Forget You
by Jennifer Echols
Release Date: July 20, 2010
Publisher: MTV Books
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 256
Source: Author
Interest: Author
Challenge: 10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit.
Buy the Book: Amazon
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There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four-year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. With her life about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon.
But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people—suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug.
This novel is hot. This novel is one of my all time favorite books. Honestly... I am at a loss for words. And that's not supposed to happen to me... right? I mean I'm supposed to be able to spout my undying love for novels that totally rock my socks off. I'm just having a hard time trying to compose my thoughts on something that is unlike anything I've ever encountered.
I loved Jennifer's novel Going Too Far, so when I saw the blurb for Forget You... I couldn't wait to read it. Luckily I received an advance readers copy and the day it arrived I devoured it in it's entirety. I simply couldn't put it down. And while I wasn't expecting it to exceed the magnificence of Going Too Far, it did... and then some. Writing this review actually makes me want to read it again...
There are things that I expect to be addressed when reading young adult literature, and there are things that I don't expect to see when reading young adult literature. And not just because there are things that people have decided may be too mature for young adults... like gasp... sex... but there are things that just aren't written about because it's taboo to talk about them period. It's like saying penis or vagina... god forbid you mutter those two words in public... like they are a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with those words! That being said, and as I'm finally getting to the point of this whole paragraph... there is nothing wrong with be comfortable with your body in a sexual manner... being a teen is a hard business, there isn't anything wrong with exploring your own body... and now I'm totally going off an a tangent here... but something that I really respected about this novel is that Jennifer tackled things in this novel that I wished someone would have had the guts to write about when I was a teen. And if you still haven't figured out what I'm talking about... I'm just going to lay it out for you. Masturbation. Yep, that's right. I said it... masturbation. Are you mature enough for it? I think that teens today are. I think teens today are a lot more intelligent and self aware than I was... I think they deserve a lot more credit than what we give them. And thank you Jennifer Echols for giving them the credit they deserve.
Now I'm sure I probably scared some of you away with the masturbation talk, but please don't think that's all this novel is about because it's not... it's a very very very minuscule part of the novel I mean you could read the novel and not even realize that aspect is even in there, and I really only mentioned it because... when I read something like "I hoped he couldn't tell I was still tingling and swirling from everything Doug and I had and hadn't done to each other. I hurried into my dad's house, past the cameras and into my room, to finish what we'd started." and then I think... did I just read what I think I did... and then read the stance again... and then realize I did read what I think I did... well it was just so freaggin' awesome to see that mentioned in a ya book. I just wanted to yell from my roof top: HELL YES JENNIFER ECHOLS, YOU ROCK!
And you can probably get from that little snippet that there is some serious sexual chemistry going on between the two main characters. Doug and Zoey. Did anyone else realize how totally alike these characters were or was it only me? They both have fathers that are not only assholes but they like to bully people into getting their way, their mothers are both absent from their lives for the most part... Doug's mother being deceased and then Zoey's mom being emotionally unavailable for her daughter because she's in a mental institution... these two need each other more than they could ever possibly fathom.
Zoey comes across as a bitch... but there are some serious underlying issues there, which I think are apparent in the novel... she's trying to cling to the 'normal' or what she thinks is normal... what she thinks is the perfect image that she has to uphold... this is where Brandon comes into play. She's not so stupid that she doesn't realize the guy is the biggest player and that a one night stand with her suddenly makes him her boyfriend... but he's going to make Zoey look perfect, look put together and that's what she needs right now. She needs that image to feel sane. (What she really needs is DOUG! She just doesn't know it yet!) And then Doug, the other piece to this puzzle... and really the piece of the puzzle that Zoey needs because he is the only one that knows what happened the night of the accident. Alluring because of his imperfections, and his dark past... that no one really knows the truth about, he is the ying to Zoey's yang.
The writing is off the wall... it's so simple to read, yet it's incredibly complex. Yes, I realize that, that makes no sense what-so-ever... so why don't I just say that it was magnificently well written. You know as much about that night as Zoey does... which is a big fat nothing. I don't know what kept me flipping the pages... the anticipation of finding out what really happened that night, or the if and when Doug and Zoey would finally get together. Not to mention Zoey's personal growth... finally coming to terms with the imperfection with her life... it was amazing.
And I think that's all I'm going to say about that.
Read it.