Customer Reviews

Forget Me Not

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Rafe is a man who survived hell as a POW (sort of). He survived by dreaming of his love, Alanna. Only when he "returns from the dead", he discovers the woman he loved enough to live for didn't love him enough to wait. . . she was "happily married" to her singing partner. He's filled with bitterness and never tells anyone he's alive. Alanna is disgusted with herself for her loveless, marriage of convenience. She discovers Rafe still alive & tries to reconcile with him, but he rejects her. Alone, despondant, she goes back to her husband.

But she's no longer the girl she was and Jack senses their careers are over and convinces Alanna to go camping one last time. Admidst a storm, Rafe's bitterness, Alanna's memory, and Jack's life is washed away.

Rafe vows to set Alanna free by giving her bvack her memories and her life. The fishing scenes are all metaphores for his dreams for Alanna. She's the elusive trout, he's the hungry fisherman. Trying to lure her from the depths of her own fears, trying to convince her that being with him is better than being anyplace else. His hooks are all barbless - she won't be killed coming to the surface.

The result is a love story that makes me ache for the pain of two people trying desperately to reach each other through miles of tangled memories. The allegories make this more poem than prose and I loved it.

This was definitely my least favorite of Elizabeth Lowell's novels. I sped through it because I wanted to get it over with, not because I couldn't put it down! The "complication" makes no sense. Rafe's big secret, the one he's so afraid will mess up his relationship with Alana once she gets her memory back, is laughable. No woman would be mad at him for what he did! Another complication that makes no sense is the reason why he allows Alana to believe he's dead after he gets back. (What happened to him while he was gone is mentioned once for about one paragraph. It sounded intriguing...but we'll never know. So much for character development.) He's mad because she got married to somebody else. Dang, man, who cares if she jilted you, you were her friend, right? And when she finds out he's alive he still acts idiotically. "I refuse to acknowledge her because she married someone else." Please. The amnesia plot soon becomes tiresome as the reader figures out what the heroine forgot long before she does, and spends most of the novel waiting for her to catch a clue. By the time she does, you've stop caring. Elizabeth Lowell is a great writer, but this is a stinker. Avoid it and read "Only Love", "Winter Fire," or "Reckless Love" if you want to know what Lowell's capable of.

This book horribly boring. The plot and characters were so thin you could see through them. You learn nothing about the characters except how angry/scared they are--not even why they are supposed to love each other so much. I have read several other Elizabeth Lowell's and this book seemed like it was written by another, much less talented author. If you must read it, check it out of the library.

Elizabeth Lowell has written some wonderful novels .... of the few I have read, I have really enjoyed Amber Beach, Pearl Cove, etc .... but when I started to read this book I realised quite soon into the book that it wasn't up to ELs usual standards!

Alana (our leading lady) is quite pathetic and Rafe Winter (her ex fiance ... who Alana thought was dead) while "nice" uses the line: "It's alright wildflower, I've come to take you home" far too often ... it starts to be a little irritating.

All in all, I think I don't like this story because amoung other things: the males talk condescendingly to Alana, as though she is an idiot (i.e. the conversation is easy enough to interpret but Alana is of course ignorant and confused ... and misses the most obvious thigns happening around her).

I absolutely looooooooooooove romance novels, so I am not dissappointed because anything in the book is romantic, rather that the storyline is rather tepid ... perhaps even boring in parts. This may be a result of reading EL books that are full of suspense, interesting factual information, and excellent and interesting storylines full of romance, hot sex scenes, and witty conversations! ... which this novel lacks.

This doesn't meet, in my opinion, ELs normally high standards! But, if you're a keen EL novel lover, I guess you might enjoy this, but certianly not as much as other novels that EL has written.

If this is your first EL, then this is certainly the worst EL novel I have ever read .... perhaps you should borrow it from the library before you think of purchasing it!

Good reading, Kristina

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have read it so many times, I may have to get another copy. It can be difficult to leave the past behind, especially when there has been extreme physical pain involved. It surprised me that Rafe was able to be so gentle and patient with Alanna after all the torture the man had been through. It was a good story. The only question that I have for Elizabeth is: Why have you never wrote a story about Sam Burdette? You seemed to take a lot of trouble to mention him and his troubles during the story. It would be great to have a story about him, too.

This book is different from other by Ms.Lowell. I was expecting the intensity as seen in her historical series. What I found was a poetic book about the relationships of brother and sister and long lost loves. This flowing story is one to curl up with on a cold, snowy day. The meaning is in the symbolism, not in hot and steaming love sceans as one might expect.

Alana Reeves doesn't remember six days she spent on Broken Mountain. All she got from those days was a broken ankle, a dead singing partner/husband-in-name-only . . . and a fear she tries night and day to escape. Stepping out of her past is her former fiance who she thought was dead: Rafe Winter. Rafe comes back to heal her and maybe recapture the love they once shared. Elizabeth Lowell at her best!

A Romance novel is not necessarily a Love Story. And I love "unrealistic, why are they together" stories as much as the next avid reader. But this is a beautifully written, lyrical feast. I really appreciated the descriptive language. I loved how this story slowly unfolded. Not my usual style, but good writing wins every time.

This is a wonderfully well written book. It is amazing how fluid and beautiful the prose is. From the beginning to the end the richness of Rafe's love and dedication to the woman who needs him holds you in its thrall. The slow evolution of Alana's memory and how she grapples with it psychologically is also very well done. More contemporary novels from Elizabeth Lowell please!

I have read alot of EL books and this one is the first one I was so bored. Too much detail on the making and description of flys and not enough detail in the storyline. I had to put this book down many times before I finally finished it.