Remembrance

** spoiler alert ** In all honesty: I wasn't going to read this, much less buy it. I saw the cover a while back, and glanced at the summary. "Oh," I thought. "Taylor swift. Cool." And I went on with my day. But while I was on amazon buying new books ANYWAY a few weeks later, I looked at it and thought "Why not?"I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was super pleased.The third grade summary report would read: "A girl meets a new mysterious guy at school and falls in love."Face it, I wasn't good at summarizing in third grade. Because that describes a lot of books. Among them: The much debated 'Twilight'.This brings me to point one of what I like about this book.Point One: Madow writes about a real teenage girl; not a real "literary" teenage girl, who shrinks when the boy of her dreams (or memory) tries to ignore her. When *Spoiler alert from now to a while down* Drew starts his hot and cold act, Liz calls him on it and tells him to cut it out. I loved this, seeing as most books I read have the girl feeling insecure and moping about it.Point Two: Liz's loyalty to Chelsea is admirable. We've all heard of the girl code, but how often do you read it? She's head over heels in love with this guy, but her best friend wants to go out with him so Liz backs off.Point Three: I admire the way she snuck the ideas of previous lives well before it became obvious. I found myself understanding Drew's broodiness as frustration without having to be told "Hey, he knows something." It's almost masterful how Michelle snuck that in there.Few more things: I have a favorite line. It's not a gushy love line, though I had my share of favorites in that category. It's a line that I've thought many times myself."It [soccer] would be much more interesting if every so often, the ball spontaneously exploded."

Remembrance starts out with Lizzie, just your average teenager. She's been best friends with Chelsea since elementary school, Chelsea helped Lizzie come out of her shell so to speak. In fact Chelsea pretty much set her up with Jeremy, whom she's been dating since before 8th grade.Everything changes when the new guy, Drew Carmichael shows up. Lizzie & Drew have an immediate attraction that cannot be denied as soon as they meet. I was expecting some super swoon worthy romance right off the bat, I was surprised when that did not happen. Drew is super sweet one moment, and stand-offish the next, a little too hot & cold for my liking. So I asked myself, "Why is Drew so cold to Lizzie, what happened in their past together?" I mean he obliviously cares about her. Then he goes and starts dating Lizzie's best friend Chelsea!Everyone in Lizzie's life, besides her mom is so self absorbed that they don't see that Lizzie is going through a tough time. I liked her boyfriend Jeremy in the beginning, then when their relationship starts changing he turns into a total jerk. He takes Lizzie for granted, he doesn't realize her true worth, pretty much their whole relationship revolves around him. Jeremy is disappointed that their relationship is changing, he pretty much blames everything on Lizzie. Her best friend Chelsea just doesn't understand why, or try to understand for that matter, why Lizzie isn't absolutely infatuated with Jeremy. Lizzie is going through a turning point in her life, and I like how Lizzie stays strong and determined to find out what's going on with her visions of the past, she doesn't shy away from difficult situations. She's not afraid to take control of her life. I like how she stood up to Drew saying "Whatever exists between us is powerful enough to transcend time, but instead you ignore it."Overall this was fun read that was pretty quick paced. Imagine a modern day Pride & Prejudice with just a sprinkle of Twilight. I will most certainly read the rest of the series!Michelle was inspired to write Remembrance from watching Taylor Swift's music video Love Story, after reading this book then watching the video I had chills!Favorite Scene: There's a particular scene that sticks with me. Lizzie is trapped in a torrential downpour and Drew saves the day by showing to help Lizzie get out of the rain. It was a really sweet scene. :)

