[LBY]∎ Download Forget You Know Me A Novel Jessica Strawser 9781250184467 Books

Forget You Know Me A Novel Jessica Strawser 9781250184467 Books

Download As PDF : Forget You Know Me A Novel Jessica Strawser 9781250184467 Books

Forget You Know Me A Novel Jessica Strawser 9781250184467 Books

I preordered Forget You Know Me. I had read her two previous books and enjoyed both. I felt that Not That I Could Tell was even better than her first and felt sure that Forget You Know Me would build on the storybuilding skills that were growing stronger with each book. Sadly, as intrigued as I was with the beginning of Forget You Know Me, I wasn't as engaged with the rest of the story. It isn't any lack of writing skill on Ms. Strawser's part. Her fluid writing and ability to make me 'see' the scene are just as good with this book. I think the problem was I didn't like either Molly or Daniel. Since Molly's story is the centerpiece of the story, I was left to read only to find out the answers to what was really going on.
I do want to add that Ms. Strawser has the ability to peel away the facades of her characters to find the good and bad underneath. And she also is adept at showing how little lies can have disastrous results. These two aspects of her storytelling remind me of Liane Moriarty. And even though this cast of characters was not my cup of tea, I will definitely read Ms. Strawser's next novel.


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Forget You Know Me A Novel Jessica Strawser 9781250184467 Books Reviews

Admittedly, I think "Forget You Know Me" will be my last Jessica Strawser novel. I don't seem to enjoy them very much and perhaps it's time for me to move on from trying to give them a shot. In the third novel from the author, Molly and Liza have been friends for ages but after Liza moves away from Cincinnati to Chicago and Molly settles into married with children life, well, the two drift apart. After many re-scheduled and cancellations, the two finally agree to a date and time. During their Skype call, an event occurs, setting into motion a series of events there's no coming back from.

I felt like this book didn't know what it wanted to be. It had a suspenseful beginning, what with the introduction of the masked intruder and then the fire, both events I incorrectly assumed were connected. The plot itself was disjointed, with the subplots ultimately not connecting. While Strawser's writing is very good, I found it difficult to care about the characters. There were too many instances where the characters fell into classic tropes. Molly, the harried housewife hiding bills from Daniel, her husband. Daniel, burying the company's work secrets. Liza, the friend who tries to do too much and is secretly an annoyance to Daniel.

This novel will be released on February 5th, 2019, from St. Martin's Press. Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an Advanced Reading Copy.
"Forget You Know Me" is a cross between a thriller (first half) and women's fiction (second half). We begin with two friends, Molly and Liza, who were die hard BFFs until life got in the way. Molly now has two young children and lives a life with chronic pain, most of it confirmed by doctors, but she is unable to find treatments that work. She is willing to spend any amount of money on something that might work in an effort to get her life back. This has led to increasing debt that she is hiding from her husband, who has no empathy for her or her pain. Liza moved to Chicago and is living a somewhat lonely single life- she has her good friend, Max- a date which turned into friendship, but she doesn't particularly like her demanding and low-paying job and her dates have turned up nothing good lately- so she's gone on a dating hiatus.

They are talking via videochat while Molly's husband is out of town and her kids are sleeping. When the toddler, Nori, calls for her, Molly leaves the computer open and goes to settle her down again. Liza is waiting for her friend to return when she sees a man in a ski mask enter her house, startle at the computer, and shut it down. Liza immediately freaks out and calls the police and her friend. The police go over there, but Liza won't feel OK until she can hear from Molly's lips that she is alright. However, Molly won't return her calls and goes to sleep with only a few texts in response. Fearing for her friend, she drives all the way to Cincinnati overnight with Max for company to check on Molly- however, when she arrives, Molly basically slams the door in her face and won't even acknowledge what happened the night before. After Liza returns to Chicago, she learns that a fire has burned down her apartment complex completely and everyone else on her floor and many of the floors above died in it.

Floundering with survivor's guilt and a new sense of mortality, Liza decides to return home to Cincinnati where she will stay with her brother and his pregnant wife until she can land on her feet. Following Liza, Molly, and Molly's husband Daniel, this book becomes more of a character study than a thriller (not completely wrapping up some of the thriller aspects by the end- really one aspect is not cleared by the end). There is also a touch of romance with Liza as she is working to recover and move on.

Overall, it was a book that I found hard to place in my mind. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't sure if I got the thriller feel for most of it, and that was really what I was hoping for when I picked it up. The book focuses more on the tangled web of lies we all weave that can drag us down and build up walls between loved ones. As such, it was still interesting but not quite as thriller-esque as I was hoping. I really liked the romance between Liza and the pilot Henry, but it almost felt out of place in the book. Add that to potential affairs, personal challenges, business ethics issues, and predatory lenders, and the book felt a little all over the place. I think I would have liked it to be a little more focused, but as women's fiction, a lot of these things worked better, so maybe I was just expecting something different.

This was an unexpected read, and I did enjoy it overall. I do wish that in addition to the one thriller-type aspect above that wasn't resolved that there had been some more personal resolution for Liza (who was refusing therapy but obviously really needing something), but the book began to focus more on the romance than her personal health (which was also a major theme). I almost feel like a chapter was missing at the end where everything is moved forward to a conclusion like most of the other issues in the book. Regardless, it was an engaging and overall intriguing read.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I chose this book because I like thrillers and suspense. This was neither. I agree with other readers as far as the characters being neither likeable nor relatable. Too much stuff going on...the book never got off the ground.
Wish I had read reviews, not much going on with this book, read it to the end, boring
I usually don’t spend $15 on books, but I splurged on this because it got such good reviews on FB. I wish I didn’t waste my money. It had a good beginning and I kept reading hoping it would get better, but it did not. The characters were not well developed, and I didn’t feel connected to them or their stories. I found I was mostly skimming toward the end, waiting for something exciting to happen, but it never did.
As others have noted, this book is marketed as a thriller/suspense but is far from it. Nothing ever happens except the monotony of day to day of a couple's boring married life or boring, anxiety ridden/paranoid life of Liza. No character development at all. I didn't care what happened to any of these people. This is my first, and likely last, book by this author. I literally skimmed through the last 55% of the book and could not wait for it to be finished. Terrible, boring read and waste of time.
I preordered Forget You Know Me. I had read her two previous books and enjoyed both. I felt that Not That I Could Tell was even better than her first and felt sure that Forget You Know Me would build on the storybuilding skills that were growing stronger with each book. Sadly, as intrigued as I was with the beginning of Forget You Know Me, I wasn't as engaged with the rest of the story. It isn't any lack of writing skill on Ms. Strawser's part. Her fluid writing and ability to make me 'see' the scene are just as good with this book. I think the problem was I didn't like either Molly or Daniel. Since Molly's story is the centerpiece of the story, I was left to read only to find out the answers to what was really going on.
I do want to add that Ms. Strawser has the ability to peel away the facades of her characters to find the good and bad underneath. And she also is adept at showing how little lies can have disastrous results. These two aspects of her storytelling remind me of Liane Moriarty. And even though this cast of characters was not my cup of tea, I will definitely read Ms. Strawser's next novel.