Kid Konnection: Forgotten & Giveaway

Every Saturday, I host a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. This week, I'm going to share with you a new Young Adult book with a very interesting premise...

Summary: Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future. -- Little Brown

I'm usually more interested in reality-based books, but the idea behind the new Young Adult novel FORGOTTEN by Cat Patrick most definitely captured my attention. In fact, I thought the premise behind this book was amazing. London, a fairly typical high school student by all accounts, is leading a secret life. She wakes up each morning with no memory of her past -- kind of like an ongoing case of amnesia. That in itself is a pretty interesting concept, but what makes FORGOTTEN's premise even more incredible is that London can "remember" what's going to happen to her in the future! Crazy, right?

So.... London had to constantly keep a notebook of what occurred each day because she obviously wasn't able to remember what happened the day before. With the help of her notebook and her future memories, she almost lead a normal life -- well at least to outsiders. Only her mother and her best friend really knew what was going on. I can't imagine the pressure of trying to keep everything straight!

(As an aside: I admit that it took me a few chapters to truly understand how London's mind worked and I found myself re-reading a few parts just to keep things straight. It is a very unusual concept. I definitely don't think it as a fault of Ms. Patrick's though. I just had a hard time picturing how she managed her life.)

I enjoyed FORGOTTEN, but I'm not sure that I loved the entire book as much as I loved the concept of the story. What I did really like about FORGOTTEN, though, was the character of London and I thought the author did a wonderful job of developing her character. In fact, I think teen girls will find that she is a realistic character; and despite her "condition," they might even find themselves relating to her. She had many of the typical issues that young teens have today like problems with friends, school and guys. But then she had that whole memory loss/gain problem on top of that. As if being a teen isn't hard enough today?

FORGOTTEN was a very unusual (and even uncomfortable) read for me, although I mean that in a good way. I don't know if it's because I am a mom, but my heart just broke for London -- over and over again. She was in such an awful position, not only because she couldn't remember the past but also because she knew what was coming in the future. When London started receiving some weird and disconcerting "memories," she began discovering things about her past (and future) that were very unsettling. In addition, she wonders if she has the power to affect future events as well as the pressure that goes along with that.

FORGOTTEN would make a wonderful discussion book, especially for mother/daughter book clubs. The book is definitely a page turner and I do believe that tweens and teens will love it. In addition to having a great story and a great main character, there are some interesting themes to discuss -- namely what would it be like knowing your future (and not your past.) Some of the other topics that I'd like to further explore include mother/daughter relationships, family dynamics, honesty, memory, obligations, friendship, peer pressure, trust, and secrets.

FORGOTTEN has one of the most unique premises that I've encountered in my reading in recent memory. It's also a well written story with some wonderful characters. I recommend it to fans of Young Adult fiction including teens and their moms.

Giveaway alert: I have two copies of FORGOTTEN to share with two lucky readers. To enter, just fill out the form below before July 8th at 11:59 p.m. ET. I will randomly select and notify the winners the following day. Contest is open to those of you with U.S. addresses. Good luck!



Thanks to Big Honcho media for providing a copy of this novel.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!