REMEMBRANCE is a story that catches my eye from the start. It has reincarnation, romance, parallels, and hints of something magical. Jane Austen's famed PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is mentioned many times throughout the book, and Drew Carmichael is very much like Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of the mentioned novel. Lizzie, the main character, is the nickname of Elizabeth Davenport. See the similarities here?To top it all off, Lizzie thinks a lot about Jane Austen's novel. Lizzie has taken a liking to it, and I can't help but be slightly amused (and excited) by all of the parallels Michelle Madow manages to pull off. The characters of this novel can't be any more similar in personality when it comes to the cast of the older novel. Even the circumstances are similar. Still, the sort-of retelling of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is very liking, unique, and captivating.Lizzie falls in love with Drew at first sight. Her connection is unmistakable and explosive, and she can't help but be drawn to the mystery and aura of Drew Carmichael. Drew, like I said before, is like Mr. Darcy. He is dating Lizzie's best friend, Chelsea. He can't help but be drawn towards Lizzie. He is hot and then cold. Though he does have some terrible (and wincing) moments, he does stand by Lizzie when no one else would.The main narrator, Lizzie is thrown for twist when she meets Drew. Slowly getting her memories of her past life back, Lizzie is confused between the past and the present. The times blur together, especially in Drew's presence. Despite her confusion and ignorance, she remains hopeful for the future.The reincarnation aspect of the novel should be expanded, and it is irritating how the story draws it out. (I wish Lizzie knows much more about her past right from the start.)The plot of REMEMBRANCE starts off slowly in the beginning. The preface sticks out like a sore thumb, and there are some grammar errors here and there throughout the book. The story really kicks off when Drew and Lizzie finally meet and hormones go into overtime. The ending of this novel provides many loose ends for a sequel. (Thank goodness that the sequel has already been released.)Overall, REMEMBRANCE is an entertaining book about second chances. It isn't without some supernatural and mystery. Reincarnation plays a big role in pushing forward the story's plot, and Drew (I nearly called him Mr. Darcy) is a charmer.Rating: Three out of Five

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Remembrance is a book that I think will appeal most to an audience who is young simply because age and life experience will impact a reader's perspective. As an adult reader, I saw this as a drama filled contemporary high school romance were there is little added by a past life experience. The love story didn't feel epic or important, and the past life is just a way to fuel the jealousy and love that is typically found at any high school at any time. Where I saw this as a low stakes story, a teen reader would probably believe the stakes are higher. Example - a hundred years ago, women couldn't just walk away from a family approved romance without the threat of losing everything - I get that, but in contemporary society, Lizzie's decisions about love will, at worst, cost her close relationships with friends who won't really matter after she leaves high school. As a teen, the thought of losing your childhood best friend is much more dramatic than it is to an adult who knows how fleeting those bonds are when life beyond high school starts. I didn't really care about these characters because I couldn't really see how who you date in high school was really a big deal, and every person in the story came across as generic, one dimensional and flat. Themes were those a reader might encounter in any teen romance. I liked the things that Lizzie slowly uncovered about her past life, but there really wasn't anything important about whether the scenario played out differently this time. There were no babies to save or evils of the world to prevent - she either got a happy life with the boy she felt connected to or not. Yes, there was some threat near the end, but it could have gone the other way without me really caring. I absolutely do not think that other readers will feel the same. I know some teen readers will see this as very romantic and engaging, but it fell flat for me. Language and situations are appropriate for middle school and beyond.

I found this novella among the free ebooks one day, and the cover was very intriguing so I decided to give it a read (more professional than the hum drum of most self published, low quality books). This author does a great job with dialogue and emotions, and possesses a rare quality of showing not telling. I really enjoyed the emotions that flow through this book. The two main characters really stand out with clear personalities as they struggle with their blooming romance in the heat of their final year of high school. Clearly edited and proofread, which is also rare to see these days, too.Do not let my 4 stars deter you from reading this entertaining story. The only reason it didn't capture 5 stars was a lack of depth in the historical flashbacks (but I'm a History and English professor, so I'm a big of a snob in that respect). I kept waiting for a dynamic explanation why the lovers were having flashbacks to the Victorian Era, and really wanted to see how their souls were connected. But it never came. There was literally no reason why they were having historical flashbacks except for a vaguely mentioned sort of reincarnation, but even that is never directly stated. I feel like this author didn't do enough research into being historically connected, but for what it's worth, I still think it was decently written.Would I buy another book from this author? Absolutely. Even with a faulty historical issue, I really enjoyed this YA story. It's very rare to see an unknown author who has complete control of characters and scenes. Check out Remembrance for a memorable story of two lovers and their entwined destiny.