accident, too. Plus, she can’t shake the sense that Claire’s husband Jack, who’s serving time in prison for Claire’s murder, is innocent. And she’s beginning to develop feelings for him. But which feelings are real and which are just figments of her fractured memory?
Answers to the past often come at a price.
As Wanda learns more about Claire, she realizes Claire didn’t have the picture-perfect life Wanda imagined . . . a fact someone following her is determined to keep a secret. And the more Wanda discovers, the more she faces new dangers that threaten her life . . . or is it Claire’s?
A fractured memory and a lost identity. In Forget Me by Lisa Sherman, Wanda Dellas must come to terms with who she really is, and finding out the truth comes at a cost even she couldn’t imagine.
I love a good mystery. Literally, 90% of my to-be-read pile is in this genre! One of my favorite things is trying to figure out the villain as soon as possible. To me, a great mystery is one you may be able to figure out, but that leaves you questioning yourself until the very end.
Forget Me had potential. It had a good premise, and the characters were likable. It pulled me in quickly, and the fast pace continued throughout the book. But for me, I could not see past glaring plot holes and a bit too much telegraphing for my taste. Here is a tip: if you are going to make DNA a plot device later in the book, don’t make it something that should have and would have been done at the beginning of the book. If two women are working at the same place that go missing on the same day and look almost identical, police would double check DNA before just assuming the person they found is the person her husband says she is.
I also struggled with the “twist” ending. Twists are great. Did I see this one coming 100 miles away? Yes. But my biggest gripe is that you need to make the twist understandable. If you write a red herring into the story, explain why that person is not actually who you thought they were. You cannot just say, “Well, they did a lot of shady stuff, but ignore that because I like this other person as the villain instead because no one would expect it.” Your audience is smart, or they would not have picked up your book.
I hate writing less than positive reviews. I know every single author puts their heart and soul into every word on the page. But I feel it is also essential to share opportunities for improvement with reviews so the author can grow. Sherman has potential as a good author, and I hope by receiving the feedback in all her reviews, her next book will be the best product she can put out there.
Lisa has always had a passion for stories and the fictional worlds created by her favorite authors. Her love of words led her to pursue a BA in English Literature as an undergraduate. Her interest in jurisprudence led her to law school, where she attained her Juris Doctor degree. Later, Lisa rounded out her love of writing by obtaining an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University. Additionally, she is a book reviewer for Windy City Reviews through the Chicago Writers Association.
Lisa has always been fascinated with the “why” behind people’s actions. There is nothing that gets her juices flowing like trying to determine what makes someone act the way they do. As a writer of psychological thrillers and women’s fiction, she hopes readers will enjoy getting a sneak peek into her characters’ motivations, especially when faced with challenging or extraordinary situations.
When she is not deciphering the inner workings of her fictional characters, you can either find her curled up on the couch with a good book and a cup of hot tea or catching a show in Chicago’s vibrant theater scene.
